13 month old waking all night!

[Bassface]

Hello, hoping someone here can help! DS is going to bed reasonably happy (sometimes needs settling a couple of times) at 7.30 after regular bedtime routine. May stir gently a couple of times til midnight but from then on he wakes up screaming the house down and won't sleep for at least a couple of hours. Last night I put him to bed and decided to sit up for at least 10 minutes once he'd nodded off to make sure he was definitely asleep. This meant I was with him from 12 til 2.30 am and then he's up for the day at 6.

It's been like this for a couple of weeks now and we're just exhausted from trying to survive on 4 hours sleep a night.

He'll fall asleep quite easily on mine or DH's knee but as soon as we try to lower him into the cot he wakes and screams. If I leave him on my knee longer so he's in a deeper sleep, he just wakes eventually and then screams when he realises where he is!

He's fine going to nursery or being left with my mum so I don't think it's separation anxiety. It's like he just suddenly hates his cot/bedroom. He's warm enough and well fed. I do sometimes give him a bottle to try and settle him and he'll drink it but won't settle.

I should also maybe mention he's just about walking. Still just a few wobbly steps at a time at the moment but I've read this can tie in with unsettled nights.

Does anyone have any suggestions of anything else I can try? Or just reassure me it'll pass!

My 12mo went through a phase of this a couple of months ago and it was hideous! I really feel your pain.

For us, it coinciding with 4 of her teeth coming through all at once. Do you think your dc could be getting molars? Calpol helped our dd with the pain during the night and you'll be pleased to hear that now she's almost sleeping through. She usually wakes once for a feed still but always goes straight back to sleep. It will pass :)

Thanks for your reply ellesabe. Molars are visible but not all through so could well be this. I went to the baby clinic today and spoke to a nurse who said she was certain it was his teeth and to use calpol/ibuprofen as the first option rather than as a last resort. A friend told me a doctor told her our natural histamines are at their lowest in the night so if they feel any pain it will feel worse then. Also with him being in a quiet dark room with nothing to focus on, the pain is more noticeable. He had nurofen at 5.30, went to bed at 7.30 and we haven't heard a peep since which hasn't been the case for a few weeks now. Here's hoping it is just teething! Thanks again for sharing.

Teeth was my first thought as well. Have you gone back to work recently. He might be reacting to it a bit. It will pass but hope you get some rest over Christmas

would you not consider co-sleeping with him? i know for loads of people this seems to be a no no and people worry about forming a habit but for me its a no-brainer, if it means you get your sleep then just do it. i co-slept with one of my twin boys at this age, he started out in his cot but when he woke at 1am or 2am i would just pick him up and carry him into our room and next to my skin he would be back asleep in minutes. the alternative would have been to be up for god knows how long with him screaming. its stressful, and awful being sleep deprived and it affects how you experience your next day and next day.... we had an air bed that my husband sometimes slept on for the remaining of the night if we were struggling for room in our bed. he didnt mind at all, all that mattered to us how was to get the most sleep we possibly could on any given night! my twins are now 2.5 and sleep in their own big beds, 7pm to 7am, 12 hours without hardly a peep. just do whatever makes it easiest for you in the short term, and the long term will sort itself out anyhow, that has been my experience :)

meant to add the phase of him waking and crying (in a very similar way to your DS by the sound of it was quite short lived) i forget now but i think on and off for about 6 weeks or something. Am not sure what it was i dont think it was teething with mine, it wasn't illness, it was a mystery, maybe just an insecure little stage and needs assurance that you are there for him. Poor sleeping started again at 18 months for a while too. Everything is just a phase and everything passes.