Hi ladies,
You are my dose of reason and sanity! My little guy is 2 1/2 years old and has always been a very light sleeper and wants to play all night. I feel like we've tried everything, but there's some little clock in his head that MUST wake him at 11:30ish each night. (He has slept through only two times, ever!) He'll sleep late in the morning, but that's not actually helpful. He takes a nap in the afternoon, we wake him after 60-90 minutes. When he wakes at night, he'll either be clingy or angry or playful; he's rarely wet but often hungry (he eats well enough, around 6 PM plus a 6:45PM snack and milk). Sometimes he just wants 5 minutes of being held, sometimes 1/2 hour of playtime, sometimes he will just scream for 3-4 hours (the record was 11:30-4:30 AM, solid screaming, refusing to be picked up). If I lay down with him, he winds himself up into play mode.
I've started having trouble sleeping (can only sleep with Ambien, or I lay there for hours on end, not worrying, just awake). I'm wondering if there's a better solution for one or both of us, or if there's some kind of medical sleep clinic that can help. We're all doing okay, but it seems missing hours of sleep each night shouldn't be good.... or maybe it's okayt?
What about trying one of those clocks that shows nighttime and daytime and you set when it will show daytime. That way when he wakes maybe if he sees it's still night night time and you've explained to him that everyone is sleeping because it's night night he might stay a bit quieter? Just a guess.
When he wakes at 1130, do you feed him? If not... DO try it. Especially fast growers really DO need to eat at night, or they cannot sleep. Stick with "heavy" foods at night (no crackers/toast/etc or quick sugars... but fat and protein rich foods like meats, dinner left overs, warm whole milk, etc.).
What time does he go to bed? If he goes to bed later, give him a snack and milk later. My daughter goes to bed about 9:20 and she gets a snack about 8. She does wake in the night too sometimes for an hour or a bit more. We don't go in there and get her. She just talks to her animals and goes back to sleep eventually. She is still in a crib at 27 mos...When she wakes in the middle of the night or early am (5 ish) she usually sleeps later too. She normall naps anywhere from 1 1/2 hrs - 3 hrs on good days.
We have noticed that if she is overly tired she tends to wake more in the night.
Every 3 months is a growth-spurt.... at his age... when my kids are growing, they wake and are literally hungry... HUNGRY. Then drink milk, and go back to bed.
If a child is hungry, they are hungry.
Give him milk.
My son, who is now 4... recently hit a growth spurt... and he'd wake at night, tell me "Mommy, milk..." and I gave him a HUGE glass... he drank it, then goes back to sleep. He always does that... when growing.
A hungry kid, can't sleep.
Also, why do you wake him from his nap? Why not let him get a full nap? He sounds over tired....
Over-tired kids, will often get more "hyper" and seem awake, but are fighting sleep. Over-tired kids actually cannot sleep better, fall asleep worse, and stay asleep worse.
When he wakes at 11:30pm... what do you do? Do you leave the lights off and keep things off???? When he wakes, don't turn on lights etc. don't interact with him, if possible....
Also at this age... they get night-mares. Is he possible waking from a dream or night-mare... and then can't get back to sleep?
What time does he go to bed????
What a conundrum... I don't have any miracle answers for you... BUT you said this happens every 3 months with your son... to me, that indicates him hitting growth-spurts and him being HUNGRY.
In fact you said he is often hungry when he wakes.
So, give him milk.
all the best,
Susan
I would say don't wake him from his nap. Just let him sleep- if you are waking him, then you are messing with his natural sleep cycle. Then he'll go to sleep later and wake up earlier- and it will eventually work itself out to a good schedule. If He is sleeping late into the morning, than what time is his nap?
Also make the snack about an hour before bed, and dinner at least 3 hours before- it could just be something he is eating. My daughter always wakes in the night if she eats too close to bedtime- and she's 5 1/2.
You are probably just waiting for him to get up and that's why you can't sleep. If he wakes, always do the same thing- every time- no matter what his reaction is. You can decide what you want it to be, but make it the same and hopefully that will help. My daughter also likes to sleep with a fan on (a little white noise) that helps a lot, too.
I'd be afraid feeding him at 11:30 would encourage him to keep waking at that time! I give mine a snack Right before bed.
I would stop the nap, and dont let him sleep later in the am, eventually he'll be too tired to wake up at 11:30.
I've heard that all kids wake up during the night we cant stop that but many will just go back to sleep. If he is used to going to sleep with a CD then he will need that to go back to sleep. maybe a white noise machine or we had a CD player that played a lullabye CD over and over all night.
when he wakes up at night do you keep lights very dim and try not to talk? don't take him to your bed, you stay in his room its soo hard but hopefully things will get better soon!
