What's going on with him?

My 2yo son Cooper is just recovering from a middle ear infection, and I went back to the doctor yesterday, and he said it is pretty much cleared up, so it doesn't explain his behaviour.

He usually goes to bed pretty easily at night, without any fuss, and ever since the ear infection, that has all changed. But now that it has gone, I don't know why this is going on. The last few nights have been SO bad, last night, it took nearly 3 hours for him to go to sleep.

He is definitely ready for sleep and the last few days, he just screams (almost like in terror) and cries in the cot, and I go in there every 10 minutes, tell him to calm down, and just do this for about an hour, and then I will go and sit with him hoping he will lie down, but he just stands hiding the side of the cot, falls to sleep, and screams in fear as he knows he's falling asleep standing up, but refuses to lie down!!!

Then last night, he woke up every hour just continually saying 'mummy' and eventually falls back to sleep.

I sat next to him for his day sleep today, and I noticed when he finally lay down, that because his nose is pretty blocked, as he starts to fall to sleep, he tries to breath through his nose, and it startles him because he can't breath.

Could this be the problem??? I tried using a humidifier, raising one end of the cot, Dimetapp, and its not clearing the nose.

But is it even this as to why he refuses to lie down and sleep for SOOOO long???

I am so tired, please can anyone tell me what to do?

Oh hun, hugs to you. I dont have any real solutions, other than I know with my DD once her normal sleep routine is broken due to illness or teething, its takes a few days to get her back into her bed time routine.

As for his nose, have you tried one of those suction things (like the Fess brand)?

Hugs to you and hope things settle soon.

it's so hard when they are sick :(.

rub his chest with baby balsalm, and try the fess suction and drops. it works a treat for my son. i lay him down and stroke his head as he is going to sleep, it may take and hour but will be better than three .

big hugs

Hello sweet,

It's horrible when eveyone is tired, try to relax together as much as possible even if the little guy won't sleep.

My little brother went through a stage where he woke screaming (in terror) in the night, he looked as though he was awake and behaved like he was, but in actual fact he was asleep and in being asleep was inconsolable. He had no recollection of what was happening during the night and of course was exhausted every morning after.

Thought it might be worth mentioning to Dr or health nurse.

Good luck and God bless

Hi - my month old baby had a terrible cold the last couple of weeks and of course we couldn't give her any medication because she is too little. We found something called a Nosefrida - similar concept to the fess aspirators, basically it allows you to suck the mucous out of their nose. If it is really thick use the saline drops first and then use it. It has been a lifesaver for us, and it really clears it up for a good time period so they can sleep. Just google it. Hope it helps!

You poor things, it's so tough when they just won't go to sleep and get themselves so worked up about it all.

I've not done it myself (no reason to yet), but I've heard that vicks on the souls of your feet can really help with blocked up noses.

Hope he gets through this phase really soon.

Just an update for you...

By this afternoon when he woke up he was just plain miserable, and even slept in my arms afterwards, so I knew there was something else wrong.

So I went to the dr and she said hes got a cold or a virus now and just try and see it through, so now I am understanding it probably has a lot to do with that. I thought the blocked nose was the after effects of the ear infection. So I went to the chemist and bought the fess aspirators (thanks for recommending it everyone - funny, i've never heard of it b4, until i went to the chemist, and then come home and see that a few people have recommended it when they replied on BB!!)

I tried using the suction thingy, but it didn't really work. I read the directions about the drops - questions - they say to keep the child still for 1 to 2 minutes in a laydown position, how do you get a toddler to stay still for that long?? SHould I try it when he is asleep? (When he EVENTUALLY gets to sleep, he is a solid sleeper!)

BhoysGirl - THANK YOU so much for reminding me about the vicks, I remember reading it in an email, but I completely forgot about it, I will update you tomorrow on how it goes.

Tonight, when I told him it was 'bedtime' he was so distressed and panicky, but I told him, 'mummy will stay' and just sat near the cot for nearly half hour, til he was in a deep sleep, and he kept opening his eyes, and saying 'mummy sit down'. It was so cute. I feel so much better for just being there for him. It changes everything when you know that they are doing these things because they are not well!

Thanks again!

HI Mum2Boy,

Hope your DS is better. With the drops, I found it only useful if there is hard snot in DD's nose. I then use the drops to loosen it. If your DS has a cold, his nose is probably runny so I dont think you need to use it (unless there is some hard snot in there).

With the aspirator, make sure you push the top bit down every time you try a suck. I notice that the top bit always comes up a little every suck and so air is escaping from it.

Try also using the aspirator closer to the inner walls of the nose.

Once you get the hang of it, it is actually quite good.

DD has a cold too and its dreadful to hear them try to breath at night.

Best of luck.