Hi Moms. I have a son who is 22 months old and has been sleeping through the night for over a year. Over the Thanksgiving holiday he was waking up 1.5 - 2 hours early and not going back to sleep unless he was in my arms. I would lie down in his bed in his room and he would curl up so tight to me that I couldn't breath. I figured this was because he wasn't in school and his routine was off some. It got better after school started again. However, last night he was up in the middle of the night. I let him cry some and then went in and sat in the chair with him. He slept on me and when I started to put him down, he grabbed on so tight I could have not held him and he would have still been on. So I sat back down for a minute longer. When I did put him down, he started to fuss so I just rubbed his head and gave him his pacis. The second I left the room, he was crying again. We let him cry for about 30 min and he didn't go back to sleep. The problem is he doesn't just cry. He yells for Mom and throws everything out of his crib then wants them back (ie: pacis, Blabla and blanket) I couldn't sleep the whole time he is yelling for me and I feel terrible. Finally my husband went in and slept with him in the bed. (he is still in a crib and we don't normally sleep with him). I have to get sleep because I have a lot of work in the next few days and I just found out I'm pregnant again so I'm very tired. My question is, why is he waking up and not going back to sleep? It seems he is wide awake. He is congested, but no more than he has been before. What do we do? We are tired as is he and terrible 2s don't go well without sleep!
It sounds like he is having some separation anxiety. Could he be teething?
Ear infection? You say he's a bit congested. Check that.
Life can be much easier with the 'family bed'. I recall reading a book by this name when my first child was born nearly 30 years ago. Recently there was an article on Dr. Mercola's site regarding infant mortality rates being lower in family bed situations. Its possible that this info was in another Dr's newsletter: I subscribe to so many its hard to remember but the info on this is out
there if you look. Good luck!
Dear Johanna,
You mentioned that he was congested.....if you are giving him anything for the congestion, maybe it's keeping him from sleeping well. If not, maybe his congestion is waking him up and he feels better when he is sitting up or upright because he can breathe better. Or, maybe our babes just need a little more loving in the middle of the night when they are not feeling well. We never let out daughter "cry" when she woke up otherwise it would wake her up completely and it would take us several hours to get her back down. I feel your pain. Good luck.
Could his molars be coming in? Does he have an ear infection? Sometimes kids get ear infections and you wouldn't even know it, but it hurts when they are sleeping because they are not distracted by activity. I would take him in just to rule it out and give him some motrin at night so he can sleep. When my son did this he was either teething or had an ear infection and I always felt horrible for not catching it sooner. Good luck!
