Probo been done a million times, but I really need help with this, my neighbour told me they nearly called the COPS last week and if the [Hmm] emoticon worked on the titles, I would have 10.

[LadyOfTheFlowers]

Since the clocks have gone back, my house is a total 'mare.
Both boys (aged 1 & 2) were going to bed at around 7 instead of the usual 8ish which was fine by me...

Now, neither of them will go to sleep at 7 or 8 and it's more 9ish when they go now.

Before all this, I would put their jammies on, fill their bottles with water and put them to bed, that was that. They went to sleep. Some nights if they appeared not tired they would have a picture book each in their cots then fall asleep. Fine.

Ds1 goes to sleep after about 5 mins of protesting then is fine till he wakes at around midnight screaming blue murder. Really screaming. I can understand why the neighbours thought I was murdering him. He screams 'Mummy, mummy, mummy' but does not want me to touch him or talk to him or anything. He does not want to get back into his bed, or come into our bed or go downstairs.
Eventually he plumps for downstairs and in order to get any sleep and to stop the noise, I camp on the 3 seater, Ds1 on the 2 seater. (Wake up without back ache! )
I want to sleep in my bed tho!

Ds2 now gets woken up by him. He used to slepp thru normal crying and vice versa, but the screaming wakes him right up then he cries as he is miserable at being woken up.
As annoying as DS1's screaming is Ds2 will not go to sleep now unless I hold him or he is on me. ????
I have never rocked him to sleep as I did not want to make the same mistake I did with Ds1 and he was fine till recently.

Can anyone please help with this?
Controlled crying? I have NEVER done this before but have been thinking recently, maybe it's the only way?
What can/will the police do if they do come out?
My neighbours have a child who will soon be 2 btw.

Message withdrawn

at your neighbours - as if you aren't having a hard enough time already.

A while back we had neighbours who used to get annoyed because our baby was crying, and shreik through the wall - but even they wouldn't be dumb enough to think the cops would come round about it!

i was going to post night terrors too, My DD had these for a while - horrible, they appear awake but she wouldnt let me comfort her, just sat screaming no no no (she is 2.2). We had had no trauma going on, no change in routine, just came out of the blue. Quite common apparently.

Your neighbour is a freak, but maybe she/he was genuinely concerned as it is so out of character for your boys. Was that the reason she said she was going to call? That she thought you were being murdered in your beds? Or because she thought you were hurting your children? I would have been

If it is night terrors (and it sounds very like it) then I'm told a good way of dealing with it is to break the sleep cycle by gently waking them about 20 minutes before it usually happens. You don't need to get them fully awake, just alert enough to know you're there and to stop them falling into the deep sleep at the same time each night.

I don't think you have to do it for too long before the habit breaks - 4 or 5 days? see here

DS 2 had this for a while - eventually we found that the only thing that would work was to bring him downstairs with us and put one of the music channels on the TV. Somehow the music seemed to calm him - didn't matter what music! And he grew out of it.

He said he was going to call as he heard Dh talking loudly, then DS went quiet or something.
He insinuated DH was harming the kids.
it has all started suddenly. i did think nightmares or similar as the other day he slept in the lounge with the lights on.

all i can suggest is staggering bedtime and tough love.

which an also be called contolled crying ..if you must lable it to make it sound like a fancy technique

put younger one to bed 1st. if they cry leave him - dont talk to him dont pander to him wanting a drink.

put older one to bed later - tell him to go to sleep your not messing about close eyes.

no pandering

tell neighbours to fuck off and call the police if they want - kids are not steroes - they can't confiscate them UNFORTUNALTEY

fucking cheeky bastard!! i would have put him in his place and no mistake!!!

I was too shocked tbh!

request that your neighbour puts your kids to bed if they think they can do so much better. Some people are so stupid. Not helpful really sorry.

Til I read this post, I thought ds1 (21m) was just being awkward - he's had a bit of a cold recently and has been waking up a bit coughing and asking for milk, but then sometimes when he wakes up he does the whole screaming thing and won't let me touch him either! I thought it was all down to his current eating problem... He has barely eaten proper food in about 3 weeks, and hasn't even wanted biscuits - I figured it was teething or the cold - doctor said he was fine, and he reckoned it was just behavioural.

I'll have to try to make a mental note of when these potential terrors are happening and try to just pop in on him before it happens and see if that helps. Neither of us have had a good night's sleep in weeks, so this might help! (it can't possibly be any worse!) Thanks all

here is an article on night terrors. They are more likely to get them if they are overtired. If ds1 won't go to bed earlier, then a longer nap might help.

My dd got them really badly when we moved from the uK to the USA. She now only get them very very occasionally. My understanding is that they tend to run in families and are linked with sleepwalking.
Best thing to do is try to keep them happy and calm during the day and especially before going to sleep. I found that extra books and bedtime routine was helpful. By the way, in my dd's case, nighttime cough medicines that are supposed to make them drowsy, just made her night terrors worse. Phenergan was the only thing that worked (and now you can't get it anymore here in the usa).

Just had to respond to the post by SofiaAmes; my ds had night terrors, also made worse by some cough medicines - it turned out he was sensitive to any morphine derivatives in the medicines eg ephedrine, and so was actually hallucinating. You might want to watch out for this with your dd - ours was only finally confirmed when he needed morphine after an operation, and had a more severe reaction. The night terrrors eventually lessened and now he just sleepwalks occasionally.

Hi, had that two of three times in the past, where DS would awake crying, but not really awake, out of control. I would try the Daddy's here, whats wrong, then have to actually wake up DS (like after an hour of this). But starting with the I'm here, don't worry , don't be scared, seems to have worked, in that when DS wakes crying anytime after that, saying those words seems to calm him down now.