2year old waking up at 3am - help......

[MABS]

My 2.5 yr old ds sleeps well for 4 nts out of 7 -but the other 3 nts are bl**dy murder. He goes to bed fine at 6.45 but for the last 6-8 wks he has woken up at 3am on various nights for 1-2 hrs.

He cries but doesn't want anything really - all he wants is for me or dh to sit on the floor in his room and hold his hand through the cot bars!! As soon as i think he's asleep and try and slip away he starts shouting 'Sit Down Hold Hand'

Anyone got any advice as i'm really sick of it. I can't see any pattern to it and he's always been an ok sleeper. Any advice please, thanks.

anyone any ideas pleeeeeeeease.......

I cannot offer any help, have read all the books, one of the best being Toddler Taming by Christopher Green, so I know in theory how to deal with the problem but my DS 3 still does the same. I have been up from 2.30-4.30 for the last 2 nights. Likewise there seems to be no reason except he wants to be cuddled, watch TV, read books, is hungry. Anything other than sleep. I only cuddle him by the way. I am lucky that I no longer work so can pace myself through the day but it is a killer. Spend most of the day in a haze waiting for bedtime. Without wanting to sound too weird thought had linked it to new and full moons at one stage so at least could plan for it.
Anyway sorry no help but am really feeling for you.

Try the book by the way if you havn't already. Good for those whose husband doesn't have a tantrum equal to DS when I am trying to ignore "DS."

Hi MABS. that sounds pretty tough. My ds (now 2) used to be an awful sleeper and I have been through something similar when he was younger. I am afraid that after eliminating all the obvious 'causes' such as thirsty, cold, lost teddies etc I became quite tough. I explained that night times were for sleeping, saying the same thing over and over again, and would go in and then leave again quickly. This did make him upset but after a few nights he did stop waking up (as I think I had become the reason and he had got used to it. Once i stopped going in a staying with him he had no real reason to be up). Sorry writing this while very tired, hope it makes sense.

I really feel for you, up until 2 wks ago, my 22mth dd was doing something similar. At first it was only once or twice a week, and I assumed it was a nightmare and gave her a cuddle and drink of water etc etc. Like you, there was no particular pattern. Gradually, however, these episodes became more and more frequent until it was happening every night. I figured something couldn't be wrong with her every night, so I decided to get tough. It only took one night of me going in and giving her head a little reassuring stroke every 5 or 10mins, and she's slept through as usual ever since!

My 2 year old son who will be 3 next month has woke everynight since he was about 14 months old. This is when his father and I split up so i put it down to that at first...still waiting for him to sleep through now. I have had him in my bed most nights, but when my partner comes home at weekends he doesnt seem to have a problem staying in his own bed, he just still wants me to go and reassure him i am there for him. i get him drinks, take him to the toilet, have read to him, and also spent hour after hour trying it the hard way of putting him to bed no matter how many times he gets out and screams (and he is LOUD!!)
I have stopped giving him drinks and told him to stay in bed and didnt give in. It does work, but u have to be consistent. I give in sometimes cos i am a sucker for a cuddle and at the moment he is my baby. You are not on your own, my older 2 children didnt do this to me, and they are both 10 and 12 now...i think all kids are different, i am hoping that when he starts school he will grow out of it, but i do think that his body clock is used to waking at that time and eventually, when I am ready and determined to make it the lastnight,it will work for me in the future. Good luck with your ds...hope he manages to let u sleep 7 nights a week again soon!

My ds1 (4 next month) goes through phases when he will wake for 2 hours a night (last night 3am-5.30am) I go to him to check he hasn't taken his nappy off or something but otherwise leave him to it- he's quite noisy though.

He did go through a phase after his brother was born (he was 2.8) when he would wake screaming every night and need someone with him- I got so desperate I tried homeopathy and blow me down it worked.

I really sympathise with this, but would agree with buttercup and cheekygirl. If you've eliminated all the physical reasons why they might need to be awake (wet nappy, temperature, thirsty etc.), then it may be time to get tough.

Like cheekygirl, we've noticed that what used to be an occasional habit of waking and needing us to settle her, has now turned into something that happens virtually every night. It sort of crept up on us as she's had really bad eczema recently, and we've been going in to lather cream all over her to ease the itching. However, now that the ezcema is much better, she's still waking a lot.

She claimed to be thirsty (which is entirely possible with eczema as you lose a lot of moisture through the skin), so we were going in with a beaker. Eventually we started leaving the beaker in the cot, whereupon she'd start calling us because she'd completely emptied it. When we sorted that one out, she started losing bits of her dolly's clothing etc. etc. - basically anything to get us to go in.

The last few nights we've been getting really really tough with her - going in, but at longer and longer intervals, and being really really boring when we're in there. If it's at all fun, then she'll prolong it as much as she can!

We are also thinking about cutting back on daytime sleep, in case this is affecting her. She's 25 months, and still sleeping for up to 2 hours after lunch. Could this be the case for you?

Good luck!

Our 17 month old has also just started doing this. He's been a perfect Gina Ford 7pm - 7am baby - up until the last few weeks! Now he's waking a few times a week in the middle of the night. I think it's because he's getting older, and knows how to get our attention!

Leaving him to cry and settle himself works about half the time. The other half, when he's cried for quite a while, we usually give in and get him some water, which usually does the trick. But I think if it continues, we'll have to leave him every time.... Difficult though, when you've had a good sleeper, because we're always wondering if he's feeling unwell/teething etc.

Thanks for all your advice, I sympathise with those with similar problems. What homeopathic stuff did you use Jim Jams?

He doesn't sleep too much in the day I know, cos he dropped all daysleeps about 6 wks ago - a real pain!!

Last nt he slept through so i'm dreading tonight

I have a 12 year old and he kept waking up and coming into our bed until he was about 3; his visits got less frequent and one day I realised he had stopped doing it.

Now I've got a 2 and a half year old who is doing the same and I console myself that it will end one day. After all, at the very worst, his wife probably won't want to join us too!