22 Month Old Waking all night - HELP!!!

My 22 month old DS has just started waking at night. He used to be an unreal sleeper, going from 7pm-6 or 7am. He has had a nasty cold for the last 3 weeks and is finally better but he wakes around midnight and screams / throws weird tantrums for a couple of hours and then goes back to sleep but wakes up and whinges until morning. With both hubby and I working, we are utterly exhausted. I don't know if they are night-terrors or what?

Is night waking normal at this age and do they ever get back to their good sleep routines? I'm exhausted! He has just started stringing words together so maybe developmental?

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated :)

Oh you poor thing, it sounds so exhausting :hug:. Could he be teething?

My DS2 went through a night waking phase, it didn't last thankfully! A trick that helped was - I put a Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium cot toy in his cot. It plays music and has lights and bubbles. I told him it was his special bedtime toy and he could play with it when going to sleep and when he wakes up at night. If he woke overnight crying I would go in and turn the toy on (he knew how to do it himself too) and he would quietly watch it before falling back to sleep. He eventually stopped waking up again. It might be worth trying something like this?

I hope he goes back to sleeping well for you soon :hug:.

Hey Powelly, haven't seen you around in ages!

My "twin" to your little guy went through a bad sleeping patch lately too. Not quite as bad as yours, but exhausting nonetheless. We never found a reason. I was thinking developmental as well, with speaking- after all, they went through those bad sleep patches when learning to crawl, walk etc, so why not with talking?

In any case, I guess the usual words of encouragement apply- it is a phase, and it will pass and in the meantime, do whatever it takes to get through it. You sure have my sympathy, it sounds utterly awful.

Hang in there hon...

Thanks for the reponse. Might try the water toy as we do have one somewhere :-)

Amberj - Yup, been a long time since I've been here. I've had so much on lately. We are contemplating baby number two but every time I get clucky and keen, something like this happens and I think "um, maybe not yet". We really want another baby and I know that there will be ups and downs the whole way thru the parenting journey so we'll just have to give it a go.

Thank you for your encouragement. A few friends have just said the same thing at this age too. He is starting to string words together and is definitely thinking he is boss! When he asks for something and doesn't get it, the usual half hour tantrum follows (and it's unbelievably frustrating for us trying not to react!!!). They say toddler years are the hardest and they weren't kidding! Being dog-tired doesn't help much either does it!

Great to be back and thanks again. Are you going to have anymore bub's?

LOL, the tanties can be a sight to behold, can't they? Last night I won a major victory in not giving into his "I don't want the yummy quiche you made mum, I want sultanas for dinner" tanty- left him to sort himself out and lo and behold 10 minutes later he hopped up into his chair and ate his dinner- yay!!!

More kids? I don't know.I had an awful pregnancy with Peter, so I am not very keen to rush back in. "They" say 3 years is a pretty good age gap, so that would mean starting to try in a few months, and I am very much not ready for that!! I wish you all the very best with your ttc journey!

It's funny isn't it, how they don't want you to do anything for them. My little man gets in his high chair but won't let me buckle him in. And if he can't do it himself he goes crazy. Same story with everything really, he wants to put his own shoes on, dress himself etc etc but doesn't quite know how yet. Frustration..... oh, and I mean for US! haha

That's awful that you had a bad pregnancy and I completely understand why you aren't ready to throw yourself back in. My first pregnancy ended in a tragic loss at 19 weeks so being pregnant to me isn't the fairy tale ride either, hence why it's taking so long for us too. I suffered anxiety attacks after the loss and have only just sought counselling now. Am hopeful they will go away one day????? The pressure from people to have another baby is unbelievable. I'm petrified to go there again but we so want to complete out family. It's hard when so many people make it look so easy!