Toddler sleep problems

[chezziejo]

Arrrggghhhh

DS is 23 months old and periodically has phases off waking in the night. Hes currently in the middle of one at the moment. We put him to bed at 7pm as he was shattered from Nursery and now he is screaming blue murder. He will not be consoled so back to CC which pains me but seems to work and we were told to do this by HV when he was 16 months old.

The other night it was 23:15 until 01:00 and another other night 00:15 to 03:30. The only thing that helps is putting him the car and driving round a while. Not ideal as you can imagine. The neighbours must get naffed off with it and we are both knackered.

Anybody know why he does this? Is he over tired maybe? He still naps in the day and naps at nursery. He does two full days a week and is well settled there.

I don't think its night terrors as he recognises us and is pretty awake.

(((hugs))) sounds awful for you all!

A few questions for you to see if we can get to the bottom of this:

Can you post your daytime routine so we can see when he wakes, when he naps & how long for?

Does he usually settle to sleep quickly at bedtime?

Is he/could he be teething at the moment?

When he wakes in the night does he start crying immediately & how do you respond?

Can/does he self settle at bedtimes & naptimes?

Weeelll

Hes usually up at sevenish, breakfast, play, walk the dog that sort of thing. Dinner around twelvish and nap between 1 and 2, anything up to two hours.

Afternoon, depends really we go to park if weather ok, play, helps water plants, baking usual stuff. He naps same time at nursery. He has a bath in a morning these days as he started having a meltdown if we did it at night.

He used to self settle at bedtime and naptime. Still does now really its just the frequent waking. He has a dummy at bedtime only.

He could be teething, chewing fingers and last 4 teeth still to emerge. Have given him calpol but no joy. He has a dry cough at the mo, but dosnt seem ill, in the day when not tired usual cheeky self.

When he starts its a whimper usually, and we give him a five min rule generally. If hes still whimpering/crying we go in. If not leave him. However it has been full on screaming just lately. Almost like a tantrum, throwing things and such like. He's wanting cuddles but dosn't want cuddles at the same time. Nothing settles him but the car and its not a habit i want to get into anyway, not at 3am.

COuld it be a growth thing? Hes eating loads better recently and filling out at last and seems to have grown 2 inches suddenly.

Im sure it will pass but at the moment its a bit tough.

Also the neighbours have been known to bang on the wall which i understand but does not help in the slightest.

Thanks for replying

Oh he used to settle quickly at bedtime and naptime but not so much at the mo. up to an hour at mo

And we have tea at 5ish, no sweet things other than yoghurt or fruit which he has always had. After tea, quiet ish things so hes not revved up at bedtime.

I'd say if he's napping between 1-2pm for up to 2hrs then he probably isn't tired enough at bedtime & that's probably why he's taking so long to go to sleep. It may also be why he is waking at night. Although that could of course be entirely coincidental & related to teething rather than routine (esp if he is chewing his fingers atm - those 2yr molars are ouchy)

You could try a slightly later bedtime (say 7.30-8pm). I'm doing this with my 21 month old DS at the mo, he gets up 7.15, naps 1.15-3 (I cap or he isn't tired enough for bed) & BT is 8pm. This is working much better & he now goes right to sleep.

OR

Would you be prepared to try capping his nap a wee bit? Perhaps limit it to 1.5hrs max to start with, give it a good week or 2 to see how he fares & if there is no major improvement, cut it back to 1hr? Keep his bedtime at 7pm & see if he settles more quickly & whether the night wakings reduce/stop.

What do you think?

I would try anything :) did wonder about cutting his nap. Had odd days where he hasn't had one and been mega grumpy and in bed for seven. This isn't usual for him tho to be screamy and I hate not being able to calm him.

We have had a few bedtimes where it's been 9pm as he wasn't tired and you could see that. But tonight he looked shattered. Think your right tho with the teeth or nap shortening or both. Might try brufen as it seemed better with other teeth and he's has suffered with every one of em now I think about it.

Thank you for that. DefInitely lots to think about there xx