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Toddler waking in middle of night for hours......... Help!

4 replies

mummamoo · 14/06/2006 07:32

I just don't know what to do.... Our DS keeps waking in the middle of the night and talks, shouts, laughs, basically recites his whole day but for around 2 hours in the middle of the night. If he's not reciting his day, he's calling for me and then crying and then talking to himself which keeps me and DH awake. The awful thing is that we have a DD who is 13 weeks old and is like an angel, sleeping all night so DS is really getting me down. I'm not good when tired and have been awake since 4am this morning so today is going to be awful... I just know it. In a couple of hours DS is going to be very cranky and defiant and mean to his sister and I won't be able to handle it as well as I should as so tired and basically irritable. I know I should be calm and relaxed and 'adult like' but end up getting cross and losing it which doesn't help the situation at all.

I've tried a sticker chart for sleep as birthday coming up and if sticker chart gets full he gets a bouncy castle at his party - things have improved as not a nightmare every night now but only two or three nights a week. Help me.... has anyone else had this problem. DS is 3 at the end of this month and starts pre-school just after his birthday. How on earth will he cope at school if he's been up half the night? BTW if he wakes up at 2am for a couple of hours, he tends to sleep until 8/9am (rather than the usualy 6/7am). He does have a good bedtime routine with bath, stories and bed at 7pm.

We moved house at the beginning of this year and had our DD in March but DS has been like this since before our move and before DD was born so don't think that could have unsettled him... Really don't know what to do... sorry for waffling.... Any advice would be very much appreciated.

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wellsie · 14/06/2006 09:11

We've had the same problem since December and baby no.2 is due in 2weeks. DS doesn't wake every night but when he does he is awake for 2hrs and when he does go back off to sleep he will stay there until 8ish.
DS is in a bed and so gets up and comes into our room, we always return him to bed but this could be a countless number of times. We've tried the strict approach, the no eye contact approach, the loving approach but nothing has worked. When he is having a disturbed night we have just come to accept that for the next 2hrs we are going to be doing the return to bed dance Sad
There is no pattern to his waking but like you it's about 2-3 times a week. Am getting worried about how we are going to cope when new baby arrives but figured we'll just have to.
I'm sorry I don't have any words of wisdom but wanted you to know you are not alone, in fact I posted a thread a couple of months ago about this very subject and you'd be suprised how many of us are being sleep deprived by a toddler. I think once he starts going to pre-school your DS will become so tired that he'll need his sleep.
Good luck.

mummamoo · 14/06/2006 09:28

Hi Wellsie, thanks for posting this message. It's kinda good to know we're not alone. My DS doesn't get up, he stays in bed... which is good but he's just so loud... it drives me nuts.
Sorry you're going through this. Maybe the answer is to give it no attention. At the moment I drone on about it all day and they say negative attention is still attention... maybe I'll try that and see how I get on.
Try not to worry about baby number 2. I found that when my DD needed feeding in the night I was up anyway and my DS's waking didn't seem so bad and DD is so good now so my stress during pregnancy with house move etc didn't affect her at all, in fact maybe it helped her be so relaxed? Good luck with the new baby and try not to worry. x

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henners · 14/06/2006 12:35

My DD aged 19 months is driving us mad with 1 - 3 hour wakes at night! Is she hot, teeth, too noisy, hungry? The list is endless. I am at work having done a 2 1/2 stint last night & feel like death! What is the answer? She used to sleep well, no real disruptions, but we are moving house in 6 weeks so that should add disruption! Maybe it might make her sleep!!!

mummamoo · 14/06/2006 21:03

:( Poor you. Really feel for you and hope it improves. Going to bed in a mo incase it's another early start tomorrow! Take care x

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