My 16 month old Baby wakes at 12am for a 2hr scream

[MissMuldoon1]

Hi all, I have a 16month old who has never been the best sleeper, however we were just finally getting somewhere until the last few nights. He has a hours nap at about 12,30 ish, so i dont think he is having too much sleep.

It started on Friday night he woke up at 12am screaming and no matter what we did, gave him a bottle, changed his bottom, gave him a cuddle, he would not sleep. However my husband picked him up and he suddenly stopped crying, yet when he put him back he cried like bonkers again.

So this has been like clockwork now for the past three nights, as soon as its nearing 12 he is wide awake, please does anyone have any suggestions?

My 16 month old did exactly this last night 12-2am......are they in cahoots?

Oh really? What did you do to finally get them back to sleep? Did they have a bad night last night? (or is it just this beast i have made :-().

Sounds like a phase. My DD went through this and had just come out the other side.

Had a lot of sleepless nights. In the end when she woke up I just brought her into our bed and she went back to sleep.

But it does end.

This has now been going for several nights. inconsolable screaming from 10-12 last night - not even bf-ing or co-sleeping worked - unheard of. Exhausted :-(

Nightlight in case it's fear of the dark?

Calpol to rule out teething?

Or earplugs for you? This too shall pass....

Three hours of screaming here last night. Can't bear it. If a phase how long will it last?

Is the baby screaming in pain or screaming because you are trying to get them to sleep and they don't want to?

When my night wakers were like this, I got up with them for an hour (sometimes 2) after which they had usually settled back to sleep. Sometimes I would give them a weetabix and a drink. No fighting with them to sleep. Then we would go back to bed and sleep until morning. At least this way there was a predictability to it rather than the open ended 'why wont you sleep - how long is this going to take?" At one point I recorded programs in the day to watch during the wakey period. Had occasional times when they fell asleep cuddled and I was a bit peeved as I wanted to know the end of the program I was watching :o

Hope you all find something that works for you. It can be hard going but as others have said 'It passes'.

hey,
What we have done is started to set an alarm for about 20mins before he wakes up to try and then reset him into another sleep cycle. It takes about 4 days before it starts to break the habit.

We saw improvement last night with only a 30 min cry and the night before was a hour.

So what you basically do is go in twenty mins before they usually wake up and stir them a little, what i have been doing is rolling him over just so he wakes slightly and then goes off into a deeper sleep cycle.

This is the advice that our Health visitor gave us.

im 5 weeks in if this a phase. Did cc which is hard but works to get him into bed but he still wakes from 2 am onwards and screams. Yuk. Feeling like crap :-( Hes 18months old a good sleeper previously. Apart from when teething or poorly.

Cc not an option here. Urrrghhhh I so want my baby who sleeps through back

I have a 13 month old DS who is the same! I thought it was a phase but it's been several months now. The time is not predictable though, it can be any time in the night, usually the early hours. Sometimes he'll go back to sleep after milk but then wake up again. He makes up for it in the morning (lie in til 9.30 this morning) but I think we need to start waking him earlier in the mornings so he can't catch up on his night's sleep then. Will do that when I get the strength to! I think the problem is teething, but then I put everything down to that. Good luck with your lo, I will be watching this thread with interest.

Hours of screaming again last night.

I don't have a lot to add, but DS (16 months) has been a bit like this recently - waking up in the night, being quite upset, taking a while to go back to sleep etc.

At the moment, he usually goes back to sleep with some shh-ing, so when he's more persistent, we give him Calpol, then a cup of milk (really just to give the Calpol time to work).

It feels a bit like he goes through phase after phase of sleep issues. I think it helps to remember that - it's kindof like 'This too shall pass.' but modified to 'This too shall morph into something else entirely.'.

With my 16month old if that happens (extended crying on waking-not just waking as he's been a largely unreliable sleeper anyway) I generally assume teething or hunger/growthspurt and give calpol as a little ritual which distracts him from his upset by focussing on the task then followed by small drink of warmed milk in a mug with a straw after which he will happily resettle. Have also found that a good run around the garden, wrapped up against the weather around lunch time leads to better afternoon nap and less night disturbances ....on the whole

Unbelievable. I rarely go into Sleep as my DS is generally speaking a great sleeper and napper, and has been since birth.

BUT... 16 months and last night woke at midnight and screamed almost solidly for 3 hours. In the end left him to cry and ten mins later, asleep. But then woke at 5.15 and would not go down again.

Doing ok as no sleep deficit, but I am dreading a repeat tonight. He has never teethed, so I really am at a loss.