Why does he do this?????

[Rhubarb]

After giving advice on cc here, now I'm back for some advice myself!
Ds woke up last night about 20mins after I'd gone to bed. He started crying. We left it 10 mins then went in and did the usual, checked nappy, checked temp. He was standing in his cot fully awake. We put him down, tucked him in then left. 10mins later we do the same, go in, lie him down, say "No" firmly and come out. This goes on for about an hour. He will stop for 5 mins and you think, great, he's gone and you begin to doze off, then he starts again. After an hour dh took him downstairs and gave him some Calpol just in case and offered a drink. Settled him back, 5 mins later he starts again. After 2 hours (it's now 3am) we finally crack, I think he must be ill so we bring him in with us. He falls asleep but thrases about and wakes every 20mins or so crying, this is followed by the occasional punch in the mouth. I convince myself that he will be ill this morning. After about 2 hours of broken sleep I get up this morning and he is his usual self, chatting away, smiling, ate all his breakfast, etc.

So wtf was that all about???? He does this every 3 weeks or so, he'll have an 'episode' at night and we can never get to the bottom of it, sometimes he does it 2 nights in a row. He is just over 2years old. He is wide awake whenever we go in, and the crying is usually accompanied by him shouting us. It gets louder and louder too and angrier and angrier.

CC doesn't seem to work, cuddling him doesn't seem to work and if we bring him in with us we still don't get any sleep. So any bright ideas anyone????

could it be glue ear (does he have a cold)?

Poor dd gets disturbed nights when she has glue ear - for some reason, it hurts them when they lie down (passages blocked with gunge I guess).

How often is this happening Rhub? Once a week, once a month or has it been night after night for a while?

its not full moon for another fortnight rhub.

Ok, he's not too big for his cot yet, but in any case we don't have a bed for him and cannot afford a bed for him. Plus he's a little monster so if we put him in his bed now, he'll never stay in it!

GGG, if you can find me a free Homeopath in my local area then I'd give it a go!

Just checked on BBC website and it says that a 2 year old needs an average of 13 hours of sleep, which he is getting. He refuses to go to his cot for his afternoon nap now, both at home and in the creché, so we wait until he drops off (I usually plonk him in front of a video and he's asleep before the end). I wake him up after about half an hour/45mins. He is grumpy when he wakes up but I know from past experience that too much sleep results in a disturbed evening for us all, too little sleep and he's falling asleep around 5pm.

Cod, for ages now I've been trying to deny his existence!!!

oops

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Oh, cannot leave the heating on, heaters are electric and cost a fortune. I don't think it's the cold anyway, he was perfectly warm in our bed but still woke up.

Could be glue ear, he has had a cold. As I said, the strange thing is how normal he was this morning!

He usually does this every couple of weeks. Sometimes it doesn't last very long, sometimes it does, we never get to the bottom of it.

Leave him on the sofa all night? That should be fun!

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I'm waiting until he's 3 ggg, he simply isn't trustworthy enough to have a bed yet, I think that would be asking for trouble!

Thanks though!

Will the bed guard absolutely prevent him from getting out of the bed? Or will I need to electrify it?

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What's a budgie bell? I don't have a budgie you know!

I'll talk to dh about the bed. Perhaps.....! But I am worried that he'll find someway to get out of it. Stairgate in that case would be very necessary. I quite like the idea of him being behind bars at night though!

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Ha! ha! Better than hearing a bumpity bump down the stairs I suppose! Will call you, but for now I think we'll stick with the cot. Will examine his ears tonight. Dunno what for but will examine them anyhow!

How is your baby group coming along?

I would be tempted (if it continues) to take him to the doc. Dd gets glue ear and her ears only ever hurt at night time when she has a cold. I also notice in this time that she has some trouble hearing (quite subtle but the sort of thing a mum would notice!).

I checked his ears tonight. He squealed when I touched the sticky out bit, but I think that was more with indignation than pain. If he does have some kind of infection then I guess we'll soon find out tonight. If he sleeps through tonight then I know that he is probably Son of Satan and is painfully going through his 'change' at night.

He came back from creché all happy and jolly btw. I'd told them to let him have an hour's nap, maximum, so they let him have an hour and a half! Bloody French are probably doing it on purpose to get back at us! So whilst me and dh sat there like zombies this evening, he was running around, hurling himself off the sofa and plonking diggers on our laps. Grrrrrrr!

Rhubarb,
my ds does the same sort of thing every few weeks - I've given up thinking there's any particular reason for it other than he's just finding it difficult to get back to sleep!

Like most other things, I've found consistency is the best way to deal with it. My personal rule is that I will not take him out of his room between 7pm and 7am, and only out of the cot if he's distressed.

Normally I find that I can tuck him back in and tell him I'll come back in 10 minutes to check he's OK. Then I come back in 10 minutes, usually he's still awake, so I say I'll come back in another 10 minutes, but actually leave it a bit longer the next time and so on. It usually takes 2 or 3 revisits before he eventually falls asleep, although sometimes I can be up for a couple of hours. It's just one of those things I guess!

Someone else! Thank God! How old is your ds? mine is nearly 26months and so far I cannot reason with him yet, he wouldn't understand if I said that I'd come back in 10 mins. I know we shouldn't get him out of his cot or room, we just cracked last night. You start to wonder if they are ill or something, and then you worry.

You think you've cracked it only to have them do it all again in a couple of weeks. It's so frustrating and so annoying!

Ds is a bit older - 2yrs 9 months - but has been doing this for at least the last 6 months. Luckily we've never got into the habit of taking him into our bed (although there have been times I've been tempted!) - I just know if I did it once, he'd know it was an option, and would ask for it every time!

Sometimes he'll call for me before the 10 minutes is up, so I go in and just do the old no eye contact, no talking thing. I'm not sure there's a magic cure!!

Our ds is sooo loud, his cries are full-on and angry and he shouts too. He wakes his sister up and sometimes when we go in and lie him back down he has a full temper tantrum, like he was doing last night.

It's so hard listening to this rage and anger coming from the room next door. I definitely think there is something in my 'brain-ache' theory!

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He was sound as last night! Just proves that there is absolutely nothing wrong with him whatsoever. Although I can feel two funny little bumps either side of his head......