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Original poster

18 month old wide awake for two hours in the night - help!

14 replies

purpleprincess · 24/03/2006 10:17

Hi

I've posted on here (or joined other posts) about DD who is not a great sleeper. She sleeps through some nights and then others (like last night) she was awake for a couple of hours - wide awake and yelling, calling out etc I might go in initially to tr and settle her but then leave her and it just goes on! She is very loud so keeps me awake (and DH sometimes) and just seems wide awake. I dont know what to do because none of the sleep books seem to talk about this happening and it is not a case of doing controlled crying etc. I keep her day time naps down to no more than an hour as she maybe doesnt need as much sleep. I could try and put her to bed a bit later but only about 1/2 an hour so dont know if this will make any difference? After not going back off until 4am this morning she was then awake at 7am!

Any ideas please!!!

Thanks

OP posts:
bluejelly · 24/03/2006 10:30

No ideas but lots of sympathy.
What time does she go to bed?

Original poster
purpleprincess · 24/03/2006 10:35

About 7ish - could postpone to 7.30 (but no later) as would interfere with putting DS (4) to bed. I cant imagine that 1/2 an hour later would make much difference to being awake for 2 hours in the night but worth a try I guess! However as she sleeps through some nights and not others who knows!

Ta

OP posts:
Original poster
purpleprincess · 24/03/2006 10:35

About 7ish - could postpone to 7.30 (but no later) as would interfere with putting DS (4) to bed. I cant imagine that 1/2 an hour later would make much difference to being awake for 2 hours in the night but worth a try I guess! However as she sleeps through some nights and not others who knows!

Ta

OP posts:
bluejelly · 27/03/2006 08:18

This is just a thought, but when I was on a diet recently ( smaller portions, not many carbs etc)I kept on waking up around 4 am starving hungry... Sometimes it happens if I have a heavy session at the gym, even if I have a biggish dinner...
Is she getting enough food in the run-up to bedtime?

lunarx · 27/03/2006 14:02

oh my, purpleprincess; i could have written your post here.
my son, now 21 months, has had on and off sleep problems. same thing, frequent waking during the night, loud talking, cot-kicking, hitting the wall, shouting for us, but NOT crying.

this started when he was 18 months old. and we tried lessening his daytime nap to an hour, making his bedtime later. he gets plenty of exercise and out and about time, so none of these things helped. (i dont want to discourage you!)

you could offer a small snack before bedtime. and stick to a bedtime routine as much as you can.

my ds has woken the last 2 nights but before that he slept thru (7am-5.30am) for 6 nights. so its not a constant thing for him either. my hv recommended us to go to a sleep clinic, but im not able to get to it during the times they run it:( maybe ask your hv about a local sleep clinic? also have you had your dd checked out by your GP, just to rule out any possible medical problems? (we did this and my GP said that if it was medical the waking would most likely be nightly)

i empathise. completely. hang in there...

Original poster
purpleprincess · 27/03/2006 14:09

Thanks for your mails. She hasnt done it since last Thursday and interestingly she hasnt eaten a huge amount either - seems to have gone off stuff like shepherds pie and would rather pick at the peas and sweetcorn but that is another thread! However she does have a heavy cold so maybe the medised the last few nights has helped although that only lasts for a few hours I would imagine. Havent managed to speak to my health visitor yet - typically she phoned while i was on the phone on Friday!

Thanks again - trouble is while it isnt happening I dont think about it (iyswim) then suddenly if she does wake the next day i remember and try and do something about it.

PP

OP posts:
lunarx · 27/03/2006 14:20

ahh food fussiness :( ds just turned down a nice homecooked lunch :( very deflating. he ate only some peas.

aww:( sorry she isn't well. i hope it passes soon....

:nods: i am the same way, when ds sleeps thru, i tend to forget!!

(i didnt add in my first response: is that although he wakes both me and dh up, we usually just leave him to it :( but we are guilty of getting him and bringing him to bed and giving him milk Blush)

hope you get in touch with your HV soon!!

Original poster
purpleprincess · 27/03/2006 14:27

Just spoke to my HV - not much use. Some kids just do thia and there is not much you can do about it (helpful!). Except she did say to make the cot 'non-stimulating' - i.e. no toys to play with as she will wake up and play with them. DD only has a few cuddly toys in there. She also said the usual - dont talk or make eye contact, give drinks (whoops sometimes water!) as this is a reward and can get into a habit - you have been told Lunarx! So basically we are doing the right thing and she will just have to grow out of it. We could try giving her some extra food but at the moment this doesnt seem to be working too well!

She is also sending some stuff through the post about sleep stuff.

Fingers crossed for tonight for everyone!

OP posts:
lunarx · 27/03/2006 14:53

Ohh i know we shouldnt give him milk, but when its been night after night of no sleep... well! we see that as the least of all evils! (we dont give him milk everytime he wakes up!)

sorry your hv wasnt much help :(

yes, fingers crossed!

Original poster
purpleprincess · 27/03/2006 15:27

Seems we will just have to grin and bear it and hope she grows out of it!

Good luck

OP posts:
lunarx · 27/03/2006 19:30

thanks!! :) i keep telling myself that this too shall pass!!!!

Original poster
purpleprincess · 29/03/2006 16:50

Update for Lunarx

Unfortunately she didnt sleep well (and hence neither did we!) on Monday night. She was fairly unsettled during the evening and then woke up after we had gone to bed. Produced fairly large dirty nappy at about 12.30 and then was awake for about another hour despite giving her Medised at this point!

Slept through completely last night - didnt eat any lunch yesterday but did have reasonable tea. Not that this makes any difference!

HV sent some stuff through that I had read before (about middle of the night screaming and controlled crying) and excerpt from Toddler Taming Book!

Ho hum....

OP posts:
lunarx · 30/03/2006 10:55

hihi:)

we have the toddler taming book and i read the bit on sleep and (imo!) it didnt do much!! but.. you never know!! i think they just have to grow out of it (i hope!!)

ds slept thru last night, but was up the previous 3 nights, but not as loud as before (i actually slept thru him being awake on tuesday night!) dh didnt though :S

i think ds slept thru last night because he had an hour or more of good outside run around time... he was tired at 5pm! (but i kept him up til 7pm)

good luck tonight and keep letting me know how you get on and we'll do the same!!:)

lunarx · 07/04/2006 08:39

how have you been getting on, purpleprincess?

ds has woken one or two times a night in the last week (or so).. but isnt being as loud, no shouting out... and when dh goes in the room and says firmly, "Calvin, sleep!". the noise stops and all can sleep again! i hope he is growing out of it:)

hope all is well (& restful) at your household! =D

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