My 18 Month Old's Odd Way of Waking Up

Are his noises bothering you? As long as he's asleep, I'd go back to sleep as well. Babies make all kinds of noises and I'd say as long as it's not bothering you, I wouldn't be concerned.

My daughter is nearly 6 months old and has done this since birth, which is why we quickly moved her from our bedroom to her own because we weren't getting enough sleep even though she clearly was. In the mornings, we often turn the monitor off for the hour that she is waking up. We can hear her if she cries, but we can avoid that hour of tossing about.

Hi C.,

Those noises are absolutely normal. Some people think fussy and happy sounds while they sleep are reactions to dreams. They say infants dream, about what I don't think anyone knows, lol. Everything I know says there is nothing to do because the baby is fine.

God bless!

M.
www.squidoo.com/switchandsave

Hi C.!

My son is 12 months old and he does the same thing!!! Sometime it can start 2 hours before he actually wakes up. He just started this maybe in the last month but his sleeping schedule just changed alot too. He now sleeps till 9:30-10:30am in the morning...and has dropped his morning nap all together. I don’t know if that’s why it just started for him but I asked his ped, and she said it is normal, some kids do it all night long. But I understand what you mean sometimes I swear he’s awake I go to his room and he’s sound asleep. Hope this helps!

Hurry and get those renovations done!!!! or - learn to sleep through it...

This is probably the way we all wake up - only - you are too close to him!

Enjoy him!

Is the bedroom darkened enough? Maybe he does this as the sun is coming up and comes in through the windows?? My niece is an early riser and when she sleeps at grandpa's house she sleeps in much later because he has the windows covered up.

My oldest (who is now 10) talks in his sleep! Hilarious! It's usually an arguement with his sister when we can figure out what he's saying

One of my boys is only four months old, but he does the same thing when he's falling asleep.

It's actually what pushed my decision to have my twins sleep in their own room for the first time. I knew it was getting to be time to do it and because they were eating every four hours, I only got a couple hours of sleep here and there. One night, I was just about to doze off, when he started making the stretching noises and it woke me up (just like every noise they make).

I just thought, "If they were in their own room, and I had the baby monitor, this wouldn't be as loud and I wouldn't constantly wake up from it. I'm going to try to let them sleep on their own tomorrow."

I did, and within a couple weeks, they were sleeping through the night.

It seems to me that your child is in deep sleep and probably recalling events of his day. As he gets older, his brain is developing and he is demonstrating his ability to retain memories. Certainly, as he becomes more active and mobile, you will notice he is actually running and/or imitating movement or emotions in his sleep. The noises you are hearing are likely from a dream state. There is nothing wrong with that. No need to worry. I used to keep a couple small board books in my child's crib so that when she would wake, she would entertain herself peacefully. I adored listening to her on the monitor from another room. I never rushed in as soon as she woke up...
A.
www.carsrudcorner.com

my daughter of three monthes is the same way, its funny...

Our 12 month old does the same thing. He's done it since birth. I moved him from our room to his own room at 2 months, because I couldn't get any sleep with his 'waking ritual' as we called it. With your son having to stay in your room, the only thing I could think to change the situation is maybe adding a fan or other white noise type thing in your room to help drown out the sounds.

When my child was sleeping in our room he did this. We moved and he had his own bedroom and he slept much more soundly. Maybe an incentive to get that roomed cleared out faster!! Good luck!

It sounds like he may be having bad dreams if he sounds like he is about to cry and doesn't. We all dream in our waking up hours. When you are in your deepest sleep, you don't dream, but as you are coming out of it and getting ready to wake up, that is when you have dreams. Try making sure he isn't watching anything on TV at night that might disturb his sleep. Even though we don't think they comprehend what they see on TV, it gets in there head and thoughts. Also try saying a prayer of protection to God over his sleep before he goes to sleep at night. When our 16 month old wakes up crying, we just say prayers of peace over him and he goes right back to sleep, and wakes up without making noises.

Hope this helps!
T.

My daughter is 5 months old and has been waking up like this almost since she was born. Infact she was doing it again today - as soon as she opened her eyes she stopped. According to our doctor this can be normal and doesn't bother or hurt them. I have also heard from other moms who's babies did something similar and a few mentioned that they actually had to move them to a different room so they could get some sleep. Some have said dreams but then I have read infants don't dream yet - others have said something like growing pains - not sure about that. We invested in a video monitor so we didn't have to keep getting up and checking on her once we moved her to her own room. Wish I had more for you and I will be interested to see what others post. Best wishes.

Hi, C.. Well, it doesn't sound like there is really any problem here. Your son's sleep habits sound as though he is dreaming and coming to the end of a sleep cycle. Everyone moves around somewhat in their sleep, and some people move around more than others. If you have your child on a regular schedule of going to bed and waking up at a certain time, then his sweet little brain knows about this and is getting itself ready to wake up soon.

I, too, often get restless dreams for a time before my alarm goes off in the morning. Sometimes, knowing that I have to wake up at a certain time will cause me to wake up even earlier than I wanted to wake up because I am anxious about having to be awake at that hour. The brain is not actually "asleep" during sleep; it's very active! So if your son gets restless before waking up, it's nothing that unusual and is certainly nothing to worry about. And you are right -- there's no way to change this, but there's no reason to change it, either. Once you have his bedroom fixed up and he's sleeping in it, he will not disturb you with his restlessness. I would just look at this thing as one of the unique qualities your son has.

Peace,
Syl

My daughter is two months old and has done this since birth. She does sleep in bed with us so its really noticeable. She squirms and wiggles in addition to making grunting and uncomfortable noises. It is directly tied to having to pee or poop and not wanting to wake up to do it. My husband and I are working on IPT or infant potty training as a way to handle this. She simply has to go to the bathroom and does not want to wake up to do it. Our daughter stays dry most of the night, something I only know because we use cloth diapers and I check her whenever I wake up during the night. Perhaps a lot of children do this but because they are diapered and taught to ignore these signals, potty training is a problem.

Sometimes my son does this as well; I think he's dreaming. He also has a tendency to sleep walk or sleep crawl in our bed.

We just watch him to make sure he doesn't get hurt.