My 2 year old son (somewhere between 2 1/4 & 2 1/2!) has suddenly started waking in the night for about the last month or so. We’re really lucky that he’s previously been a dream sleeper, you put him to bed & don’t hear anything from him until morning so struggling with how best to deal with it.
He won’t always wake but when he does he’ll stand up in his cot crying & screaming for mummy or daddy, we leave it a couple of minutes as you can usually tell by then if he’ll go back to sleep or not. If he won’t we go in & he often just wants something like another teddy or his nightlight turned on or off (or in bed with him!) or a book 🤦♀️. Not things that are exactly essential at 2am.
When we go in I literally ask what’s wrong, sort it out if something simple like he’s lost his teddy in the bed or wants a drink then I’ll sort it and say goodnight again then leave & he’ll usually settle, I don’t make a big deal or give him lots of attention or let him get out of bed. It’s when it’s something ridiculous like tonight he wanted his night light actually in bed with him which obviously he didn’t get & then I struggled to get him back to sleep & we’ve both been awake for well over an hour 1/2.
We also have a 3 month old baby so with this & her waking up I’m starting to really struggle sleep wise. My husband does as much as he can but I’m breastfeeding the baby & often the toddler just won’t be consoled unless it’s me. We both do the same thing whichever one of us goes into him so we're being consistent.
He’s had a lot of change recently with the new baby & moving rooms at nursery so not sure if it’s just a phase. Sometimes you’ll go in & he doesn’t even know what he wants, just wants you there & will literally stand there going ‘ummmm’ when you ask what he needs.
We keep everything as it was when he fell asleep eg. Night light on or off, teddy in bed or not but that makes no difference. I don’t mind at all if it’s because he really needs something but not when he just fancies looking at a book!
We’re about to move him into a new bedroom with a toddler bed he can get out of rather than cot bed so keen to try and improve the situation before then.
Not sure if it could be linked but he’s recently started to drop his daytime nap or really resisting it until it’s later in the afternoon. Previously he’d wake up at 8am ish, nap about 2 or 2.30pm for at least 1 1/2 hours then go to bed by 8. Now he wakes up about 7.30 sometimes later (in now way complaining about that!), naps 3 at the earliest - if I try any earlier he just wails in his cot - or refuses altogether & is then in bed by 8 but waking at night. I don’t think he’s really quite ready to drop his nap yet but after 20 minutes of him just standing there crying in his cot I admit defeat! There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to napping and waking at night, sometimes he naps & wakes other times he naps & doesn’t.
Not expecting a miracle solution but just keen to hear if anyone has any advice or tips or has been through something similar. The interruption to his sleep is making getting him up & out for nursery difficult as he’s tired & we sometimes have to wake him to get there in time.
Would really appreciate any input.!