[ADVICE] Randomly starting to wake at night ... ?

Praise the Lord, DS (19 months) has always been a phenomenal sleeper.

lately however, he has started waking at night ... often between midnight and 2am, and sometimes again at 4-5am.

we will comfort him by patting him in his cot, or with some cuddles (he normally settles very quickly) and then leave his room.

sometimes, we need to leave the door open so there's a little bit of light coming in.

if he keeps crying when we leave, we'll give him some warm milk.

but lately, needing milk overnight is happening more and more frequently - possibly half the time now ...

and the last two nights, nothing has calmed him down, and so we've ended up with DS in our bed - not a good option for us (particularly with me pg and m/s) and not something we're comfortable with as a long term solution.

but what to do?

we're reasonably sure it's not teething - he quite recently got all 4 of his molars, the eye teeth haven't started pushing through yet. there's no fever, there's no loud noises or other things which would be waking him up that we can think of ...

so I wonder whether he's hungry - but we're not having much joy getting him to eat more at dinner, unless we give him his main faves (pasta, grapes, yoghurt) but the MHCN has cautioned us to watch his carb intake, so we're trying to get him to have more meat and veg ... and some nights he will fall back asleep without milk - just with cuddles ...

so why the waking? and how do we encourage him to go back to sleeping through?

could he be thirsty? my DD has a water bottle next to her bed and when she went into her bed and would wake during the night we showed her where the water bottle was each time. now, she can get it herself if she is thirsty during the night.

why do you need to watch his carb intake?

could it be a growth spurt? you could offer a banana or dry bikkies to see if he is waking due to hunger.

too hot?

Hun, Darcie is doing the same.... She's still growing her molars too.

I co-sleep with her but a couple of her wakings have been abrupt, like bad dreams kinda thing. Perhaps that could be happening to your DS?

I hope it passes for you soon hun x

ETA - yeah.... Why do you have to watch his carb intake??

Does he have a light in his room? Might be getting a little bit frightened in the dark??

HotI - I'll try a waterbottle ...

Re carb intake, they've said this because he's 50th PCI for head circ, 35th for height, and about 80th for weight ... he doesn't look fat - just normal toddler belly, etc - looks perfectly healthy to me but we've been told to monitor carbs, as he doesn't get any processed sugar/fat etc, so pastas and rice and mash potato etc is apparently the "problem" ...

I wondered about a growth spurt, but would have thought that he'd be eating more during the day if that was the case ... he's not finishing his dinner most days (but would happily eat 2 tubs of yoghurt, 4 weetbix, a kilo of grapes and half a lasagne if we offered it ... but some more meat and veg? you're dreaming ...)

Re offering food at night - won't that give him indigestion?


Yules - boo for us! FX both stop it soon ... DS did remarkably well with his molars - the first one gave him some grief, but the other 3 all came through on the same day, a week or so after the first one, and the first we knew about it was when I thought there was a bead or a nut or something in his mouth ... nope! 3 new teeth :) hopefully Darcie's will come through really easily too :hug:

I think last night was a bad dream - he was crying real tears, and climbed me like a redwood when I went in to settle him ... given how he was, I took him straight into bed with us. It's hard when they can't explain what it going on :(

Ocean - I've been thinking about getting one ... I haven't seen them around though, other than great big expensive light boxes ... Have you seen the normal little ones we had back in the 80s? Are they still around?

any other ideas?

I got a two pack of night lights from Safeway - they are really basic, they plug straight into the power point and light up. Quite small - like 5cm across. But bright. You could try them??

We also use, in DD's room, a Gro Clock - made by the Gro company (think Gro bag) they can be used to help toddlers understand when to wake and when to sleep - or stay in bed anyway ;) I understand that DS is probably a bit little for that side of things (though we started DD when she was about 20 months) but it is also a great night light. Glows blue at night time. Look into that maybe.

Hmmm, the gro clock looks super - but it's a bit pricey ...

I will have to have another look at Woolies :)

Lights seem to stimulate my LO, especially if they change colours or intensity.

A ceiling fan (i think it is the white noise) helps to get her through sleep cycles though.

ZF got little night lights that just plug into the wall at the supermarket, i haven't tried them but they look less stimulating than some of the 'night lights'.

DD1 night wakes still at 25+ months often its bubbles in her tummy and she just needs a sip of water to help them up, aside from that she has nightmares and there seems to be no cures for that.

good luck hun hoping you find a solution x x x

I have a gro-clock. They are well worth the money and you do have another little person coming who could use it later.

It could be just a stage. He could be waking, and running things through his head and having trouble re-settling. Is he doing alot of new things through the day like learning goals being reached?

HotI those sound like the ones I've got. They are just one colour and don't change in intensity either.

P, the Gro clocks are great but yes pricey. Can someone buy it for a gift, or have we missed the Christmas gift season?!

Christmas over, and b'day not til May! But that's ok - we'll have a look at the shops for the normal ones. I haven't looked for them at the normal supermarket ... feels like I've looked about everywhere else - I must be blind!

But DH said to me this evening that two of his eye teeth are bulging - so maybe it is just teething after all that ... who knows!

Check near the torches and batteries. Outdoor stuff. That's where I found them.

Alternatively I have a spare. I'll put it in with the jigsaws ;)

Sleep regression-boo :( I wouldn't think its hunger.....Dd barely eats at dinner time too, it's her worst meal of the day but we are still giving her a cup of milk before bed. I think you should reconsider the warm milk in the middle of the night, he might wake himself between sleep cycles looking forward to the milk if that makes sense? I'd try bonjela and some nurofen for the teething pain and just pat in the cot. If he settles in 20 mins or less I would guess it is teeth because the nurofen would have kicked in by then. For what it's worth, dd did this to us about 5 weeks before X's was born and I freaked worrying we were in for it. I think it was a reaction to the changes going on. We just persevered with her in the fit and patting and would only offer water. Hope it works out for you hun

Ocean - you're a star!

Starangelk - hmm, I wonder whether you're on to something, and DS is picking up on stress from DH and me ... I'm getting increasingly stressed as we get closer to the birth, and furniture is moving around, etc ... maybe he's getting anxious, and that's why he's wanting cuddles/milk at night ... we will pay attention ...

Thanks all you lovelies xo

I agree with Starangelk. DD1 is a fantastic sleeper. The only time we ever had any troubles was when I was about 36wks pregnant. This was when we had started changing the spare room into a nursery for DD2 and a few little things were changing like me not been able to carry her around as much or her lay on me like she liked to to fall asleep. When I had DD2 I went straight home after having her and that night she slept great and has ever since again (give or take a few nightmares). I put it down that although we talked about a new bubba coming soon, until the new bubba was actually something she could see, she understood more.

I might be completely off in my analysis of it but it sounds right to me.

it's a common age for issues, I think. Try and ride it out and hope it passes soon :) THe more you stress about getting him out of your bed, the more likely he's going to want to be there