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Hello all, I was wondering if anyone has got any sound advice with regards to toddlers and there sleep patterns. The problem we've got with are 2 and a bit yr old is that he seems to be getting up at about 1/2 am every other night-when he awakes he just shouts and cry's wanting to get in are bed..etc..
This has only been going on for about a week but it's taking it's toll now,we've tried the nice comforting approach-ie-sitting with him/talking/stroaking his hair,he seems to settle but 5mins later he's up again. We've also tried being tough with him and last night even got up at 2.45 am and came down stairs,he fell asleep on the couch about 4.
We're not keen to have him come into are bed(I just think he'd mess about any way) but some nights it seems tempting to try. Like I say there is a pattern where it's every other night-strange I know.
Any bits of advice would be appreciated.
Cheers
P.S. Incase I didn't mention,when he get's up and starts shouting it can go on for hours.. 😥 😥
Buddy sounds tough.. Some thoughts :
- - Has there been any major changes in his life / the house recently? If so kids can take a while to settle and need lots of reassurance
- Could be night terrors? A small wattage nightlight would help
- Is he eating enough? I remember how hard it was to get food down our 2 and a bit year old... Could a drink of milk help
- Could it be teeth - would a quick dental check help?
- Constipation? More fruit / plenty of fluids / Weetabix!!
My best thoughts would be not to get him up, but sit with him in the room and comfort as necessary. Keep putting him back to bed if he does get up or you could create a rod for your own back....
I would recommend responding to children to reassure them you are there and care, but not getting them out of bed and making it clear its night time e.g. keep lights low etc
Hope this helps!
/Buzz
Cheers Buzz - some good thoughts here.
I know when mine were younger we used to let then climb into our bed - my daughter used to kick 7-bells out of us though and one night i found my wife sleeping on the floor!! We took the approach of reassuring them, but putting them back to bed each time too. I was painful process at first but they soon get back into routine.
I have of course save the kicking my wife out of bed story up for my 'father of the bride' speech 🙂
Hi,
I don't suppose it's been quieter on the last 2 nights?
From our experience, the thing was to make sure they really had woken up fully. Until that point they would still be confused. Most often took them down stairs, turned all the lights on and sat with them for 10 mins. Sometimes a drink. Then took them back up and turned the lights up a bit, etc.
Batman
I solved this with my first child (can't remember there being a problem with the others) by sleeping on the floor in his room for a few days. If he woke up, I was there (and awake - can't really sleep that well on the floor) before he had time to make a fuss, so he quickly got back to sleep and then into a sleep pattern of not waking up. Hope this helps.
As a matter of interest (and I'm sure there'll be a few who think I'm cruel) - when I was trying to get him off a dummy, he would always get upset (and cry) when we took it off him. Solved this by painting some anti nail bite solution (bitter aloes) onto the dummy. It was quite comical at first watching the puzzlement on his face as his 'friend' turned against him - but within a couple of days, he decided of his own accord that he didn't want it any more.
Cheers for the replies,fingers crossed he's back to normal. One of those phases they go through hopefully.
I think possibly a bit of both Buzz to be honest. We have started giving him his tea earlier and if he doesn't eat it as there funny at this age we give him some porridge with his milk-we read somewhere that porridge is good to help sleep. I think that that has helped,hopefully things have got back to normal as he's only got up once in the last 4/5 nights and he went back to sleep real quick.
We had this with our daughter, and for a while we let her in our bed, which made it happen even more often and obviously made us have less sleep. We found just comforting them in their bed with the light off. If you haven't got one, a night light may help.
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