18 Month Old Waking up Several Times

Kids are smarter than we give them credit for. He knows you guys will come into the room if he calls you or cries. It's gonna be hard, but you have to not go unless you think something is wrong, like he's hurt or he's had a nightmare and needs some soothing. If he's just waking up to play or have you come in and hold him, talk to him...whatever it is that he usually asks you to do when you go in there. I know it's going to be hard, just like the whole crying it out thing was (it hurts to hear them in there crying for you!) but I'm telling you, if you stop responding, he will stop calling you and go back to sleep on his own, and eventually he will stop waking up.

this is a very normal occurance at this age. they are making huge development changes and can get excited. do you sleep well when something exciting is happening in your life? my son started nightwaking too, we don't do CIO. the best thing was to get throught it positively to avoid any negative sleep associations. my husband and i responded immediately and rocked him back to sleep before he had time to fully awaken. and by the advice of our homeopathic doc i give him "hylands calm tablets" when he is really excited. i heard "rescue remedy" is good too. he had a few minor falls lately so we also had him adjusted by our chiropractor and the nightwaking stopped immediately.
good luck!

Hi

Isn't he too small to be alone in another room? I do not know, but maybe he is scared in that room. Does he have a night light? Is he able to walk to your room alone?

Could he be teething? That's the right age for the canines to start coming in and they're pretty painful (though I think molars are so much worse). He may be on the edge of a verbal explosion too. We don't use CIO ourselves. I go to her when she wakes up if she can't settle herself back to sleep within a few minutes. He obviously knows how to put himself to sleep since he starts his night that way without any problems. My guess is that it's a phase and when it passes (i.e. teeth break through or he starts talking a lot or some other skill), he'll go back to his good sleeping ways.

Maybe something is waking him/scarring him? Does he have a night light? Is he wet when you go in there? How about putting a big picture of mommy & daddy near his bed so when he wakes up he'll see the pic?

We put a night light in our son's room and it helped. Now he sleeps the whole night at 17 months.

any changes in his diet?
yogurt at dinner? lots of fruit or gassy foods at dinner?
could it be his belly?
try giving a tums & see what happens- tums are safe- if he has a lot of teeth just break it into 4 pieces or just get the smooth dissolve kind...

my son also did the same for a few weeks after we moved him to a toddler bed, he was hungry alot of times so we would give him a warm milk and he would go back to sleep, we continued to go in and tell him to get back into bed and then he just stopped waking up.. I think he was just trying us out ...

If it makes you feel any better you are not the only one half the time I unfortunatly end up bringing him in my bed. CIO doesn't work here because he starts trying to climb out of his crib and our work schedules. Hang in there I think they are all just going through a phase or some teething issues. My ped suggested benadryl to put them in a habit of sleeping and or try Motrin in case it is their teeth. Good Luck. I also use the Highlands Teething Tablets, my 18 month loves them. www.DiscoveryToysLink.com/LisaRyan LisaM

Have you tried an inexpensive tape player that he can use himself? You can record a song, a story, or a message of love for him that he can play for himself (most tapeplayers do have auto-stop, so you can just let him turn it on himself.) Tell him to try the tape before calling you, then see how that works. You sound like a good mom -I wouldn't have the energy to play most of the evening with my children if I worked full time..More power to you for all you do!