1 hour screaming every night

[burtie2u]

Hi All, I know this is very common, but any help and advice will be very much appriciated. DS is 1 year and 1 week old. Up until a few weeks ago he was easy to get to bed at 7, now he just fight's it all the way and I know people don't like CC, but it's the only thing that we can do, although it takes an hour. He also wakes in th middle of the night and takes another hour of CC to get him down. If we pick him up or take him into our bed he's out like a light!! So I know he's not ill or anything, he's teething a little, but feel guilty giving him Calpol or Nurofen to get him off to sleep. Changed from sleeping bag to duvet to see if it helps and it did for one night. Everyone asked just says don't worry it's phase and he will grow out of it, but I'm sooo tired and working full time so running out of steam :-(

Thank you all for your support :-(

Hi Burtie

Not much help or advice, but I do feel for you. Ds would scream during the night for up to an hour throughout his first year - despite me holding him/feeding him etc.

You say he settles if you take him into your bed - if cc is not working, why don't you try this for a bit.

I always resisted this with dd, but with ds I gave up resisting, and it did help (for a bit anyway, and at least we all got more sleep).

Hi Burtie - sounds like a stupid question but is he tired enough? When my DS was a similar age, maybe a month older, he started resisting bedtime and we realised that it was mainly when he wasn't tired enough. I now make sure he doesn't nap after 3pm and it's much better. Around this age they drop the morning nap and often have less daytime sleep - not sure what napping your DS is doing?

My DS was standing up at bedtime and naptime so I would just go and lie him back down. Some nights it seemed to go on forever but 5 weeks down the line it's getting much better.

It could also be the molars on the move. Personally, if my DS is suffering from teeth in the night, I don't hesitate with the Nurofen - I would want it if I was in pain. So don't feel guilty, it won't be forever.

There's so much going on at this age - teeth, starting to walk, talk, separation anxiety. I think they can find it hard to switch off - do you have a good bedtime routine?

I know how hard it is - repeat after me, just a phase, just a phase...

Thank you both, childminder said ds is still having 2 naps during the day, so I will ask if the last one can be dropped. Although he does get a grumpy little monster if he's tired. Another thing my wise old parents said was to check I didn't have the water proof side of the cot bed mattress facing up, as this can be very cold. So I changed that yesterday and last night it only took 10 min to get him down and when he woke at 12.15 it only took about 30 min of cc to get him off. The last time I went in I just pulled the quilt back and he laid down for me and went off!!!! Then this morning he woke at 6.30 the latest EVER. It might have been a one off, but I will see how it goes tonight. Sorry for the sarcastic 2nd response, lack of sleep can make me grouchy. I will let you know how tonight goes.

I agree with arti, it sounds like he's undertired at bedtime. 2 naps during the day could definitely be too much for him. What time are the naps he's currently having? I think at this age a very short morning nap & a longer nap after lunchtime is sufficient. If you give us some more info at the exact times he naps maybe we can help a bit more. As Arti said at this age DCs often start needing much less sleep overall & this can happen relatively suddenly.

The other things to check out (before doing CC) is whether he's actually hungry when he shouts. Is he having enough food/milk during the day? Also, it's very important- and I've learnt this from bitter experience with my own 15 month old DS- that things are kept low key, calm & quiet around the bedtime. On days when we've had visitors just before bedtime, it's always, ALWAYS the case that DS then doesn't sleep well! It's because they get overexcited / overstimulated & then can't quite calm down to sleep well.

If I were you, I'd top up the milk to get him back to sleep as quickly as possible when he wakes in the night, as you don't want him getting used to being awake in the night. Plus if he's awake for 1 hour in the night he'll then of course be tired during the days & it'll be harder to cut down on naps.

If he's cold (as you've mentioned) that may also play a part. Plus teething of course, but that's not usually every night, it's once in a while (you should be able to tell if it's teething, I think).

Hope some of this helps!

(and also if you let us know what time his bedtime is).