13 Month Old Keeps Waking Up!

Hey E.,
Has he ever had an ear infection before? Only reason why i ask is because this is exactly what used to happen to our daughter...she would wake in the middle of the night, inconsoleable, and usually after an hour or 2 she would go back to sleep....after about the 5th time she woke up with a high fever so we took her to the doc...ended up she had a double ear infection...its so hard at that age for them to be able to tell you what is wrong....If it continues to happen I would have his ears looked at. Hope this helps!!
M.

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Could this possibly be night terrors? Does he seem to remember them the following day? Our son went through something very similar and eventually came out of it, but it's quite terrifying when you're going through it. We took him to the doctor and she gave him a clean bill of health. His only comfort seemed to be a sound machine with the birds tweeting on it. (He still uses it!) He would wake and scream and just be stiff as a board. We'd do everything to try to comfort him but nothing seemed to work until the sound machine. (Not saying that will work for you) Come to think of it, it was around the same age as your son.
Have you discussed this with your pediatrician?

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Yup,I had them with my daughter. They started when she was about 15 months old. They are called night terrors. My doctor had told me that I could try a dose of benadryl before she went to bed and that she would sleep a little more soundly and it would be less likely to happen. It worked and eventually they disappeared. Good luck with everything!

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Hi E.,
We have a one year old little girl and a couple of weeks ago she woke up in the middle of the night screaming 2 nights in a row. In desperation I called the pediatrician and they said to bring her in. Turns out she had a double ear infection. She showed no other sign of infection and was fine during the day. He said that the reason it was only at night is b/c the fluid builds up around the ear when they lie down for a long time....who knew??? It might be worth checking out...at least you could rule that out. Good luck!!
E.

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Sounds like night terrors to me. Both my older children went through them occasionally, and unfortunately, there's not really much you can do except find what comforts them. I agree with the other mom who said they seem to be linked to growth spurts. If this happens more than just occasionally, I'd go with the Benadryl suggestion, just so your poor child can get some sleep. Mine were always groggy, grumpy, and lethargic the day after a night terror.

(HUGS)

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I found both when my 11yr was younger and now with my 3yr that they would start having nightmares when they were going through growth spirts. My 3yr also tends to get hicups along with growth spirts. I had mentioned it to some of my mommy friends and they said that they noticed it with their children also. So it may simply be this.

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He might be having night terrors, in which there really is nothing you can do, but I talk with your pediatrian to make sure nothing else is going on. Good luck.
D.

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This happened with our daughter too right around the same age (she is 3 1/2 now). My ped said it was normal night terrors like a bad dream. I think we might of had 2-3 times a week! Just keep reassuring him when he awakes and if a sippy cup is what he wants, let him have it. It is all about comfort and making them calm down and regain that "happy place."

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Sounds like it could be Gas, or constipation

Try giving him more water during the day, especially before bedtime. and less milk,

Milk can constipate, you'll notice his poo will be light and sort of milk chocolatey ish LOL

or black and pebbley,

Try bicycleing his legs or massaging his belly,
or pushing his knees into his stomache

to help move the gas, or BM

Some children have night terrors,
My kids have had this on occasion, what worked for me was to turn on the lights, and TV, till they fully wake up, and then turn off the lights, and watch Tv and rock them til they relaxed, then I would bring them cuddled in my arms to my bed.

I would also turn on and off the lights walking around the room, expllaining all the shadows,turning the lights ON and OF on and off to show and then i made shadow puppets with my hands, and last I buy a Dream catcher for the window.and nightlights. scented because its relaxing and comforting.

Good luck

M

My son is just 15 months, It could be ear infection or sore dry throat, which is why he wanted that drink. Did you take him to the Dr.? My son starts an ear infection that way. Screaming unconsolably with no fever. And it turned out to be a raging ear infection. I would get him medically cleared (ear and throat) first before treating him for gas and stuff. Then if all is well maybe it is just teeth or gas. They're a mystery. Good luck! A.

Hmmmm .. Hi E.!

Could your baby possibly have gas? I know, right - a child w/ gas ;- I went through this w/ my daughter when she was around this age and my MIL made a very weak fennel tea - you can buy fennel in the supermarket - and she blew bombs and slept all night!

Sincerely,
J. in Jersey

could be night terrors.

when my daughter did this in the middle of the night it was because of her diaper, it was too full!! We switched to an over night diaper and since then she has been sleeping blissfully!

It happened to my daughter at the same age (and she is now 4 1/2) and it is now happening to my 15 month old. It turns out it was their 1 year old molars. With my 15 month old, she is also getting her eye teeth (vampire teeth). She wakes up screaming but eventually goes back to sleep. If the crying persists for more than 5 minutes straight, I go in. But mostly, I leave her in her crib and she puts herself back to sleep.

Hi E.,
It sounds like your son could be having night terrors. We went through them with our son when he was about the same age. It's something like sleepwalking; he's not really awake. Our son used to cry for us even while he was in our arms. He appeared awake, with eyes open and everything, but he would be wild-eyed and look right through us. He sometimes too would stiffen, and at times flail around, when we tried to hold him. We were told to just keep him safe and ride them out. They seemed to happen more when his sleep schedule was thrown off. Hope this helps a bit. Good luck!

Just a thought, maybe gas. A few times my daughter did that and it turned out to be gas. You could tried some over the counter gas meds, or just tried and get you son to move around, to help the gas be passed. Good luck

My daughter did that at around one year (she's 19months now) and the doctor told me it was night terrors. Extremely common in that age group and nothing to worry about. He may not even have been awake at first when you went in to him. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do, this is just a stage some go through

My 14 month old is doing the same thing eratically. We gave her some fish crackers last night when it happened. My mom thinks its growing pains. Let me know if anything works for you!

My daughter (at 18 months, however) started night terrors...it sounds a little like that...nothing we could do would console her...she would scream and cry, it was awful...it happened about 2 hours after we put her down for the night, but not always. Hers wer pretty severe, 5-6 times a night up for almost a year...then it slowly dissipated. Now, at 5, she hasn't had an episode in several, several months. If it continues, you may want to talk to your child's pediatrician about this...if it ends up being the night terrors, please feel free to contact me at anytime to discuss it. It's a really tough thing to go through as a parent...Lindsay never was the wiser about going through them, which is the bright spot.

HTH,
J.

could be a minor form of night-terrors. the only thing you CAN do is hold him and comfort him as best you can until he falls back to sleep. if you do this (if he does watch tv you should limit this as i found that my daughter was more sensitive to some of the things she was seeing in movies, etc. in comparison to her older sister) it will stop eventually. it is just a phase. good luck.

i'm really not sure on your case (as most children are different) but my daughter has done this on MANY occasions starting around 6 months old. for her it's a mixture of reasons (all depending on the night i guess). sometimes it's horrible gas, sometimes it's her being woken up to go poo (and usually that's when it's the "big one", and for her (like me when i was young, even now to this day) it's night terrors. no matter what the reason is, what she does is the same as you described....each time i pick her up (sometimes forcing her out of her crib) hold her tight while i sit on the edge of the bed (we shared a room up until a couple months ago) and i'd rock her singing her favorite lullaby until she'd either pass out again, fart, or poop (if it was poop i could tell when holding her that she would clench down and i would firmly rub her stomach and it would ease it a little for her...still singing to her). now that she's in her own room i either sing to her while rubbing her back or stomach, or pick her up and wrap her legs around me while i sing and walk back and forth in her room. i can't say that any of this will help you, but if it doesn't, at least you know that you're not alone! good luck.

I'll bet it's his 1-year molars. My first son's all came in at the same time around 13 months old. Motrin and ice pops worked for him.
My second son's have been coming in over the past couple months and is just getting his 3rd now (he's 17 months old)and only his pacifier will soothe him - sometimes motrin works for him too - and ice pops. It seems to take about a week or 2 for each to come in. It starts by looking like a big swollen bump, then there's a hole, and then a little white spot/tooth. Once you see the white spot they're not in as much pain. (the best way to see inside their mouths is by holding them upside down and tickling them - once the tooth is in you can feel with your finger).
Good luck.

E.

See if he remembers it in the morning. My son woke up like that many times but in the morning he did not remember it. If so what the doctor told me to do was give him melatonin and it helped and he has not had the problem since. What the doctor said it was is kind of like night terrors, his brain starts to wake up much fater than his eyes and everything else and it scares them.
Best of luck.
J.