Midnight piteous howling - seems to be getting worse!

[madamez]

DS is 2.8 and has always been a fairly good sleeper. Lately he has been waking in the middle of the night, crying and distressed. He's done it on and off for a few months, but lately it seems to be a bit worse when it happens. Sometimes he settles down with a back rub, sometimes he cries so much and seems to be in pain that I give him 5ml of Calpol which generally settles him again. Other than this, he doesn't show any signs of being ill during the day, and it doesn't happen every night, just 2-3 times a week. Has anyone else had this happen? Any ideas?

ds does this sometimes too. Not much recently but he does tend to do it more when he is about to get ill.

Ds sometimes fights furiously and doesn't want to be cuddled at all - that is often a sign he is not feeling well but that he is also tired and is annoyed at being woken by whatever is bothering him. It is often impossible to get him to take calpol when he is in this state and the only option is to stay with him while he crys until he calms down (sometimes takes half an hour or more of hysterical crying)

The other possibility is that he is dreaming or having a night terror. Does he recognise you and welcome the comfort or does he not seem to even know you are there. If the former it is probably a nightmare. I think with night terrors the child is less likely to recognise you as they aren't fully awake.

The best thing for nightmares is a cudle and comfort, for night terrors I believe you are suppose to stay with them but leave them to settle themselves as they have no memory of the episode when they wake up and waking them just distresses them more.

He seems to know I'm there - last night (and the previous really bad time) I picked him up and cuddled him, and he clung on to me but wriggled as well - I was sitting in the chair by his cot with him kind of climbing about on me, howling. Eventually I offered him the calpol again and he took it and then went straight back to sleep. He was farting a lot (sorry if TMI) while it was going on so I wondered if it might be trapped wind? I do find (and this is probably really TMI) that I am a fairly flatulent person and maybe he's inherited it...

Bit of a rookie at this parenting game so no advice but bumping for you.

I am sure you have looked at his diet, might there be a connection between
food groups eaten during the day and his night wakings?

ds started getting nightmares at around that age (cue lots of night wailing)

with the wind, try and make sure you're not giving him too much fruit late in the day so say after around 3. Try and give him a milky pudding rather than fruit iyswim.

We started ds on fish oils because his nightmares went on and on and miraculously, they stopped after a few weeks (and came back again when he stopped the fish oils!).

I think they're called Night Frights. Are nightmares really, all my dcs used to shout out at this time, 'Mummy - no!" things like that. Was quite horrific really. It did pass though, and they rarely woke up properly.
If you think it's pain then rub his tummy and look at what he's eating before going to bed. Calpol not strictly necessary though, I don't think.