Sleep troubles.

[Colinflip]

Hi everyone, our son is nearing his second birthday and has been a brilliant sleeper since about a year old. We had no problems with the bedtime routine and he would regularly sleep right through the night from 7pm - 7am.

Life was good.

We moved him from his cot to a toddler bed at around 20 months. Our friends told us horror stories about the first week in a bed but our son took to it brilliantly, we had no issues then either.

Fast forward to today and the bedtime routine is still good, we have minimal resistance to bedtime and he still enjoys stories and cuddling his teddy as he always did. However, for the last couple of weeks he has been waking up a few hours after being put to bed inconsolably upset, screaming, kicking and ultimately being so overworked that he is sick.

He eventually calms down when we are in the room but the second we think he is asleep and try to sneak out of the room he wakes up and the whole cycle of screaming starts over, now he regularly gets out of bed and follows us out of the room.

What I haven't said is that I work away from home Monday - Friday and it is my amazing wife who has to deal with this mostly on her own.

I want to help her but getting advice and being as supportive as I can over the phone is really all the help I can be.

Has anyone else experienced this sudden shift in sleep behaviour?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice anyone can offer.

Colin

I think 20 months is too early to move from cot to bed. I have not considered the change until at least 3 years old with my children. Toddlers get a surprising amount of comfort and security from being surrounded on all sides in a cot.

So my first suggestion would be a simple one - go back to a cot, give it a week to settle in and reassess then. This may solve things.

Another thought is to use a nightlight or similar. Mine have been around 2 to 3 years old when an emotional development makes them suddenly scared of the dark when they weren't previously. Happed to all three of mine. I have dimmer switches in all bedrooms so the children sleep with the main light on, but dimmed right down. A night light or lamp may work too though.