12 month old waking up screaming

[jord98]

My 12 month old little boy has never been a good sleeper but his sleep is just getting worse, he wakes up about 6 times a night hysterically crying throwing himself out my arms if I pick him up, he does eventually settle but then he's up every 2 hours or so crying again, he has paracetamol and teething gel before bed and on the odd occasion when he wakes up in the night I've put the teething gel on again but it doesn't make a difference so I'm unsure if it's his teeth that are causing him pain, he goes to bed absolutely fine with no fuss and wakes up happy regardless of his disturbed sleep, he had colic and reflux when he was a baby could it be this? I am exhausted I am just running on empty and I feel so sorry for him too! I know babies wake up in the night and I wouldn't be concerned if he was just waking for comfort but he is screaming!

what Time is he napping & for how long? What time is bedtime?

He wakes up between 5am and 6am, naps about 9am for an hour and a half, and then he sometimes naps if I'm in the house (he will only nap in the house) at about half 1 or 2 o'clock for about 40 mins to an hour, if I'm out the house in the afternoon he won't nap so will go asleep about 6pm, if he has his afternoon nap he goes to bed about 7pm-7:30pm

Two things come to mind:

1. He's horrendously overtired which is causing the frequent wakes (I think this is most likely). Your routine is a bit odd - he is sometimes going from 10.30 until 6pm with no nap? Or 10.30 to 7.30 with only 40 mins sleep? My daughter (nearly 16 months) would be losing her mind! I would move the first nap to 8/8.30 based on his wake up time, wake after 30 mins, and then put him down for another nap around 12pm, aiming for 1.5-2 hours.

1. He could be teething. If this is the case you will need to give him calpol or neurofen overnight rather than when he settles. Their pain worsens when they're sleeping and calpol/neurofen only has an effect for 4 ish hours.

Good sleep breeds good sleep. I think his naps may be an issue. Have they always followed that pattern?

neurofen better for teeth than calpol. And Anbesol gel, not liquid.

Sorry!! Anbesol liquid, Not gel. Gel slides about.

Is it night terrors? Does he actually seem awake and like he knows you are there?

Thank you! 😊 So if I wake him up at 2pm from his nap what time would you say to put him to bed?

I'd go for in bed by 7 if he wakes at 2. You might find he starts sleeping later in the morning - overtiredness tends to result in early wakes too. Good luck!

Don't cut the first nap. I saw a sleep consultant and she said that the first nap of the day is very restorative and all the online routines and guides are mad to say to cut that nap as that's the nap which will get later and progress into the main lunch nap with a little top up in afternoon (which eventually will be dropped). Also, if you cut the first nap it never guarantees that you will get a good second nap. I would give him a longer afternoon nap.

Second this- my own son at 14 months always has a morning nap when he’s at home, two hours after waking, although they don’t bother in nursery. As a result his second nap also generally quite a lovely chunk of time too. However the baby I looked after as a nanny, they threw his morning nap out the window at 11 months (because Gina Ford said so) it was not good, he was a little ball of fury at not having that nap, and it took him weeks and weeks to transition into Judy one lunchtime nap.