2 year old crying in the night

[VioletLilies]

My 2yo has never been a great sleeper but over the last couple of months we’ve been having more nights where he’s slept through till 5, maybe with 1 quick wake up.

Over the last week he has been crying a lot at night. On the better nights, I’ve not gone 1.5 hours without having to get up, the worst it’s been every 5-10 minutes. I ask what’s wrong but he says nothing.

I wondered if it could be his molars coming through but when I bring him in to my bed he generally calms down and sleeps well then. If his gums were hurting I think he’d keep crying? I don’t think he’s crying to come in with me either as he’s taken a lot of persuasion and keeps saying he wants to stay in his bed, but I want him in mine so I don’t have to keep getting up.

Also thought about night terrors but would he be inconsolable then? I go in and stroke his hair, and he settles back but then cries again a bit later.

I thought we’d finally cracked the sleep and am finding it difficult that he’s gone backwards! Has anyone experienced similar?

My son was like this, I think he was just a light sleeper and anything woke him up. Both DH and couldn’t carry on with getting so little sleep, we got him a camp bed and put it by my side. He still woke up, but no where near as many times as before and it was no bother to us to have him sleep there.

He’s not been a great sleeper so until about 4/5 months ago he ended up in my bed every night. I had to stop it as he was fidgeting so much I still wasn’t getting much sleep. I don’t want to go back to him being in my room after managing to get him out!

My son turns 2 next month and I have no advice but wanted to say our son is exactly the same!

He's in with me currently as I find it easier and need the sleep to function for work. It doesn't seem to be for any particular reason, and he does go back off but then it happens again Within 10 mins! Only thing I can say is, he did this for a week or two late last year then it stopped so I'm thinking it might be a development thing and it'll just stop soon 🤞

DD is 2.5 and cried in her sleep every couple of hours from 6 months old until fairly recently. She wasn't awake but if you left her she would end up waking then be up for 3 hours so we used to get her before she woke up and co sleep which helped. I still have no idea why she was crying, it used to be at the exact same times every night for about a week then change to different times and so on. The mystery of babies!

I just wish they could say what was wrong!!

Is he actually fully awake when he’s crying?

When my DS is teething he sometimes cries in his sleep for a few minutes- I can see him on the video monitor - he cries and rolls around in his cot for up to a minute but then just goes back to sleep.

I know he’s asleep because when he wakes up he always stands up straight away - this is different. I don’t go in because I think that will wake him up more.

@SleeplessInSettle i don’t think so, he doesn’t sit up or anything like he usually would if he wanted me. But if it’s teething, would he sleep perfectly as soon as he’s in bed with me?

Just try him with some calpol before bed and see if it helps. They all have these little phases. You provide comfort which calms him.