Hi,
Our 20 month old has never been the best sleeper but recently (the last few weeks) he has been waking at the same time every night (12.30) and crying hysterically. I did think it was bad dreams but comforting him with our voices, back rubs, cuddles etc does not seem to help- in fact he just gets more angry! Leaving him doesn't work- we always wait 5-10 mins to see if it is just a sleep cry (which he does also do) but if i leave him longer than that he just works himself up. The ONLY thing that works to calm him down and get him back to sleep is a bottle of milk (he is on cows milk and usually has a small bottle in the morning and a larger one at bedtime, before bath)
I KNOW we shouldn't be giving him a bottle in the middle of the night at almost 2yo-and I fear we are creating a new habit by doing so- but I am 29 weeks pregnant and working, and just desperately want to get him back to sleep so I can go to sleep too.
This week I put a brighter nightlight in his room in case it is connected to being scared when he wakes, and for the first night it seemed to have an affect- he woke, cried a little bit but then went back to sleep. But last night we were back to escalating hysteria. He does seem very tired and like he wants to go back to sleep when he does this.
Does anyone have any similar stories of this phase (please let it just be a phase?!) or advice please? I feel like the clock is ticking to get this sorted before I have a newborn to deal with at night as well... gulp.
Thank you.