What is going on here?!

[CLeighannHxo]

My DS is 1year1month old, up until last Monday he would be a dream to get down for bed, we would have tea, bath, bottle, cuddle then he would fall asleep. In bed no later than 8. He would wake once in the night say around 2-3ish, Nappy change, bottle, cuddle fall straight back to sleep.
Since Monday night he has been a nightmare to get down, he will constantly scream and cry whether he is in cot or even in our arms (we've always rocked to sleep). He doesn't seem to be in any pain as when we bring him back downstairs and sit on the sofa with him he will be calm and will either sit up and be smiling or will snuggle up to us and chill out.
we tried to leave him in his cot last night and kept going in at 5 min intervals, he just cried constantly and wouldn't even calm down when we went back in to him. He has been refusing his dummy and throwing it across the room when offered. He hasn't been in bed asleep until gone 9pm, it was 10.30pm the other night when he finally dropped off to sleep. Hes been sleeping through say till 6-7ish but yesterday and today he has been up for the day from 3.30-4am! 😩
He had his vaccines around 2 weeks ago (don't know if this is any revelance), we have recently weaned off formula completely and giving him cows milk instead.
What could be going on here? Are we doing anything wrong? What could we do to help him back into his routine and hopefully get out dream bedtime back?

TIA x

Teeth, incoming illness, a developmental leap, sleep regression, tummy ache

could be anything really. Best to ride it out

Agree with Ballcactus. You may never know what's causing it and could drive yourself batty in the process.

Personally though I'd cut out bringing him downstairs and just cuddle him in his room with the lights dimmed.

Is he any better if he has Calpol half an hour before bedtime?

Time to drop a nap!

I agree with this, when we started having dreadful bedtimes at about 12m the culprit was naps.

He's playing you I'm afraid!
He's realised that if he screams and cries you will eventually give in and bring him downstairs.
Personally I'd leave him to tough it out, but that's easy for me to say - if you can't bear the screams then sit next to his cot stroking him until he calms (obviously once all other avenues explored dirty nappy etc)
At some point though he has to learn bedtime means bedtime!
And if you think he's not playing you - as a Childminder of 10 years - I'm afraid he is!
Xxxx

I don’t think you should drop a nap and I don’t think he’s playing you. I think all small humans have little phases where they don’t like to sleep or whatnot. I think this is a “ride it out” not a “fix it” scenario.

Just try and keep your routine the same as much as possible and wait it out. I don’t think 6 days is long enough to start changing things that were otherwise working.

He’s never going to fall asleep if he’s worked up (happy or sad!) so just focus on keeping things as calm as possible, preferably in his room. Watch TV in there if you have to 🤷‍♀️ I’ve definitely gone through phases of having to put something on my phone for DS to watch (calming programs like CBeebies bedtime stories or tiny wonders).

It completely sucks to lose your evening though, so sending sympathy for that!

Thank you all for the replies.
He had already seemed to have dropped a nap, a few weeks ago. Depending on the time he wakes in the morning he will have a nap late morning or I hang on till after his dinner. We've always rocked him to sleep so I don't understand why all over a sudden he has started to scream when we take him in his room and start rocking him at bedtime. He also does this at nap time too.

He might have grown out of being rocked to sleep - now he's not a baby it might not feel comforting anymore and it might be a bit annoying instead. It could be that he's trying to tell you he wants to be left alone. Try popping him down in the cot and coming back to check at intervals.

Have you tried the No Cry Sleep Solution @CLeighannHxo? It might be helpful

My daughter did this from 1 year old. Always been great going to bed the. Suddenly hated the cot. Screamed till she was sick. I gave up trying in the end as everybody was miserable and took her in my bed where she went to sleep right away. Sometimes it's just not worth the stress. It is a phase and it will go away as soon as it came. At two she was back In her own room in a toddler bed no problem. Just so what you need to to get some sleep

@PritiPatelsMaker what is that? I've never heard of that before.

We started bedtime routine a little earlier last night, he started screaming as soon as I took him into his room ready for settling to sleep, I put the cbeebies bedtime stories on on my phone and snuggled up with him on his rocking chair, after a while of crying he fell asleep, it took 3 attempts to finally get him down in his cot asleep at 8.30pm, he woke at 3am, I changed his Nappy, offered him some milk but he literally screamed when we got sat down with the milk, offered him juice he screamed. Screamed non stop till 4.45am. I tried everything, walking around the house, offering dummy wouldn't take it, gave him calpol. He's still awake now. This is the 3rd day of being up since 3am, I'm starting to feel as tired as I was when he was a newborn 😩

He's only 1, he shouldn't be having juice!

Honestly, it sounds like all the interaction and stimulation going on at bedtime is stressing him out and winding him up. I couldn't sleep with cartoons on, or if I was walking around the house! Did he really need a nappy change? I'd avoid doing anything that might make him feel more like it's daytime tbh.

Try just putting him down in his cot and returning at intervals to reassure him you're still there. Could take an hour or so the first time but will make a huge difference long-term.

Did this coincide with him dropping a nap? Maybe he is actually over tired and struggling? He is still very young and
figuring this out. You have my deep sympathies because 3am is not the hour to start the day. But hopefully it will just be a weird phase you look back on and have survived

@MolliciousIntent I literally give him the smallest amount of juice, he will/would not drink plain water whatsoever and I had to do something for him to be getting fluids down him, otherwise he will/would have seriously dehydrated. I have never put cbeebies bedtime stories on for him while in his bedroom before, we usually put bedtime music on on his scout Teddy bear and that has always done the trick to get him to sleep since he was about 5/6 months old 🥴 I literally tried it for the first time last night as PP suggested. I was walking around the house to try and stop him crying and to calm him down, and yes I did need to change his Nappy as it was really full with wee. I have always changed his Nappy when he has woke in the night and took him downstairs for his bottle and he has always fell to sleep almost immediately afterwards 🤦🏼‍♀️

@Pippylongstock he had dropped his naps around 2/3 weeks ago. When he was having his 2 naps he would usually have a nap around 10.30 or 11 and then it would have been around 1.30 or 2.

Gift your kid juice if you want to 🤷‍♀️ Bizarre thing to jump on.

And definitely should have changed his nappy at 3am. I’m not sure why you wouldn’t.

It was me that suggested CBeebies bedtime sorties, did it work at all to keep him calm?

Really might be linked to the dropped nap as Pippi said.

I really really reckon this is just a phase. Anything you try could elongate it and make it worse. If your routine was working before, stick to it and pray it passes quickly.

Have you seen Lyndsey Hookway on instagram?

@ReeseWitherfork I thought so too especially when I'm asking for sleep/bedtime advice.
I've always changed his Nappy when he has woke in the night, I wouldn't like to wake up feeling wetness and then possibly get irrated skin from it 🥴
It did work eventually, he was calm while laid on me and actually accepted his dummy (instead of launching it across the room like he has been 😂) took 3 attempts to get him down asleep in his cot but we got there!
I didn't know whether to try keep him in his bedroom after his bath tonight, instead of bringing him downstairs like we always have done 🤷🏼‍♀️ no I haven't got Facebook/Instagram.
Luckily he's at the childminders today so I can catch up on some sleep.

Anyone fancy a party? 😂 He is down before 8pm in over a week, with no screaming/crying! Woohoo! 🥳😆 fingers crossed he sleeps for a while 🤞🏻

Fantastic news OP!!! Have you seen him since? All three of mine were asleep and I got a bit excited and then saw one half an hour later 😂

Did you catch up on sleep today? Maybe a less desperate mum was the answer!

@ReeseWitherfork no I hadn't seen him in the time you had messaged. I managed to get a couple of hours sleep while DS was at the childminders but she ended up ringing me about 2.30pm and I picked him up at 3pm instead of 4.30pm as she said he was reallly unsettled.
Luckily we have had a good bedtime and night's sleep the past 2 nights, so hopefully we're back on track now 🤞🏻🙂