WhiskersOnKittens
12-01-2008, 06:42 PM
Hi ladies,
For the past 3 nights, my 18mo ds has been waking at about 1am, crying--hard. It'll usually just start out as him whining (like he does when he wakes up in the morning and wants to be let out of his crib), but it quickly escalates, and he'll be screaming bloody murder in about 5 minutes. I have no idea what to do with him! The first night I thought he had had a nightmare, so I brought him into our bed to just lay with us for a few minutes before bringing him back to his room. When I brought him back, he started crying before he even went back in his crib, and the look on his little face just broke my heart--he looked so afraid!! So anyway, he ended up sleeping with us until about 6am, and when I put him back in bed, he stayed asleep. The second night, he did the same thing, but only stayed in our bed for about half an hour and did not fall asleep, just layed there, and tossed and turned. DH brought him back to his bed, and he went right to sleep. Then last night, I was reluctant to bring him into our bed because I REALLY don't want to make a habit out of this. So when he cried, I just went in there and held him, and tried to comfort him by rocking him in his chair. But he was WIDE awake, and as soon as I sat down, he ran over to the door (that I had shut behind me), and started asking to go out. So, being that I was still half asleep myself, I brought him back into our room (bad, I know...), and let him lay with us for about half an hour. He didn't go to sleep, just tossed and turned. I brought him back into his room and again, it was the same thing as a couple nights prior--he started crying hysterically, but I left the room anyway :(. He continued crying and calling us to come "rescue" him for about 5 minutes (and while all this was going on, I was practically crying myself, because I felt SO terrible about leaving him in there alone), and just as I was getting up to give in again, the crying stopped. I opened his door a crack, and peeked in, and he was sucking his thumb, and laying down, so I went back to bed, and we both slept the rest of the night (relatively peacefully--I heard him whimpering off and on).
Now, I have no idea what could be wrong with him--I don't know if it could be nightmares 3 nights in a row, and I don't think it's teething because he has NO other symptoms and is happy as a clam to lie in our bed. He's not sick, and he also uses a nightlight in his room. I just am at my wit's end here, after only 3 nights (I'm 30 weeks pregnant, and dh gets up early to go to work everyday, so he needs his proper rest as well)! I don't know how much more of this we can take.
Any suggestions???
Whiskers :)
For the past 3 nights, my 18mo ds has been waking at about 1am, crying--hard. It'll usually just start out as him whining (like he does when he wakes up in the morning and wants to be let out of his crib), but it quickly escalates, and he'll be screaming bloody murder in about 5 minutes. I have no idea what to do with him! The first night I thought he had had a nightmare, so I brought him into our bed to just lay with us for a few minutes before bringing him back to his room. When I brought him back, he started crying before he even went back in his crib, and the look on his little face just broke my heart--he looked so afraid!! So anyway, he ended up sleeping with us until about 6am, and when I put him back in bed, he stayed asleep. The second night, he did the same thing, but only stayed in our bed for about half an hour and did not fall asleep, just layed there, and tossed and turned. DH brought him back to his bed, and he went right to sleep. Then last night, I was reluctant to bring him into our bed because I REALLY don't want to make a habit out of this. So when he cried, I just went in there and held him, and tried to comfort him by rocking him in his chair. But he was WIDE awake, and as soon as I sat down, he ran over to the door (that I had shut behind me), and started asking to go out. So, being that I was still half asleep myself, I brought him back into our room (bad, I know...), and let him lay with us for about half an hour. He didn't go to sleep, just tossed and turned. I brought him back into his room and again, it was the same thing as a couple nights prior--he started crying hysterically, but I left the room anyway :(. He continued crying and calling us to come "rescue" him for about 5 minutes (and while all this was going on, I was practically crying myself, because I felt SO terrible about leaving him in there alone), and just as I was getting up to give in again, the crying stopped. I opened his door a crack, and peeked in, and he was sucking his thumb, and laying down, so I went back to bed, and we both slept the rest of the night (relatively peacefully--I heard him whimpering off and on).
Now, I have no idea what could be wrong with him--I don't know if it could be nightmares 3 nights in a row, and I don't think it's teething because he has NO other symptoms and is happy as a clam to lie in our bed. He's not sick, and he also uses a nightlight in his room. I just am at my wit's end here, after only 3 nights (I'm 30 weeks pregnant, and dh gets up early to go to work everyday, so he needs his proper rest as well)! I don't know how much more of this we can take.
Any suggestions???
Whiskers :)
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E1979
12-01-2008, 09:39 PM
I don't really have much advice for you wiskers. But congrats on the #2 baby! I did want to mention that on another post somewhere here(could be in the archives) I read about babies going through a horrible sleeping phase around the age of your son. For no reason at all. Just out of the blue and it lasts a little while, like maybe a week or even two. A lot of posters chimes in on this thread and were saying there child did it do or were going through it at the time. The only thing they all said was to stick to your guns and you might need to do some re-sleep training. That is if you agree with the CIO method.
I just wanted to let you know that it could be him just testing you guys.
I just wanted to let you know that it could be him just testing you guys.
megss
12-01-2008, 10:12 PM
Grace did this same thing 2 weeks ago. I ended up actually getting up with her and going downstairs because that is the only thing that would calm her. I even took her to the pediatrician thinking her ears or something were hurting her. Nothing was wrong. It lasted the whole week. I almost got into a bad car accident twice that week because I was so tired (Grace has never yet slept through the night). Anyway, it stopped. I have no idea what it was, but it lasted about a week. Now she is back to her regular routine, getting up at least twice, and taking a bottle twice. But at least now I can calm her back to sleep right away.
WhiskersOnKittens
12-02-2008, 02:19 AM
Thanks for the replies!
I hope it doesn't last too much longer.... You're right, E--he could just be testing us, who knows.... Although he is genuinely upset when we leave the room, or before we go in there. :confused:
Megss--I have thought about getting up with him too. I'm not sure what would be a worse habit for him though, to think he can get up and fiddle around for awhile, or to just rest with us for while. I'm really torn because don't want to just leave him to cry, but I don't want to be starting a habit with him that's impossible to break (either by bringing him into our bed at night, or letting him get up), and maybe ultimately have to let him CIO anyways. Also because of the new baby coming, I don't want him to think he can come sleep in our bed when that happens, because he can't! We're just going to sleep with baby for the first little while when he/she arrives (which is what we did with him, and that's what worked the best for getting through the nights by far!), so there will literally be no room for him (poor little guy...).
He normally has such good sleeping habits too (well, lately anyway), so I don't know what to think about this. Maybe he'll just cut it out, and we'll start having regular nights again.
Whiskers :)
I hope it doesn't last too much longer.... You're right, E--he could just be testing us, who knows.... Although he is genuinely upset when we leave the room, or before we go in there. :confused:
Megss--I have thought about getting up with him too. I'm not sure what would be a worse habit for him though, to think he can get up and fiddle around for awhile, or to just rest with us for while. I'm really torn because don't want to just leave him to cry, but I don't want to be starting a habit with him that's impossible to break (either by bringing him into our bed at night, or letting him get up), and maybe ultimately have to let him CIO anyways. Also because of the new baby coming, I don't want him to think he can come sleep in our bed when that happens, because he can't! We're just going to sleep with baby for the first little while when he/she arrives (which is what we did with him, and that's what worked the best for getting through the nights by far!), so there will literally be no room for him (poor little guy...).
He normally has such good sleeping habits too (well, lately anyway), so I don't know what to think about this. Maybe he'll just cut it out, and we'll start having regular nights again.
Whiskers :)
E1979
12-04-2008, 05:47 PM
Wiskers last night we had a night like what you were describing. I probably qinxed(sp?) myself by responding to your post! ;)
Tanner was up a 11:30, 12:30, 1:00 and 2:30. I left him to work it out for about 10 mins each time but after the 10 mins I couldn't leave him alone anymore because he is getting over a cold and getting new molars in so he really might have been not feeling well at all. You know what our saving grace was?...at 2:30 am when he woke up, a couple of minutes later it started to rain very hard. I am sure the rain put him back to sleep because one time it rained very hard during his nap and he slept twice as long as normal.
I know that story doesn't help you any but I thought you would appreciate the irony of me now having a non-sleeping baby! :dizzy:
Tanner was up a 11:30, 12:30, 1:00 and 2:30. I left him to work it out for about 10 mins each time but after the 10 mins I couldn't leave him alone anymore because he is getting over a cold and getting new molars in so he really might have been not feeling well at all. You know what our saving grace was?...at 2:30 am when he woke up, a couple of minutes later it started to rain very hard. I am sure the rain put him back to sleep because one time it rained very hard during his nap and he slept twice as long as normal.
I know that story doesn't help you any but I thought you would appreciate the irony of me now having a non-sleeping baby! :dizzy:
WhiskersOnKittens
12-05-2008, 12:48 AM
Oh E! What a coincidence! I feel for you, trust me. I hope it hasn't continued with your lo...
Things got better actually the night I wrote my reply. He went to bed and slept ALL night! Last night was a little worse again, he went to bed about 9ish (his usual time), and woke up again crying at the top of his lungs at 10. So at least we were still up to deal with it... I thought it might be teething (although that might not be what it was before, because the crying was different...), because although he's normally a thumb-sucker, he was practically knawing it off last night. Also, he was really, really tired when I went in to check on him, and didn't even bother to sit up in his crib--he continued trying to sleep (through the tears). Poor thing... :( So I ended up giving him Motrin (which I'm not a fan of doing), and rocking him, and he fell back asleep. He did cry off and on for seconds really, for the rest of the night, but he always put himself back to sleep (actually, I'm not even sure that he even woke up at all during the night, he may've been crying in his sleep). So, I have hope that tonight will be another decent night!
Whiskers :)
Things got better actually the night I wrote my reply. He went to bed and slept ALL night! Last night was a little worse again, he went to bed about 9ish (his usual time), and woke up again crying at the top of his lungs at 10. So at least we were still up to deal with it... I thought it might be teething (although that might not be what it was before, because the crying was different...), because although he's normally a thumb-sucker, he was practically knawing it off last night. Also, he was really, really tired when I went in to check on him, and didn't even bother to sit up in his crib--he continued trying to sleep (through the tears). Poor thing... :( So I ended up giving him Motrin (which I'm not a fan of doing), and rocking him, and he fell back asleep. He did cry off and on for seconds really, for the rest of the night, but he always put himself back to sleep (actually, I'm not even sure that he even woke up at all during the night, he may've been crying in his sleep). So, I have hope that tonight will be another decent night!
Whiskers :)
Belly Kelly
12-05-2008, 09:51 AM
I find that when my son wakes several times a night (or once a night for several nights) it is usually a sign of something to come. Often it is teeth or an ear infection. Keep an eye on it. I wouldn't be surpised if your little one has some teeth popping through soon.
WhiskersOnKittens
12-06-2008, 01:30 AM
Thanks for the reply, Belly Kelly! I am seriously wondering if he's getting more teeth (he's only got the last set of molars to go), although he doesn't really have any other symptoms, like he had with his other teeth.
I feel like I'm going to lose my mind here--last night was terrible, and tonight he's already woken up once crying inconsolably (it took me about 15 minutes to get him back to sleep), and it's only 10:30. Oy... I am so tired myself, just overall body exhaustion (not to mention all the other pregnancy aches and pains), and my mind is tired, I really need my sleep at night!
Whiskers :)
I feel like I'm going to lose my mind here--last night was terrible, and tonight he's already woken up once crying inconsolably (it took me about 15 minutes to get him back to sleep), and it's only 10:30. Oy... I am so tired myself, just overall body exhaustion (not to mention all the other pregnancy aches and pains), and my mind is tired, I really need my sleep at night!
Whiskers :)