Toddler suddenly waking up histerical at night

littlemissfixit

I have a 19 month old, and today is my due date for my second child so I badly need all the sleep I can get. She has always been a great sleeper, she goes down between half 7 and 8pm, has a 1h30/2h nap in middle of day, always fall asleep by herself, and in the past, even if she woke up at night we very rarely had to go in, she would sooth herself back in a matter of minutes.
Only this week, she woke up at 1am and started crying, I let it go at the start but she then became histerical so I went in to check on her, she seemed fine but a bit shaken, so I thought she must had nightmare, so I consoled her and went to leave again as I would normally have done. But as soon as I was leaving she went histerical, standing up again. Went out and let it a few minutes, tried again... it went on until 4am at which point I was at breaking point myself so got her up and went in spare room where she went to sleep no problem. Which confirmed to me there was probably nothing wrong with her physically, maybe just scared etc.

A couple nights later it happened again, and the following night again (last night), probably just days from going into labor I cant stand the idea of spending nights up at this stage.

I know its fairly common at that age to start waking up at night but, as it happened to you, what did you do, how long did it last?

My hubby and I have made a plan of breaking the habit by not picking her up, leaving more time between each time we go in, even though it will mean a good few sleepless nights now, at the very worst possible time, but a little reassurance would be more than welcome!!

Inquitus

littlemissfixit wrote: »

I have a 19 month old, and today is my due date for my second child so I badly need all the sleep I can get. She has always been a great sleeper, she goes down between half 7 and 8pm, has a 1h30/2h nap in middle of day, always fall asleep by herself, and in the past, even if she woke up at night we very rarely had to go in, she would sooth herself back in a matter of minutes.
Only this week, she woke up at 1am and started crying, I let it go at the start but she then became histerical so I went in to check on her, she seemed fine but a bit shaken, so I thought she must had nightmare, so I consoled her and went to leave again as I would normally have done. But as soon as I was leaving she went histerical, standing up again. Went out and let it a few minutes, tried again... it went on until 4am at which point I was at breaking point myself so got her up and went in spare room where she went to sleep no problem. Which confirmed to me there was probably nothing wrong with her physically, maybe just scared etc.

A couple nights later it happened again, and the following night again (last night), probably just days from going into labor I cant stand the idea of spending nights up at this stage.

I know its fairly common at that age to start waking up at night but, as it happened to you, what did you do, how long did it last?

My hubby and I have made a plan of breaking the habit by not picking her up, leaving more time between each time we go in, even though it will mean a good few sleepless nights now, at the very worst possible time, but a little reassurance would be more than welcome!!

This happened with our middle boy, he woke up almost everynight hysterical at about 2-3am, from sometime after 12 months to about 2.5 years. That period was one of the toughest of our lives as lack of sleep plays havoc with you. We never figured out what it was bar some sort of assumption it was "night terrors", and it just went away of its own accord.

xzanti

Does she eat a lot of cheese in the evening times?

Cheese gives me terrible nightmares.. I never give it to my Son past dinner time for this reason.

Bit out there, but could be a possibility.

NIMAN

Not quite the same, but my little boy of nearly 2 and a half, has now started opening the blackout blinds in his room in the middle of the night, then heading back to bed. Thankfully no shouting or crying or anything, yet.

He was always a good sleeper at night, never any bother getting him to bed. He would wake occasionally during the night but would spend maybe half an hour banging his legs off the mattress, then fall over again.

I think maybe he is developing a fear of the dark? Might be same in your case?

wmpdd3

I would have said teeth, does sje have her back teeth? My little one would wake up hysterical but clam when she put her head on my chest. I tried calpol and sje stopped, it was nearly 8 weeks later when she finally got 4 back teeth. We also noticed she was putting her cheek on the side of the car seat to releave the pian during the day.

elaney

Same here with the teeth my fella is 23 months but for the last few months he has been getting his back teeth. He has an off week every month or so thankfully them are making an appearance now.

How Strange

Our lad is doing this too lately and he's 15 months. Some nights he's just awake and wants to play. Other nights he's hysterical and inconsolable. I think on those nights it's nightmares or night terrors. One night a few weeks ago he was in an awful state but was still asleep. It's not every night thankfully as it can take a long time to resettle him.

edellc

my little man has been doing similar for as long as I can remember at this stage and he is nearly 21mths, im so sleep deprived i feel like a walking corpse

probably not the right thing to say but the only way it stops for me is to take him into bed with me and sometimes he settles then i put him back into the cot, if he doesnt settle then a nappy change and a bottle then i let him fall asleep with me before transferring him back to his cot...he wakes most nights at half one, and goes to bed at 8, he can be awake for 10mins or he could be awake for 2hours it just depends

oh the joys of being a parent

littlemissfixit

Blamed the teething for a bit, or upset stomach, but at the third night in a row, I was pretty sure this was just my toddler playing us to be picked up and brought to the bed, so it went to operation cruel to be kind.
At 12h30 she woke up, I waited a few minutes when the crying stepped up a noch, went in, give her the soother a little pat on back and a kiss and left. She went mental. We waited 5 min, my husband went in, same thing. We waited 10 min, I went in, same thing, waited 15 went in, back to bed watching the clock for the 20 min. After about 15 min. the crying calmed down, heard her settling back down in her bed, and she went to sleep until the morning.
All in all, only 45 min. I expect to have to do it again, but at least we know it works. I wont lie, its heart breaking, you really have to be in a determined mood and make sure you wont make excuses for the child (after being sure there is nothing really wrong with them of course).

I would recommend to anybody to give it a try!

ezra_pound

Hi,

I'm a Dad by the way! Our two year old gave us terrible trouble for about two months from 18 to about 20 months. Her routine basically went haywire around this time (she wouldn't go to sleep until really late during this period and was really difficult every night). She's now about two and has had a really good routine ever since she got over that bad period.

I recommend that you google "18 month sleep regression". Basically it is quite common for sleep and routine to get disturbed during this period however like all other things baby-related it can be to different extremes and durations for different children. Once we found info about it on the net we relaxed realising that it was normal and just focused on getting the routine straightened out.

It's just another stage of parenting that was quite hard but thankfully doesnt last forever.

Good luck.