My two year old son who has always been a good sleeper (started sleeping 12 hours a night at 2.5 months) has all of a sudden started waking up screaming in the middle of the night. We have not changed or done anything different so I'm not sure where this is coming from. About 3 weeks ago he had tubes put in his ears and a few days after that is when he started getting up during the night. I really don't think it is related to that at all but that is the only thing that has changed in his life in the past few weeks. Anyone have any idea's why he would be doing this all of a sudden? When he wakes up my husband or I go into his room and either hold him for a few min. or we just rub his back and then he is usually just fine and goes back to sleep. He has always slept in a room that is completely dark (no night light) but we thought maybe he was getting scared all of a sudden for some reason so we put a little plug-in night light in his room and that has not seemed to make any difference.
Is he working on his 2-year molars? My youngest would wake up periodically, but usually wimpering vs screaming. After several nights I finally peaked one morning and sure enough, molar peeking through. Gave her tylenol or motrin before bed until it was all the way through. Went through this all 4 times. Sadly, each time it was several times before we thought of teeth! It's a possibility.
Is he aware of your presence? Does he respond to it? Are his eyes open or closed? This sounds a lot like the night terrors my daughter has/had (she will have one once in a great while, but not like she used to) and I think she started around that same age. It would definitely be something to bring up with the pediatrician!
Kids change all the time; his imagination is becoming more vivid so perhaps he's having nightmares. Having tubes put in may not sound like a humungous deal but it might be to him, even if he doesn't talk about it or show it when he's awake. Have you consulted with his ENT or pedi just in case this might be related to the tubes, in a physiological way? How is he for naps?
If it's any consolation, our LO has never been a great sleeper. He may sleep well for a month or two and then wake up every hour or every three hours. We may have to just rub his back or sit with him for a few minutes or the entire night - each night is different and we rarely know why. We speculate allergies, colds, atmospheric pressure, something he ate, something he's dreaming could be the cause but we rarely know. All we know is we have to be there for him and learn to survive on less sleep.
Are you familiar with night terrors? It's hard to know for sure without more information, but he's at an age for those to start. Does he seem awake at the time? Does he remember it in the morning? With true night terrors they are virtually inconsolable, but are actually still in a sleep cycle. They won't remember it in the morning. Not a lot you can do about them, but you might want to look into that possibility. They also usually happen fairly early in the night (during a certain sleep cycle), but not always. One of my sons had them for years. Stress and fatigue can be factors.
could be that the tubes made him able to hear more and he woke up to the house settling or something. I would try white noise. I have 2 fans on high in my kids room so she doesnt hear anything (particulary my husband and dogs snoring) I will say my kid did that around 2 (i think I posted a question about it too) I ignore her for 5 mins...but you can TELL when they really need you. We just laid her back down and had her pray...I also went as far as to make a deal with her that if she slept all night she would get a prize in the morning....which was the park or candy(2 m&ms with breakfast WOW)
It is a phase though...but if he has been doing this for 3 weeks....thats a long time. My kid did it for about 4 or 5 days...at the most. We also have a night light on in her room
