Talk

Flip

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler.

Sleep

2am screamathon..WHY??!!

4 replies

tiredybear · 04/02/2016 09:34

so have entered yet another fresh new hell with 10month old DS. For the past week or so he's been really unsettled from 2am onwards. This has escalated so that for the last 3 nights he's just screamed from 2am until at least 4am.

I have no idea what's wrong with him and have absolutely no idea how to help him. Feel like an utter failure. He's NEVER got anywhere near sleeping through the night and things just seem to get worse and worse. I long for the good old days when he would feed every 2 hours but go straight to sleep when i put him in his cot....

Has anyone got any ideas what's wrong with him or how I can help him (and my sanity?)

OP posts:

Report

FATEdestiny · 04/02/2016 10:51

What happens to get him to sleep at bedtime?

Does he have any access to his own comfort when waking up (dummy, comforter toy, something he does to himself to sooth)?

What are his daytime naps like?

Report

tiredybear · 04/02/2016 13:42

bedtime routine has been fixed since he was little, bath feed cuddle, in cot awake. He used to get to sleep himself. Recently, as he's learnt to stand he needs a bit of help to stay still, so I put my hand on him.

He's got 3 toy/comforter things in his cot - he's never been that fussed about them. sometimes he plays/chews on them, mostly he ignores them. he tends to suck his sleeve/hand to soothe himself.

daytime naps used to be terrible but last month or two have got better so he'll have 45-60 mins in the morning and 60-90mins after lunch. Cuddle/song, in cot awake, hand on to help him stop wriggling.

OP posts:

Report

FATEdestiny · 04/02/2016 13:52

It may be that he's standing now. I remember exactly the same phase of having to teach baby to be still in order to go to sleep by putting a hand on him.

It's the same premise as the philosophy of "there is a time and a place, but this isn't it". So just requires consistency. He can stand now, he wants to stand in the cot because he can. You have to teach him that while he can stand up and crawl around, the cot is not the pace for this.

I bought the cot back into my bedroom for this phase, so that I just needed to lean an arm over the cot while I stayed in bed. Once reliably back to sleeping through, cot moved back into own room with no hassle. It was just a phase to save my sanity.

A tightly tucked in sheet may help to pin him down and keep him still?

Report

tiredybear · 04/02/2016 14:08

Thanks so much for your reply. He's still in a cot right next to me anyway.

I've just been googling around and am thinking of trying the 'wake to sleep' method as he wakes up almost on the dot of 2am every night. He also wakes after 30-40 mins at nap time and I have to resettle him, so he fits the profile of a habitual waker.

Have you tried it?