Inconsistent Sleep Patterns--confused of How to Handle It...

Hi There,
My three and 1/2 year old daughter started having night terrors around that age. Could that be a possibility? It is very common in young children. We tried letting her cry for a little while, but the more she "woke up" the more agitated she got. We soon realized that if we went in as soon as she woke up crying, and rubbed her back and said "shhhh" (and nothing else), she went right back to sleep. You are never supposed to wake a child from a night terror, so don't pick him up if you can help it. Our daughter went through periods of having several per week... and some long stretches with non at all. Now she has them very rarely, but we tend to notice more of them when she is over tired. Anyway, if this is that case, I believe that going in immediately and comforting, without fully waking them (if not already coherant) is the best method. Good luck....I hope you figure out the problem and a solution!

My daughter did the same thing. I put a nightlight in her room and about 6 pacifiers in her crib so she would just reach over and put it back on her own. I also put my kids to bed with music. My kids were not allowed to walk around with the pacifier during the day they only used it for nap and bedtime. Good luck!!

D.,

He's only 15 months. He is likely teething or hungry, both of which need to be addressed. Letting him cry it out creates distrust of you for meeting his needs.

No you are not wrong for going in to him to see to his needs! You are taking care of what he needs and it's not like he has an English vocabulary that says 'hey Mom, I just need to know you're there', or 'hey Mom, my mouth hurts and I don't know why' or 'hey Mom, I have a tummy problem!' or ....

It will pass. You are taking care of his needs just fine if he is going back to sleep. You'll know when something is 'wrong' like a tummy upset - YOU won't get back to sleep soon either! Does he have molars yet? Does he have teeth that seem to 'recede' and come back? Those are painful, because the gums are swelling and the tooth 'breaks through' however many times you see it arrive and recede.

Good luck! My son is waking with the airport traffic that is arriving at 0500/0530 and making so much noise! Who'd have thought an airplane would need a MUFFLER!

M.

Hi D.,
Do you have a nightlight in his room at night? This may be the difference. At nap time, he wakes up in light, and at night, it is dark. Maybe he is getting so upset because he cant see in his room? If you already do have a nightlight, try another one, on the other side of the room, to lighten the room better, so he can see when he wakes up. This may help with getting himself back to sleep.

Do you have a moniter in his room? try using it backwards at night, if you don't depend on it to hear him. You can talk to him from your own room, and maybe that will be enough to sooth him back to sleep? My daughter, the youngest, liked when I just "ssshhhhh" for a couple minutes. She would go right back to sleep without me getting out of bed. (We shared a room)

Another thing, you did mention/ask if you should get a musical toy. I would say yes. I had a floating fish music box/ night light that strapped onto the crib. It plays different songs, turns on with a slight push of a button - turns off the same way - music lasts for 10 minutes, then turns off itself. My youngest learned to turn this on when she was 9 months old.
The nightlight on it, you could set the light to different settings. I really didn't use the light, it wasted the batteries too fast. 4 C batteries.

Good luck

If all he's waking for is the binky, then he really is sleeping through the night. Both my kids did this, my 2 yr old still does. Try adding music to the bed time routine. I play soft music for my kids at bedtime. My 5 yr old will ask me to turn it on if he wakes during the night. And my 2 yr old still wakes up looking for her binky. All I have to do is give it to her and turn on her music and she's right back down. I would try that. Also, once you give him the binky walk out. Don't stay in his room, don't stay and rub his back. If he can fall asleep on his own, he can fall back asleep on his own too. I leave an extra binky on the dresser so I'm not searching around the crib in the middle of the night. Just grab the spare and plug him up.