20 month old hysterical at night

[PDR]

Last night my DS woke up at midnight screaming like a child possessed and I could not get him to settle back down (tried for 2hrs) so I put him in our bed with me and my DH slept in the spare room.

He was fine then and settled back down to sleep, all be it holidng my hand, cheek to cheek lol so not a good night's sleep for me!

He slept through till 9.30 this morning.

I put him for his afternoon nap back in his oown room with no more than the usual protests this afternoon and he slept for a good 2 hours.

But when I tried to put him to bed at 7pm he just screamed constantly until now (8.30pm) so I took him out of his room and lay him on my bed and he immediately calmed down. I decided to put the travel cot up next to my bed as don't want him in there running about and he is down there now chatting away but at least not screaming!

Is this a "stage"? Should I be just leaving him in his room? He has always been a very good sleeper and has not woken in the night since he was 6 months old.

He def is tired as when I take him out of his cot and lay him on the changing table/my ned, he closes his eyes ready to sleep.

This has coincided with him biting his dummy so hard (for comfort poss?) that the teat has come right off!

What to do???!

Sounds like something has happened that has freaked him out. I wouldn't just leave him to get on with it - he's clearly distressed by something, could be a bad dream - isn't this the age where their imagination starts to take hold? I'd go with what he needs but with an eye on encouraging him slowly back to normal! Good that he's OK in the day - maybe when starting back to his bed you could try travel cot in his room first, try a distraction at bedtime you can leave him with like a moving light, fishtank with lights in it, one of those projection light mobile things, a lava lamp ... just something to take his mind off whatever it was ...? Just an idea.

Was thinking maybe it's to do with the dark? We normally leave him with the very small nightlight on the baby monitor at night (which is nothing really, just a faint glow) so perhaps that's it?

Will order a fancy projection light something or other and see if that helps...

Would explain why he was ok during the day (we don't have blackout blinds).

Seems to have gone to sleep now anyway (in our room).

DH is out but I'm sure he will say I should have left him in his room when he gets back.

I have a 21 month old who has been doing this for about 6 months. He goes to bed like a lamb, no problems with settling, but every night he wakes up screaming between 1am and 3am, and then screams for anywhere between 30 mins and 2 hours .

My HV has told me to now start CC because with baby number 4 due in 3 months time, we really need to get him sleeping - but he's so distressed that I can't bear the thought and more often than not he's ended up in our bed and slept well.

If it's only a one off then I would just do what you can to reassure him - sounds like it could have been a bad dream.

Gosh Panic, 6 months - you must be at the end of your tether!

I am pretty annoyed after 2 nights!

My DS is also very distressed, actual tears and screaming almost like in pain! I even gave him calpol last night in case it was teething pain, but I really don't think it is.

I am rather sleep deprived and am still working, so roll on 5 weeks time when at least I'll be on maternity leave so should be easier to cope with - at least until the baby arrives, and then I'll be back to square one!!!!

Has anything else changed with your DS - diet, environment, bedtime routine etc? Perhaps he's just having a bad dream and it'll be a one off for you - hope that's the case and he sleeps well tonight

Nothing that I can put my finger on.

Apart from the biting dummy issue. I keep finding half bitten ones despite having bought all new ones last weekend.... he only uses them at night/naps so I wonder if he is having bad dreams and using the dummies (he has 3 in bed) as comfort?

This might be the push I need to get rid of the blasted things anyway!

Gosh, you must be shattered. I had a big calendar on my desk at work and I used to cross off the days in red marker pen before I left for my mat leave with DS!

I have to be at work for 8am tomo so am now thinking I might sleep in the spare room (he is in travel cot in my room)!

DH still out. The bugger

Hope you had a better night.

Perhaps it's his back molars coming through - hence the biting? We've been thinking that for ages though, and Calpol, or Medised on desperate nights haven't made the blindest bit of difference..

Sorry to hijack, but Panic, you're not alone. My ds (2) goes through periods of doing this - I thought he'd grown out of it, but has started up again over the last few weeks. I'm really feeling it now - 2 years of sleep deprivation are a killer!

Hi Travellerintime - I guess after two fantastic sleepers we were due a poor one - despite having exactly the same bedtime routine as the other two, he's never been a good sleeper....so I sympathise and feel your pain.

My neighbour's little girl is exactly a week younger than my DS and she's similar - perhaps there was something in the water in 2007 that has created a host of non-sleeping 2 year olds!!

We now have afternoon screaming... I know he's tired but he won't go for his nap.

He doesn't want me to comfort him, he doesn't want a drink and he doesn't want his tea.

I know he is tired bcoz he is sitting on a beanbag now with his eyes closed! But when I go near him he starts screaming again!

Maybe it is his molars coming through... he doesn't each much but I had just thought he was fussy and didn't want to pander to him (ie. he'll eat some cake but not some pasta).

It's too late for a nap now anyway so we'll have to try again nearer bedtime, but he'll be over-tired now which will only make things worse

PDR - has he gone to sleep yet?! I had this last week - he screamed for about 15 hours on and off and flatly refused to sleep in the day even though his eyes were red rimmed - but it did mean that for the first time in a very long time, he slept through - hope your DS does too.

Hi all, if babes continue to be unsettled, why dont you try putting them into the 'big' bed?

I held off on putting my DS into his because I thought he would be unsettled for a while and I wasnt in the mood for coping with that. However he was the complete opposite. He began to settle much easier at night and has only once left the room in the middle of the night.

My friend in work said it was the only thing that settled her child but I was sceptical. Wish I'd taken her advise earlier! If it makes babes more unsettled, you can always put the cot back up!
Good luck

Right. He is asleep in his own room tonight (left bedtime to DH tonight) so we'll see if there's any midnight screaming.....

Big bed is an idea Tras.... some of my frinds with DC the same age have already done this....

Panic - how's your day been? Hope your DS has a good night tonight!!!

Big bed - he's a complete climber and I'd spend my life putting him back into it I'm sure! Still, if everything else fails, maybe I'll think about it....

PDR - have been at work today so the nanny's been here - but apparently he had a 45 min nap at lunchtime - fingers crossed for tonight......hope you have a good night too.

Panic

Slept fine last night

I think you were right about his back molars coming through...

He is more dribbley than normal and the screaming is now also for periods during the day so I think he is in pain.

Hard to tell but when he did it this morning (9am ish) I gave him some calpol which seemed to help.

I have tried looking in his mouth to no avail!

Hope last night was good for you too!

Touching wood, crossing fingers and holding my lucky rabbit's foot and four leaf clover and whispering very quietly but he slept through - and he's currently sleeping now - will wake him up shortly as I've discovered that more than an hour's sleep means he's less likely to sleep through at night.

Glad to hear you had a better night - hopefully this is could be the start of a corner being turned for us both!

Sorry...this could be the start......