16 month old waking up screaming 2 or 3 times a night and in the morning

[GColdtimer]

DD has never been a great sleeper - only weaned her off night feeds at 11 months and has pretty much woken up at least once a night since then. However, that was just for water (she would sign that she wanted a drink of water) and a quick cuddle and she would go back in her cot happily and send herself off to sleep. She sends herself off to sleep at night, although the very last thing we do is give her a bottle so am worried about the milk/sleep association thing. Recently though, she has woken up several times a night absolutely screaming. Last night nothing would calm her and eventually I brought her downstairs (which I NEVER do normally). She was fine but I ended up giving her milk to go back to bed with.

When she wakes, I have got into the habit of giving her water from a bottle (hang over from weaning her off her night feeds) so I am sure it is the sucking she needs. This morning I gave her milk at 5AM, she went back to sleep but woke at 6.30 screaming. She used to play happily in her cot for 20 minutes or so but not anymore and the screaming is really getting me down. She has been teething but it hasn't been that consistently for a month.

I can't do CC but has anyone tried:

No cry sleep solution (don't know what it is but have heard of it)

Baby whisper pick up/put down

Or any other tips.

Please, I am so tired!

[choufleur]

Sorry twofalls not able to offer an solutions but my ds (also 16months) has never really woken up happy and nearly always screams until we go into him. It's only in the last couple of months that he's consistently gone through the night as well (although we've had the odd blip when he's been teething or poorly).

I've tried Baby whisperer but couldn't cope with picking up my ds so many times - it simply killed my back!

hope someone else has some ideas for you

[fizzbuzz]

Dd behaved like this after she was ill, and it took 3 months to get her back on track

We moved a bed into her room, and took it in turns to sleep there. She calmed down slowly, and eventually we could just tell her quietly to go back to sleep and she would. Evenyually we were able to leave her room bit by bit, and she went through night on her own. This got better and better, until she was fine.................



AND THEN WE WENT ON HOLIDAY, and now back to bloody square one again Back in he rbedroom again!!!

[fizzbuzz]

I also tried all books, and NCSS was the least successful of all.

Spent 4 hours in middle of night patiently sitting by dd's cot whilst she eyeballed me, refusing to sleep. If I even tried to go to loo, she started screaming.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

I wouldn't be so sure that it isn't teething, if this is unusual behaviour for her. My dd spent about a month suffering at the same age (which resulted in 4 molars and 2 more incisors (she only had 4 teeth until then)).

Have you tried giving nurofen to see if it helps?

[GColdtimer]

Thanks for your replies. We are currently on holiday at a friends house and its a good job then are away for a few nights, she has been terrible. It could still be teething, only two more incisors to go and we are done for a while - she has got all her teeth in the last 6 months so I suppose that is a lot of teeth in a relatively short amount of time. It just feels too consistent and predictable every night for that but I could be wrong.

Fizzbuzz, we have a futon in dds room (nowhere else to put it!) so i might try that. Thanks for the tip about NCSS, it seems a bit complicated from what I have heard. I had to at the thought of her eyeballing you for 4 hours - sounds like something dd would do .

Hope the process doesn't take as long this time around.

[MonkeyKate]

Hi there,

I just found this thread by googling for ideas as to why my 16 month old daughter who, despite having been sleeping through from four months, has recently been waking up in the night and shouting/crying, almost every night. I'd suspected it may be her teeth, as she's just had two molars come through and there are more teeth on the way. Something I've found that seems to be helping is to gently call out to her or talk softly while standing outside her bedroom door, just to reassure that we're still there and haven't gone anywhere. Sometimes she will need a cuddle and some extra reassurance and we'll have to do a modified version of pick up/put down (touching rather than picking up), but we try avoid going in (other than peeking to check she's ok) as much as possible. I think the best advice I've ever been given, which I'd pass on to anyone, is try to be consistant - if you've decided on how to handle the situation, give it time rather than trying something new when it doesn't seem to be having an effect. Frustrating and very tiring, but seems to be effective! I really hope you find something that works for you, and you can catch up on some sleep xx