Okay Mama's. I'm exhausted. So is my family. Last month I took my kids camping in a trailer for a week. The baby decided to get up 3 times a night and scream almost the whole time we were there. It threw him off to be out of our home setting. I thought that getting home would and getting back to our routine would get him back to normal. Nope. Since then he's been cranky, getting up at LEAST 3 times a night. When I say 'getting up' I don't mean he wakes up and fusses then goes back to sleep. I mean he wakes up and screatches at the top of his lungs like someone is hurting him and won't stop until his dad or I go in there and lay him back down. I have tried talking to him from out in the hall and saying "Sam, you need to go back to sleep. Lay down." I've tried (for 3 nights in a row) making him cry it out. But he cries for 45 minutes- and I feel that's too long at 2 or 3 in the morning at a full scream. The doctor told me to give him benidryl to make him more tired at night...causing him to not be ABLE to wake up in the night. I did this a couple times because I'm so tired that I feel no other option for me to get a nights sleep. But I don't feel I should drug him every night. The doctor told me to do it for a few weeks to get him back into a sleeping pattern. Should I? Am I being too hesitant? Please give me some other options? I don't want to co-sleep either as I know part of this is him wanting to see ME and if he co-sleeps I feel this behavior will continue. PLEASE HELP me get some sleep. My whole family is being disrupted from this screaming. It carries over into our days from all of us lacking in sleep and we're all too crabby. I know there has to be a solution from some wonderful mommy out there who has more experience than I do (or at least who has had the same lack of sleep). Thank you in advance...
Thank you Lacy... I did forget to say that teeth, ears, and nose all checked out A-okay at doctors. not to say teeth couldn't be a factor that are undected... but ears and sinus's were all clear!
I for sure didn't do the benidryl thing. BUT I did look further into allergies and tried childrens clariten in the liquid form and it is a drowsy formula so we're doing that at night-time, it does help with the not waking up, but not completely. I'm trying a different approach to things with thim. We added some new furniture (dressers) to his room and talked up what a BIG BOY he is and how NICE his room is and what a lucky boy he is to have such a nice room. I've been spending a lot more time in his room, making that a central play area for us instead of the living room. When we have reading time it's in there, when we do games it's in there... I think he was a little out of place since being home. We've had a few successful nights of sleep since the posting and a few not. I've tried many of your suggestions..having sissy sleep in HIS room (he likes sissy's room better), the park before bed to wear him out, turkey--- BTW- I LOVE that idea- I never would have thought of that. So thank you to all you wonderful moms. I feel we're on the right track and we'll get there. Even after just a couple of nights of good sleep I feel 100% (okay, 50% better) and know its accomplisable! THANK YOU!
Leave it to a doctor to push drugs!
How about warm milk? Of some sort. Anything with calcium will do the trick too. Soy Milk, Almond Milk, cow milk (ewww!). Make a new pre-bedtime routine of milk and a couple crackers. Read to them in monotone voice.
Or make a jogging routine as the last thing before bedtime. Everyone benefits from it, it'll poop the kids out, it's drug free, and should work.
Could it be his ears or sinus problems....a change in climate or altitude? When sick, my son is fine during the day but miserable at night.
Just a thought...
I agree with you, I wouldn't want to give benedryl every night. However, you might want to have his ears checked.
~L.
Ask your doctor about night terrors. My cousin has a 2year old that had spouts like them and it lasted for like 6 hours. Other wise i don't see why he wouldn't cry himself to sleep.
I would follow your gut on the benedryl. It sounds like everyone's extremely overtired. You need to work on catching up on sleep. The more sleep baby gets, the more they can actually settle into a nice deep sleep and stay asleep. I would make sure Sam is up by 7 ish in the morning even if that means you need to wake him, then I'd put him down for a nap as soon as you start to see tired signs...rubbing of eyes means he's already getting overtired. Put him down for his nap before he's overtired. He'll go down easier. And make his bedtime earlier. Anywhere between 6-8 is healthy. Don't try to keep him up to tire him out, he's already tired enough. Even if you move his bedtime up by 15 or 30 mintues that will help. It'll take a few days once you find the right bedtime, but once he's caught up on sleep it'll be great! Since my daughter dropped her morning nap, we've moved her bedtime to 6:15 and she's now sleeping 12 hours or more at night. I wish you great sleep too! Good luck.
maybe too simple but my son did this but the cause was different (tv at night) but result still the same the screaming in the night. Have you done the comfort items... a pretty decent night light (maybe go pick one together) one for the hall etc so he can see he is safe in his room and where you are... a blankie.. a shirt of yours.... monster spray (if applicable we used lysol!).... a stuffed animal with your perfume or deodarant on it?
E. I too have a 2 year old who does this periodically. I use to do the let him cry it out thing, but as you already know it does not really work when you are trying to get some sleep. What I do with my son is this, his bedtime is 9:00pm so around 7:00pm we take a trip to the park, which is only a couple of minutes from home, and let him play for an hour before bath time. With the activity and the fresh air it seems to help him sleep through the night and get back on his sleep routine. I also check on him before I lay down to make sure he is covered up and in a comfortable position. I hope some of this helps good luck.
I don't really have a fool-proof answer but it is worth considering if there is some way you can focus on him more during the day, maybe especially in the evening, so that he feels more connected to you. This sounds like it may be emotional. Your saying you do day care in your home is what made me think of this. Could you do something special with your son on the days you don't have other kids? I know you must be pretty overwhelmed. I would definitely not punish him or make him cry it out. If it were me, I'd co-sleep until he's older so we could all get some sleep and this emotional need would be met unless he could sleep with his sister for awhile. I paired my kids up sometimes and it resolved itself eventually. He's still quite young and has a great need for touch. Would your daughter be willing to let him bunk in with her for a few weeks or months till he gets over this? It won't be forever. I'd only use the benadryl as a last resort! Good luck, E.!
I wouldn't give Benadryl either.. that doesn't seem safe!
Is it night terrors? Or teeth? Does he have teeth still coming in?
I'd say let him sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag in your room till he's ok again so you can get sleep... or let him share a room with his sister...
Hi E.!
Well it was good to read your problem and all of the responses you have received. I too have a problem sleeper, my 3 year old son. We have a gate that separates our house and so he can't come to our bedroom. However, he will sometimes come out of his room screaming or will get to the gate and then scream or yell for his dad. He's always been one to wake up once or maybe twice but I have to think that this was recently brought on due to my husband having to make several business trips in a row (one time gone for 10 days)because when I go to him to have him go back to bed he will say "daddy gone" or something like it. But it doesn't even matter if my husband is the one to go to him because now he'll just come up with something off the wall. We have tried pretty much everything lately. Now have even put a featherbed on the mattress, put 500 count sheets on his bed, put night lights in room, left door open with bathroom light on, played soothing music (waves/rain/outside sounds)and nothing has seemed to work. I have called the pediatrician's office and they want us to come in but I haven't made the appointment yet. I'm going to do a Google search on that Night Confustion. My husband and I are both cranky due to lack of sleep as well. I never even imagined using benadryl! If I find some magical cure I'll respond promptly! Best of luck!
My 24 month old has done this off and on too. The best description I could find is that it is "night confusion" (not quite "night terror"). Do a google and you can read about it. It happens during the sleep cycle when they are woken up, in her case I think it is happening because at the slightest consciousness she wanted to make sure she had a bink in her mouth and one in each hand (no joke). Then they are confused about being awake and can't go to sleep even after their job. I took the binky away cold turkey and we are working through that and then I hope it will subside.
But I have read in sleep books that toddlers waking up is very common. I think you need to reassure her but not get her up and let her get herself back to sleep.
There are homeopathic options too, by Hylands, such as Calms or Teether tablets. My son is 1 and we did the tylenol at night when he wouldn't sleep and it helped, he now sleeps thru the night again. But for him we knew it was his teeth.
E.,
Is a noise or sound waking him up? Like the forced air furnace / air conditioner turning on or off?
A fan in his room running on medium might help to mask sounds and help him to sleep at night without being frightened.
Good luck! I hope you and your family catches up on good sleep soon.
I've done the benadryl thing, repetively every night for a couple weeks - because of allergy problems, not sleep problems. When it was time to take her off - she actually had problems going to sleep. Sometimes the assistance doctors suggest, backfires!! When he's awake, if you get him to calm down will he respond to a question? If not, then I would say that he may be having a Night Terror. Our youngest daughter has them, and it's the scarriest thing, and it usually takes us a good 30 minutes to wake her up. Her eyes will be open, and she'll be screaming really loud and high pitched. Once she feels us holding her she'll start to calm down - but never answers a question. If we go to put her down before she starts talking, she'll scream again. We usually lightly shake her, tickle her, whatever - we'll try everything short of being mean. Once we get her responding to our questions, she'll start to nod off and we can put her in bed. We've actually noticed a pattern to them. If she's going to have a Night Terror it's before 10:00 p.m., wish we knew what night though - sometimes it's 2 or 3 times a week, right now we're in a stretch that she hasn't had one in about a month!! Good luck!
I would suggest you also consider getting a few medical tests... It could just be a coincidence that this started while camping... Could be gastorintestinal...allergy related? could there be a urinary tract infection? Lots of good advise, but if you have any inkling that something might not be right, insist that your doctor run some tests... blood test maybe that could point out something wrong. (I had a child with recurring minor symptoms that ended up coming from a birth defect that caused major long term health issues that could have been avoided if I had been more insistent with the doctor..(He ended up needing a kidney transplant)
Blessings to you,
Oiy. You must be exauhsted.
Try putting some play time into the bedtime routine. Wear him out. Also, you might try some soothing music in his room during the night. There are some rythmic musical CD's, with the sounds of oceans and such out there. It could that the disruptiong in his routine just confused the heck out of him and he is waking up making sure his world is 'still ok'. Having a familar sound when he wakes up in the night (the soothing music he heard when he went to sleep) could help reorient him.
I would not do the benedryl either. Leave it to a doctor to push a drug for every little problem. There ARE better ways. OH! What about a turkey snack before bed?? Turkey has triptophan which is a natural sleep promoter. :-)
