DS waking every hour between midnight and 4am

[justtheone]

I'm just about at my wit's end.... DS (2yr 7mth) has never been a good sleeper but over the past few months he has managed to sleep with only one waking session between 2am and 4am. However, over the past week he has started to wake nearly hourly. Last night it was midnight, 1am, 1.30am, 3.15am and 4am. Consequently I get little uninterrupted sleep. Once he is sound asleep in the early hours of the morning it is difficult to wake him before 9am. This morning he is still asleep at 9.30am.

The major change in the past week is that he has stopped his daytime 2 hour nap. I thought that this would make him sleep better at night!

Any suggestions?

[lalaa]

Gosh, just been surfing around and realised you haven't had a reply....first of all, sorry that you're going through this - must be really hard work. Second, my dd is only 14 months, but I've had her up at night (7 out of 8 nights at one point) and I know how difficult it is. Have to say that waking her up on time (7.30 latest) and only allowing 90 mins sleep during the day (and she's lots younger than your ds), plus lots of fresh air and a walk out every day, has sorted it out. Found that if we were in the car for more than a couple of hours, I could guarantee a broken night.

Get him out of bed early!!

Hope this helps a bit!

[aloha]

Yup, you've got to wake him up early (7.30ish) even it it's painful, personally I'd allow him a sleep at lunchtime (no more than two hours, probably less) and put him to bed at 7.30 - 8pm. Those late mornings are playing havoc with his sleep cycles IMO and he's overtired at bedtime which leads to lots of wakings.

[saintshar]

I am in a similar situation justtheone. My ds (21mths) is exactly the same, and is getting worse as he gets older. He was a good sleeper until he turned one. I put him to bed at 7.30p.m, and he ges up at 7.30 a.m, he has between one and two hours sleep after dinner. But he wakes up MANY times through the night, it's killing us.

[justtheone]

Thank you for the replies. Although he gets up around 9am, he is not normally asleep until 9pm and he seems to need that 12 hours at night (although it is often broken sleep). I will try to wake him earlier and maybe he will go to bed earlier, but I have not been too successful before.

There is no way now that he will sleep at lunchtime unless he is in the car in the afternoon. So maybe he is overtired at night, as he has suddenly lost 2 hours sleep during the day and is not making it up during the night.

I'll go and wake him now and see how we get on today.

Saintshar, I really understand how you feel. Sometimes I am so sleep deprived and I can see no end in sight. It is not just the wakings but also the anticipation of the wakings that wears me out. Before this latest set of problems, DS started to sleep alot better when I moved him to his own bed. Before that he was still in a cot in our room and it is possible we were waking him.

[Sonnet]

Hi,
I had an almost identical problem with DD2 and I agree with what's been already said - his sleep cycle/body clock has got out of sync.
Start waking him at 7 to 7.30, a sleep in the day of about 1 hour (even if you have to take him out in the car!) and in bed at 7 to 7.30. I did this with DD2 when she was 2 yrs 2 months and after a week of sticking to this very strict rountine she was cured. I work 3 days per week and DD2 was at nursery - she got very tired and all started going wrong - this ended up being self perpetuating and I was in a situation just like you! - waking up every hour.....I took a week off work and concentrated on getting it sorted out and believe me it was well worth it.
Good luck - Sleep deprivation is horrid....
sonett xxx