falling asleep quickly then waking, inconsolable, after an hour

[sabinar]

my 2.5yrs DS will often go to sleep v quickly (within 10mins of going to bed - usually takes at least 30mins). Almost invariably when he goes to sleep this quickly he will wake almost exactly an hour later, crying, and quite difficult to settle back to sleep (he seems v sad).

I'm not sure there's anything we can do to avoid this (it tends to happen when he just gets v tired in the day, sometimes we just can't get him to bed early enough).

I was wondering if you had any ideas why it happens, so we can better understand it. Also, is it a common behaviour?

My DS1 will sometimes wake with inconsolable crying, but not in the pattern you describe it is most likely in the early hours. Like you it seems to be linked to being overtired. Quite often it is as if he is still asleep really and we have to "wake" him up before he will properly calm down.

TBH I have no idea what causes it, I just assume it's bad dreams. Sorry I cant be more use but will be watching to see if anyone knows anymore!

Could be night terrors rather than nightmares. My DS1 gets them. The tell tale signs are that it occurs within 1-3h from going to sleep (nightmares tend to occur anytime but generally middle of night). Inconsolable - very difficult to calm down. With my DS1 he has his eyes open but is screaming, can be shaking, sweating and is just seems terrified. But apparently they're not actually 'awake', they're in a mid-state between sleep cycles and having trouble transitioning between the two. They can sit bolt upright - but still aren't awake. DS1 just sort of snaps out of it (still asleep) and lies back down and doesn't remember anything in the morning. They say its usually better not to disturb them and just let them be as it prolongs it, but for us its better if I just hold him lightly and be there for him. Its always more likely if he's overtired. If it happens with a lot of regularity apparently you can rouse them 30min before you might expect it to occur and that stops it (but ours are too random to know). It doesn't actually mean that they're sad or have something bothering them supposedly - just a physiological sleep phase transition thing as opposed to nightmares which can be things on their minds.

night terrors v common at this age. with dd2 they lasted about 6 mos and then she outgrew.

she was literally terrified. it's something to do with the development of imagination, i think.