Hi all,
I am hoping someone can answer my question because I think I am slowly becoming depressed.
My 19 month old was a good night sleeper until around 13 or 14 months when he started waking during the night. Before that he has been a pretty consistent sleep through the nighter from an early age. My DH of course, have done all the wrong things and have been giving him a bottle of milk which seems to settle him quickly. However, it seems to have got worse. Some nights he doesn't wake at all and we recently had a week where he slept through every night. However, this week it's been back to waking around 3am or 4am every morning. It's like an alarm goes off in his head and he is up. He sometimes falls asleep in our bed but it means I don't get much sleep.
Last night however he woke at 10pm and then basically every hour crying. It seemed he was in pain and it kept waking him up because I could go in there and stroke his back and he would start snoring again but then wake again in 30 or 40 minutes. Eventually we brought him into our bed at 3am and he slept until 7am.
I have racked my brains trying to think what it could be. Teeth, upset stomach?? Cold, hot, too much day time sleep, not enough day time sleep. (He naps once a day from anywhere from 45 min until 2.5 hours depending on what he decides).
What's worrying me is (a) that we are creating bad habits and he is now just in the habit of waking up; or (b) he is in pain and I can't identify the source of the pain; or (c) I am just a useless mother who is doing everything wrong.
What is most confusing is he seems to slip out of the waking for a week or a couple of nights and then starts again. My DH and I are really starting to wonder what on earth is going on.
any advice, thoughts etc would be much appreciated.
Emma