Nightmares Keeping Us All Awake...

I actually remember my legs cramping when I was very little. My 3 year old is also dreading gonig to sleep and wakes up almost every night screaming and barely able to go back to sleep. It's hard to know because they can't communicate well, but I'm convinced he has some kind of growing pains in his legs. It is exhausting to wake up and take care of him every 2-3 hours 2-3 times a night. But I look back at how "almost impossible" it was to take care of him as an infant and how those days seem like so long ago. I'm actually cherishing holding him and comforing him this time. I'm sure this phase will pass and he'll be a soundly sleeping teenager before I even know it.
Good luck, give him an extra sweet hug tonight!

Good advice.
Watch that he hasn't just discovered how scary shadows can be....(make some with him during the daytime at a sunny window, using your bodies and toys.

2nd--my now 3 year old daughter had nightmares whenever she watched a Author (Pbs) show in which one of the characters had a bad dream.....Maybe he watched something while sick??

Hang in there!

I went through something similar with my daughter when she was around the same age. All of the sudden, her dreams were plagued with nightmares. She didn't want to be alone, even complaining of stomach pains. I would rub her tummy and tell her stories of happy things like going to the park or playing with friends. Sometimes that would help and she would go back to sleep. Other times the only thing that would work is to let her sleep with me. To try to break her from sleeping in my room, I would stay with her in her room until she fell asleep (I would usually end up falling asleep in her room). It has gotten better over time. I think it's because she was able to better understand what was scaring her and realized it wasn't so scary after all. Be patient. It sounds like he is at that age where is is trying to comprehend things and things look a little scary right now.

It really just sounds developmental. If you're ok bringing him into bed with you, go aahead and do it, you won't be "spoiling" him. Other than that, you just have to kind of wait it out without making a big deal of it. The worst thing is to make it a power struggle.
Hang in there. All too soon, you'll miss these days!

I think kids get a little clingy after being sick, it is very common, they are still not 100%, they had mommy's undivided attention and I think when they start feeling better they still crave that attention. I know it took a few days after being sick for my kids to readjust, hee hee.

I would do everything you can to keep his bedtime the same time every night. There are of course exceptions but if you have a very set schedule 90% of the time it will help a ton. Kids at the age of two especially need a consistent bedtime and routine. It helps their bodies set up for bedtime and their mind.

Then you said you bring him into bed, of course he is going to wake up and now expects that now.
It has become a habit. Do not let him come into your bed, if he is really upset, rub his back, settle him back in but do not allow him to get up. Do not run in with a cup, have him take a sip of water before bed and that is it, no more drinks at night, remove cups, drinks from his room. If you are doing potty training anytime soon, having drinks in the room is not a good idea at all either. For night time potty training they do not need anything at all during the night.

Growing pains can happen, give him some tylenol/motrin for that and you need to figure out if he is saying things hurt or if they truly do. Like have him point to where it hurts, have him tell you if it is bad pain or little pain. If it is in the same place for a few nights then I would take him in just to be safe. Growing pains can hurt and cause muscles type ache feeling.

Also a bright room will not let his internal clock tell him it is time to sleep. I NEVER used any night lights as that can really mess up their sleep habits/patterns until they are older. If you use one make sure it is dim. I just gave my son one last year when he was potty trained so he can see when he gets up to pee at night. So the nightlight may be adding to the problem too. Go get glow in the dark stars/planets and before bed put the light on in his room, they are cool and kids love to look at them as they glow after you turn the lights off.

Another thought if you think it is bad dreams is get a dream catcher, my mother in law gave my son one and we hung it over his bed, suppose to take all the bad dreams away, it worked, not sure how, but maybe it convinced my son it worked and it did. Also make sure to read happy upbeat stories before bed time.

His stomach may be upset because of the antibiotics. You can speak to a pharmacist about this or the nurse at the doctor's office. His legs may hurt because of growing pains. My son, who is now 5, complained that his legs hurt around this age. It is hard to know. Does he have a favorite toy that he takes to bed? My son has always taken hot wheels. Who knew?! A special toy can comfort him. He may be having some kind of night frights. Some kids are amazing and they can tell you the problem. Sometimes mom can just play a game with them and try to get it out of them. Once you find out the problem it should be easier to work it out.

Waking up and complaining of a stomach ache could be a sign of pin worms.I know it is a gross thing, but I have been right more than once. Have your doctor check him out, or get instructions on what to do. It used to be that the parent would put a piece of scotch tape over the anus and then bring it in to be looked at in a microscope. If eggs are present then you know the culprit.They may have more sophisticated tests these days.

We notice with our almost 3 year old DD, that when she is tired, or when her sleep schedule is interrupted (by events, sickness, etc.) that she has a harder time sleeping. You'd think the opposite - if she's tired, she'd sleep MORE, but she actually sleeps LESS when she's tired! Being tired can disrupt sleep for our little ones and they often wake multiple times during the night, and we even see night terrors in our DD when she is really overtired. It's a vicious cycle, and takes a bit of time to regain control over.

An idea I have for you would be to make sure he is getting ample rest - naps and night time both. I understand you're getting back on schedule after a disruption and sickness... it may just take him some time to get regulated again.

The previous post came up with great ideas beyond the sleep schedule, so I "second" that!

Good luck and I hope you find "zzzz's" soon!

Hi V.! I so know what your going through. We have 4 kids and the first 2 have had the same thing. For us this was a total spiritual issue. We prayed through their room and through our house and asked God to fill it. Because it was disrupting our lives so much we also had to do away with any scary movies and tv shows. Even things like CSI. I think that kids can sense way more than we can and when we watch things where people are being murdered and raped our kids can feel it if it's in our house, even if they don't see it. Anyway, I hope this might help. May your house be blessed with peace!