My 21 month old son has slept well at night for a while, and suddenly in the last 10 days or so he has woken up SCREAMING in the middle of the night, as well as early in the morning. If I go in to his room and maintain some physical contact with him he is quiet and will drift back to sleep, but as soon as I move he screams again. He has also been screaming for 45 minutes or so after I put him to bed, which is new. Worse, he screams "Mommy" and "up please" (meaning pick me up please) the whole time. I tend to think that it is best that not go into his room, but after 45min to an hour of his tortured-sounding screaming I just can't bear it any longer.
Pediatrician says maybe it is nightmares, I wonder if this is some sort of separation anxiety kicking in randomly - any ideas? Anyone else have this issue?
This can be a sequelae of colic if your baby had colic as an infant. If this is the case, e-mail me back for further discussion. Of course other possibilities exist such as he could be having trouble due to a scary scene in a Disney video, etc. Then, it's a matter of finding the offensive video and not watching it for a number of minths. If this is the case, you'll probably see a change in the nightmares within days.
B.
I would guess night terrors. My 2 year old wakes up occasionally screaming like that. I read somewhere that they can't really tell the difference between a dream and reality, so if they suddenly wake up and are confused or disoriented it could set them off. I think your presence would definitely be beneficial to your child to reassure him that everything is OK.
Good luck,
R.
My son did the same thing right before his second birthday. He would just scream. My doc told me that some toddlers get night terrors. There's no clear cut thing that brings them on. The only thing you can do is comfort them. For my son, the screaming lasted for a few weeks. He's three now. Eventually the behavior stops. Good luck!
B.,
Go to him. Pick him up. he is scared. I know, I know, everyone else tells you you can't, you'll spoil him, you'll ruin all the work he did to sleep on his own.
Attachment parenting international. check out their website. they have a lot of ideas and tactics for helping your baby out of this stage.
I learned so much here and my baby has only benefited. he is just getting so outgoing, people are amazed. He isn't waking as often as he used to though. That is the important part.
Please email if you have questions. Not everyone believes that children have needs and rights beyond nursing, and it is hard to sort out what is good for your baby vs what is good for the parents.
Another source is Scott Noelle. He has free emails that have been so uplifting and enlightening when it comes to avoiding the 'terrible two's' Everyone has remarked that my son seems to be skipping them!
Good luck, and happy hunting. This is not an easy issue for a lot of reasons.
M.
It could be nightmares. Not to worry you more, but my daughter started doing that,and there ended up being a police investigation shortly after because there was concern that someone close to us was molesting her. Nothing came of it, not enough evidence, however in the short time period away from that someone, her nightmares have stopped. She was 28 months old. I'm not saying that could be what is going on, but it could be something stressing him out. Maybe a move, change in family dynamics, etc. Hope the best for you.
Hi B.,
I think it may be a stage that comes with the age. My twins did that around that age. For a few mths they slept w/ the light on (a night light wasn't enough), I kept them in their bed but layed where I was visable. It was a pain but it worked & little by little I got them back to normal. I have someone that was telling me the other day that his daughter is going through the same thing, she's 19mths. He has tried this & so far its working. Best of luck.
