16 months - night's all over the place, what is going on??

[Weegle]

I think I'm finally reaching my sanity limits on this one! DS is nearly 16m and each night he goes to sleep about 7pm usually no problems. Then most nights he wakes screaming once or twice at some point in the night - most likely between 4 and 5am but has been 8.30, 10, 1, whatever. Sometimes we can settle him and he's back to sleep within 15 minutes but other nights it can take up to two hours. He is up for the day any time between 6/6.30 but if it's been a bad night it can be later. We are just so tired. It is literally distraught screaming. From 7 to 20 weeks he slept 7-7 and since then it has gone through phases but never gone back to that. We keep putting it down to teething but this is normality now and I just can't continue with the sleep deprivation . Any ideas?

Umm, I have memories of my first son having 2 hour wakeful times in the night, crawling around saying his one word. I put it down to extra brain activity.

My second had a similar period around 17 months old, real restlessness in the night, waking a lot, feeding often, far too often. On nights he didn't do this he would wake for the day at 5 or 5.30am. Arrrgghhh.

I gave it a name, the Frenzy, and for me that was the worst waking really and my two settled down (relatively) after that.

The tiredness is the pits though.

One thing I did with one of them was give calpol before going to sleep, as he'd scream and writhe with teething pain so I couldn't give it when he woke with teething pain. My other never suffered at night in quite the same way.

HTH

Hi weegle, my dd is nearly 17 months and she has been doing this lately too. She is usually asleep by 7.30 and some nights she sleeps really well. On other nights though she half-wakes crying and sometimes is almost screaming she is so upset. A couple of times lately I have had to take let her get up for around half an hour before she would settle again. Some one told me they start to dream around this age so maybe that is the cause. We are still co-sleeping and I would like to move dd to her own bed now but she is so unsettled at the moment that I don't want to risk it and have it go badly. It seems like we never get a break. Up to recently she slept well through the night but was a nightmare to settle and now she settles well but wakes up so upset. I just tell myself it will soon pass and she is still very young.

thanks girls! I know it will pass but it just seems to be going ON and ON. I am so fed up. Last night it was 10.45pm and 5.40am with thereafter just sleeping in 20 min bursts on me but clearly still so tired. I do often give him calpol or calprofen before bed (or even in his sleep before I go to bed) but I feel like we've been doing it so often and this can't all really be down to teething can it?? My gut feeling says teething but none of his peers seem to be suffering to anything like the same extent.

Weegle, I found that the molars gave my two a lot of trouble, DS1 at night and DS2 during the day....the details are begining to float back up through my memory.

Trust your gut feelings.

Maybe those other little ones arn't suffering so much, not all children experience it in the same way.

poor you my ds seems to have just got over the same thing, he's 17mo. we took loads of things out of his room as we thought he might be scared, tried sitting with him, leaving lights on etc but he still screamed. One night he just stopped. Sorry that's not much help for you how to get him to sleep but he might just stop on his own.
good luck

I've been searching for similar threads myself !!! DS 15 months - for the past two weeks his night wakings have been random and will be up sometimes for 2 hours at a time. He wakes up screaming, might calm down for 10 mins and then it just goes on and off. I go in, he calms down,I leave he starts up - sometimes though this is enough for him to calm down and go back off after another 5 mins of crying after I've left. .Other times it doesn't. There is no pattern to the waking and I have not found a way of successfully resolving it each time - it's stressful and I'm knackered. We do however have 2 eye teeth coming (have you had a feel around inside his mouth??) and I wonder if the pain just wakes him up. In the day I suppose he'd just start crying.
I feel a bit like I did when he was first born !!
Let me know if you find a magic solution ?!

well last night was horrendous after a day where his behaviour was appalling. Me or DH were up most the night with him and absolutely nothing has helped. However I am now sure teeth are the major factor. His two lower canines are bulging and obviously working their way up. Poor mite is clearly distraught with pain and calpol and calprofen don't seem to be hitting the spot. I feel better though just for being able to assign a reason to it. Just wish this blinking teething malarky would end though, the lack of sleep and his volatile behaviour is really getting me down , I'm finding this period the hardest of his life so far, way harder than new born!

am having similar with my 12mth old. he WAS sleeping through, oh, those blissful nights!, 7 til 6.
he wakes 3 or 4 times a night sometimes, was up for an hour yesterday night, 30 mins last night. am exhausted again.
i am pondering one of 4 options:
is he dropping a nap? (yours are older, have they done that? are they down to 1 nap a day?
has he got dependent on me as a prop? (last month or so he will only go to sleep with me or his dad touching his back. when he wakes he usually goes straight back down with a touch.)
teeth? (he has 6, is overdue another 2)
or nightmares?

Am also having similar trouble with 17month DD. Kind of relieved to hear it's not just me - sorry! Mind you , DD has never been a wonderful sleeper, but just lately has been waking up much more unsettled and harder to put down again. Am so used to it I just tell myself it won't always be like this
When do they start dreaming? Was wondering if she was having nightmares?