15 Mo Old "Weird" Sleeping Issues

Hi-
My youngest daughter did the same thing at that age. It did not last all that long. She was over it before she was two. She is now 4yrs old and sleeps just fine and has for awhile. We never really did determine why she did this, we just did the same thing that you are doing. She got over it on her own. Be patient and keep doing what you are doing.

My twins are 23 months old. They went through a period of time at around 18 months where one would wake up in the middle of the night seeming fully ready for the day, then try to wake the other up to play. We wouldn't get them out, but we did offer them a couple cloth books. Sometimes they'd cry or successully wake the other one up and "talk" across the room, but now we only occasionally hear one get up. It's usually my son, and he will yell out for my husband, then me, then his twin sister, then his big sister, then the neighbor, then Elmo...as if SOMEONE will come get him, if he gets far enough down his list of names. It's actually kind of funny. But then we hear him "reading" his books for a few minutes and he goes back to sleep. He knows for sure (they both do) that we're not coming to play. We will check him if he's upset, though, and lay him back down, pull his music string thing, and offer him his books. Rarely does he get upset when he wakes up ready for the day anymore, so we just hear him play for a bit. I'm not sure that helps you any, but I can kind of relate to what you're going through. My daughter rarely does it, but my son still wakes up at least once every other week just to play and call out for all his people!

Hey D. -

I experienced similar things with all 3 of my children. I agree with how you are handling the situation. My pediatrician suggested we let them cry it out. She will soon learn that night time means bedtime. It's rough - but it took a few weeks for them to get on the right schedule. My pediatrician made it clear that if you give in to her that they will know exactly how much they have to push you until they get their way.

Hope this helps.

My 15 month old does the same thing! Every couple of weeks she'll have a night that sounds just like yours. We do the whole thing... change diaper, give her a little milk, read a book and basically do the nighttime routine all over. It just doesn't work some nights, though. Once I even put my laptop on her floor and we watched part of a cartoon together, thinking if we didn't leave her room she'd understand it's still time to sleep. She was finally sleepy enough to go back down. I figure if it's only once in a while, it's not too big a deal, though I'm exhausted the next day! So you're not alone.

Jen

Are you sure she is asleep? It may be intense dreaming or even night terrors. Their eyes are open and they will talk and walk about (Usually yelling and screaming) in their sleep. My daughter had this a few times. Is something bothering her or has something scared her? Anything "new" to the home that she might be reacting againxt?

Hi,

Could she be having night terrors? My daughter sometimes has them.
Usually if she is overly tired or if she has recently been sick.

She is now 8, but has been having them on & off since she was little.
It is a very bizarre thing to experience. It's almost like sleep walking.
But she'll just sit up in bed and either cry hysterically or sometimes just
laugh her head off. But, she is not awake. After a while she just shuts her eyes and goes back to sleep. There is pretty much nothing I can do to console her.
I just have to wait it out and make sure she doesn't do anything to hurt herself.
Because sometimes she gets out of bed calling for me, but she is asleep,
and doesn't remember any of it the next day.

Does this sound at all like your daughter?

S

my daughter did that too at about 15mo-2 years. I would just sit up with her or let her watch tv while I lay next to her. It drove me nuts too, eventually she would fall asleep. It just went away after a while. I think it's just a phase. Make sure she's had a snack before sleep maybe with a full tummy she will sleep through the night. Also make sure her diaper is the overnight kind, sometimes when they pee it wakes them up.

Too funny, it is great to read all of these replies because my daughter is almost 15 months and has recently started doing the same thing. We are going through a rough patch of teething - not sure if it has anything to do with it, but like many we just let her be because if we go get her, she thinks it is time to play. If she carries on we go in reassure her and lay her back down, but like many others this can go on for over an hour. It's good to know I'm not alone.

I would journal about it journal what foods she has the night and day befor ethe waings wahat she had to drink what you all did and see if there is somehtinglinking them all togehter.
J.

Okay ~ this will be the weirdest reply to your question. My oldest, right about the same age as your daughter, used to wake up like that too. We were told it was night terrors too by the Ped. Everytime I got up to go into her room and try to calm her down, I noticed there was always an "idling truck" making a 4 am delivery to the store behind our house. I walked over to the store to ask if perhaps they could tell the driver to turn off his truck when he makes this run....that was it....the sound was scaring her...it was sort of vibrating the walls in her room -

She could have gone to sleep "overtired" or maybe she had a long nap in the afternoon.??? Don't bring her in your bed, Make sure she's dry and put her back to bed with a soft toy and maybe some quiet music and let her play herself back to sleep. That warm bath is also helpful for all you moms that can't get the children to sleep at night.

Sounds like she could be having Night Terrors. My 3rd son had these. He would wake up screaming and crying and it took a while to calm him down but once he was over it he would be wide awake. His were also ramdom. My friend's daughter had them more often and she is the one who told me what they were. He eventually outgrew them. To make sure he didn't get used to sleeping with us I would lay next to his bed till he fell asleep. My other boys would wake up but luckily they would fall back to sleep right away.

My 21 month old triplets (BBG) do this frequently as well. They are all still sleeping in the same room, so if one wakes up the others sometimes are awaken also. When they wake up it's hard to tell what's going on since we don't do the infrared video monitor thing. It's hard at times for us because one of our sons has hydrocephalus and if he cries excessively we have to check on him. Our other son suffers from IBS and night terrors and gets himself worked up into a sweat and needs to be calmed down, so I don't always get the luxury of ignoring them as much as I'd prefer to.

Then there is my daughter. She seems very similar to your daughter. She will occasionally wake up and be ready to play. She has toys in her crib to play with and she will babble and talk and play sometimes for hours. Sometimes she gets the other two up and playing also and I am often laughing at the sounds through the baby monitor, but I let them be. I figure it's only natural and as they get older they will do this less and less.

On the occasions that it a problem, I will bring her in bed with my wife and I, but she will rarely go back to sleep. She often plays "possum" and waits for awhile until she thinks I am sleeping and then she starts playing and yammering on again. She gets a prompt escort back to her own bed. She'll cry for a bit, but then she goes to sleep.

I don't think this is unusual and you sound like you've got a great plan and attitude toward it, you just have to ride it out I suppose. But I think you're doing great.

Good Luck!

I do almost every other night. My daughter will be 2 in May. I used to be able to lay her down, turn off the lights and the tv and she'd go to sleep with no problem. Now she cries if I turn them both off so I have to leave the tv on til she goes to sleep. And mind u, we sleep in the same room.