15 MONTH OLD HAS TURNED INTO NIGHTTIME MONSTER

[Bunsyduff]

I have had (up until now) a really sweet, boisterous, well -natured little boy. For the last two weeks, though, he has turned into a reincarnation of the devil at bedtime- screaming when it is time to be put in his cot ( but fine during story time) and waking up every 3 to 4 hours or so, in the same state of heightened rage. What to do? My fella and I are at the end of our ability to deal with it... we are SO tired ( as I am sure my little chap is) and I am, to be honest, really off my son! Which is a horrible feeling to have towards a very little and unaware of his actions ( I think!) person.
We have always had a good routine at bed- and all has been well... but now it is like a second crazy, nasty, enraged wolf has crept into his bed each night.
HELP!

Maybe he's having bad dreams and is frightened of going to bed because of them?

Night time problems are the worst!

If he's slept well until now he's clearly able to settle himself at night so something else is causing this problem.

He might have some reason like nightmares, teething pain to be feeling like his cot is a bad place to be at the moment and this is stopping him from settling when he wakes.

I know it's really hard but you need to stay really calm and positive and try to help him to be reassured that he's ok in his cot at night. Keep him in the cot but stay by him or go in and out every couple of minutes (whichever works for you)until he's gone back to sleep. Eventually he'll realise that there's no point in screaming and stop waking.

If I were dealing with this myself I might try giving him an antihistamine (that's appropriate for his age) for a couple of nights just to try and break the cycle of waking and screaming but of course I'd never suggest anyone else did that

Another option could be to give him the T-shirt or jumper you've been wearing that day to snuggle to help him feel more secure in case it's separation anxiety.

Good luck. I hope he gets over it soon.

Probably not this but have you tried adding a few extra blankets and tucking them in tightly over him (once he is asleep), in case there is a chance that he is waking up because he is cold, then finds himself awake and angry in his cot.... Our house is FREEZING at the moment so my DS (a few months older than yours) has a cot duvet over him as well as being in his sleeping bag.

Do you leave his door open and corridor light on? Both my girls (who had always slept in blacked out rooms with door shut) became desperate for door open and light on at around that age (I found out by chance really as they couldn't tell me obviously). I don't know whether it was fear of the dark or just a desire to stay part of the house and less alone (they could hear us talking and watching TV etc and that seemed to make them more relaxed).

My 18 mth old lttle boy has also just turned from a good sleeper into a night terror, I think it is a molar tooth as he spent most of last night chewing his hand when he wasn't crying.

My 18 mth old lttle boy has also just turned from a good sleeper into a night terror, I think it is a molar tooth as he spent most of last night chewing his hand when he wasn't crying.

Molars and eye teeth are very painful coming through. It might be that he can cope with it during the day, with you around, but can't at night. Try some calpol or medised (if that's still around).

Thank-you all SO much... I have tried all of the above, and a marked improvement has occurred! I think that he was a) cold - it is freezing at the mo,and b) it was too quiet! My mum pointed out that I have the radio on all day, and then suddenly total silence at night! So I have put Radio 4 on in his room on pretty loud ( lucky boy!) and he has gone off much better two nights in a row. Not expecting miracles, but he did have a good night last night, too... Here's hoping! Thanks again.x