We had a long battle with my son sleeping through the night. Finally, I followed a few simple techniques to teach him to fall asleep on his own. We established a routine and I don't put him to bed fully asleep. This worked great for us and he has been sleeping through the night successfully for several months unitl now. I thought we were past that hurdle of him not sleeping through the night, but now out of the blue, he recently woke up at 3a.m. then at 5a.m. the next two nights (he normally sleeps until 7a.m.), then 3a.m. again. I am guessing it is teething, but I have been using the baby orajel before he goes to bed and a little motrin and he is still waking up. I am not too sure what to do.
Sounds like early molars to me!
My son did this EXACT same thing and about 2 weeks later I noticed a huge molar on one side of his mouth.
If this is the case, get some Hyland's Teething Tablets, and Motrin/Ibuprofen. It kills the pain better than Tylenol/Acetominophen. Try to be patient when he does wake up... its so easy to freak out and get mad out of exhaustion.
Hang in there!
I agree with the other responses. My son did the same thing at about 14 months, he is now almost 5. There was one horrible night where we had company and I resorted to driving him around at 4 in the morning to get him to sleep, but as soon as I put him back in bed he was awake again. Until he got all his teeth, which for him happened early (about 20 months) we had episodes of wakeful nights. There were times when I would have to give him Motrin and orajel every night to help him sleep. The waking at night didn't become a habit and after he had all his teeth he slept through the night no problem. Good luck and try to realize that this will pass and you will be on to other things!
Teeth and or growth spurt.
My son had similar sleep issues around that age it seemed related to teeth and developmental things going on He may be waking up around 3 am because by then the motrin will have worn off. I got so that I would leave a tube in his room and just rub his gums when he woke at night and that would seem to get him through until his normal waking time. But it's so hard to know with them at that age. I would usually give him a minute or two before going in to see him to see if he could settle down on his own. Plus if he instantly stopped crying the moment I came into his room and started smiling and acting all social I figured he just wanted some company. They are sneaky! Trust your instincts and know that he'll go through this sort of thing many more times (sleeping really well for a couple of weeks and then waking at night a lot for no apparent reason). With my son I just figured that he was a good sleeper and most of the time slep really well. So if he was waking up 2 or 3 times a night, there must be something going on - most likely teeth. Good luck!
Both my sons went through this, and it could be combination of things. Growing, teething, who knows, but it is common and will subside. Keep consistant with your routine and he will eventually get back on schedule.
