Nighttime

Kristy is right. Your daughter needs to learn to "self-soothe" so that she can fall back asleep on her own. She is going through some big psycological changes right now, and that makes many two year olds a bit uncertain. Give her a lot of comfort, but don't always pick her up out of bed when she is restless at night. The first time, walk to her room, calmly say "Shhhhhh, Mommy is here", rub her back a bit and tell her good night. The second time, gently place your hand on her back and say "Shhhhh". The third time, just say "Shhhhhh".

Below are some links for Mom's groups in the San Mateo area. You need to build a strong network of friends to fill in for your missing family. Joining a Mom's group and getting into a play group can help you start that.

http://sanmateomothersclub.org/membership/membership.html

http://moms.meetup.com/cities/us/ca/san_mateo/

You might also call the Netherlands Consulate and ask them if they have any information on where to find others from the Netherlands in your community. Maybe you can even form your own play group!

http://www.yellowbot.com/netherlands-consulate-san-mateo-...

Good luck.

K.

Hi C. to be honest I have 2 kids and after a while they adapted to normal sleep hours I did not do anything but be patient.

T

At this age I think it's ok to let her cry for a little. It's hard to let her cry, but it might do the trick. I would go to her the first time she wakes (1:30 or so) and then when she wakes up again I would go in and pat her back to reassure her, then leave and let her cry a little and see if she can go back to sleep.

With my daughter we had to let her cry a little bit at this age, otherwise she would wake up too much and wasn't getting enough sleep. It only took a few nights for it to work.

If you don't want to let her cry, she will probably grow out of this stage but it will be exhausting waiting for it to happen. You both need your sleep!

Good luck

What worked for my friend was giving her 2 year old her pillow. They swichted every night who had which pillow. For some reason it worked. I think it had to do with it smelled like mom so when she was asleep and just kinda of awake she smelled mom and went right back to sleep.
Just aand idea