28month old- tantrums @ night. every hour!

[driedapricots]

Does anyone have a toddler so prone to tantrums, they even do it at night?! It's not funny now..last night ds woke every hour screaming 'no mummy' which despite various attempts @ soothing just increased to full blown screaming tantrums. I knew he was trying it on, asking first for milk, then cuddles, then daddy, all to be met with screaming when they were delivered. In exasperation @ 5am I bought him into our bed where he slept peacefully til I had to wake him for dd school run..cue more screaming & fits of tantrums all daylong as he's so tired now. He was ill last week so could be related...never been great sleeper, but today I feel worse than when he was a newborn! Should we just play tough & leave him to scream it out tonight?...however long it takes...last night I left him for max 5 mins at a time as he was so loud!! Please help...

[driedapricots]

no responses!! i've been reading a few threads on here and am now thinking these tantrums are night terrors, in which case leaving him to scream it out is really mean isn't it? what can i do - and how do i know he's not 'playing me'??!! pleeeaase help!!!

[driedapricots]

Ffs am sat in hallway listening to more screaming. These are not night terrors, just sheer stubbornness. He has had milk, cuddles but still screaming. Has taken off sleepbag 3 times & thrown all toys out of cot. I guess its a battle of wills so I shall kiss goodnight to another night's sleep & win this one bcos this is unacceptable. Sorry for rant ..not that anyone appears to be reading this anyway .. but I am beyond furious with this situation..

[Tertius]

How would it be if you lay with him in his room - rather than brought him into your bed. That way you can get him used to sleeping again abd then gradually withdraw over time?

[jenrendo]

Oh no. My DS has just turned 2 and is beginning to shout, "mummy", furiously in the night and early morning until I go and tell him it's bedtime in a very annoyed voice. I hope it's not a sign of things to come! He has been such a good sleeper up until now. No advice I'm afraid, but Tertius has a good suggestion :(

[Natmu]

I can't believe no one has responded to you op. I'm afraid I don't have much useful advice but can offer some hand holding. Every time DS1 was ill we would suffer no sleep for a week or so after. I used to compromise with a not quite crying it out method. I would stand by his cot and pick him up and cuddle him until he was quiet then put him down and when he started again pick him up again. I used to literally be there doing it hundreds of times but after one night of pain he would get the message that he needed to sleep and wouldn't be getting cuddles all night. How are things now? Has he calmed down yet? Don't forget you are doing your best and are only human. You are allowed to be beyond furious.

[driedapricots]

Hello & thank you ladies! I'm delirious! The screaming went on until 3.30am. I kept going in calmly telling him it was night time & putting dummy in. He'd settle for 10 mins, I'd start to drift off & it would start all again. Eventually he went off onlyto start again @ 5.30..gave bottle, now in deep sleep. Dd woke @ 6.15.. its odd that its exactly the same pattern as before, as if its his body clock...the horrible thing is just not knowing what, if anything is wrong & if I'm responding correctly. Of course he'll be shattred again today too. I guess we just have to ride this phase out as with all the others. Just HATE sleep deprivation..only just recovering after first 18m of him being terrible sleeper ;-(

[LurcioLovesFrankie]

No concrete suggestions, but just wanted to offer sympathy (my DS is also recovering from being ill and his sleep is shot to pieces - we had "want a drink", "came to give you the glass back", "how will I know what time to get up?" in the early hours of this morning). Hope it gets better soon - sleep deprivation is a killer.

[OneLittleHopper]

No idea if this will be any help but we have just gone through two weeks of similar with 26mo ds - it started when he was ill but then just got worse and worse - he was waking up about eight times a night just screaming and refusing to go back in the cot if we took him out. He would only go to sleep in bed with us. Last night we took the side off the cot, and gave him a quilt and a pillow instead of a sleeping bag and didn't hear a peep out of him all night. I am wondering if maybe they just want more independence at this age and don't want to be stuck in a cot any more? He certainly seemed really excited to have his own proper bed, esp the pillow.