11m old keeps sitting up and crying 100 times a night!

[Exworrier]

My DS is 11m, he was on the late side with crawling, started as he just turned 11m (as did DS1) and he’s only recently got “going” properly, sitting from crawling, attempting to pull himself up on things etc he’s 99th centile so it’s a lot of work for him!

He has never been a good sleeper but these past few days have been absolutely soul destroying. He sleeps in a sleeping bag and he will sit up in his cot and just wail at the top of his lungs, I will go in and lay him back down give him his comforter etc, he will snuggle down and then the same thing happens 5 minutes later. Repeat 100 times. Last night he was awake at 3am until almost 6am with this, wailing the whole time and getting more and more overtired. At one point there was a bang and I ran in and it looked like he had fallen backwards and bumped his head on the cot bars. By this point he was inconsolable and I had to hold him and give him a bottle to get him back down to sleep finally (then DS1 was up at 6.45 🥹)

is this a phase? Does anyone have any words of wisdom / practical advice? I have wondered if the sleeping bag is hindering him being able to lay back down, it is quite flumpy 2.5togs. He hates being put into it also and will screech.

Anything anyone can offer is very much appreciated 🙏

When practising new skills, they do it in their sleep as well. He probably finds his body doing it before he's even aware. It's normal. His brain is telling his body to practise getting up and mobile. If he could, he'd probably be on his feet!

Perhaps try without the sleeping bag to see if a bit more freedom of movement lets him settle himself.

You need to stop encouraging this by running to him every time.He needs to learn to settle himself

@fUNNYfACE36 we have sleep trained him before and he is able to settle himself usually but this is something else, this wailing is top of his lungs stuff, not the average moany cry. I can’t leave him.

@ShowOfHands thank you, this is helpful to know.

Mauve developmental?
Is lo teething? I always poke my finger in my lo mouth to see if she has teeth coming through during unsettled periods to look for lumps and bumps.
Maybe in pain?
What's naps like

I would stop using the sleeping bag. Take him into bed with you and you’ll all get some sleep.

Advice like this always makes me laugh. You're not going to get any sleep with a 99th centile 11m old who's practicing moving in your bed.

Mines a little older than yours by a couple of months but we’ve ditched the sleeping bag because he just wasn’t happy in it and gone for a pillow and duvet. It’s ridiculous how much better he sleeps now! I know yours is a little too young but something to keep in mind.

@MolliciousIntent I completely disagree. Cosleeping saved my life. My son would sleep so much better next to me.

Agree, take baby to your bed and stop getting up at night. I was far too lazy to be getting up and leaving my bed to settle him!

Agreed.

All hail cosleeping as the answer to all of the world's problems.

Mine had sleep apnea (large tk sils/adenoids) hence the waking g screaming.

People's well meaning suggestions of patting them doesn't work when they're sat upright crying.

We did end up doing a mix of co sleeping and taking it in turns to settle.

It was a complete nightmare. Once tonsils were out and she'd recovered - slept through! Which did show me all the tough love in the world would never have worked and she did need that comfort.

Co sleeping was no sleeping in our

Sorry! Co sleeping was no sleeping in our house. DC just wanted to play.

Try a night with pillow and duvet see if it helps Leave door open with night light on.

God I could have written this OP except mine is cosleeping and she has to be carried out of the bedroom every time she wakes up to avoid waking DH or DC1. She just wants to latch all night long which means zero sleep for me.

In your situation I wouldn’t go backwards to cosleeping to solve this as he might stop settling in his cot at all which is where we are at. I think there’s an 11 month sleep regression, at least that is what I am hoping.

I'd also see if a different sleeping arrangement helps. Every baby is different so it is just experimentation really.

I would absolutely assume something is hurting for his behaviour to change so markedly. I would check his teeth, and try a dose of cal pol to see if it helped. And ditch the sleeping bag now he is more mobile too.

I'd say ditch the sleeping bag. I wouldn't advise Co-sleeping if you're in any way a light sleeper - just moving an unsettled sleeper and/or delaying the problem. At some point you'll be trying to get them out of you're bed and that's a whole new world of hell.

Don’t just leave him to wail, the above comment is just cruel.
babies this age are going through massive stages of development, their teeth hurt, they can be in pain from wind still.. etc etc.
We used to cosleep when things were bad, though I always settled them in their cots for the first part of the night.
I’d try a thin blanket tucked over the sleeping bag and failing that, a duvet. It’s pretty chilly, are just arms getting cold?
also, I fed all mine til 16 months in the night. Could he be having a growth spurt and he’s just plain hungry?

Wonder about ear infection?

Ear infection causing pressure and pain or infected adenoids or enlarged tonsils causing sleep apnea would be my guess.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Definitely won't be co sleeping, nothing against it at all but just not for us.
He does now have a cold, so wonder if this is contributing. He wasn't AS bad last night with DH. He woke at 3am, had some milk and then sat in his cot talking for about 40mins, no wailing and then he put himself back down to sleep so I wonder if it is developmental. I'm going to get one of those sleeping bags with feet to try though.

My LG recently started doing the same thing! She's just turned 1 a couple of weeks ago but she's been able to sit herself up since she was about 8 months old so it's definitely not a new skill she's trying to perfect. Like yours she has always been a terrible sleeper, especially with naps. Over the course of many long months we've tried everything from walking for hours while she slept in the pram to co sleeping and contact napping but we finally got to a place where she would settle in her cot for both naps and bed time! She was still in our bedroom and we were about to move her to her own room and she started doing this! Please tell me this was a phase in your case and that there's hope for us too! 😭