2 year old suddenly waking about 10 times every night!!

[[M]umma[M]ia]

DD has always been a good sleeper. She goes to bed 7:7-30 and sleeps till about 8-8:30am. BUT... for about a week and a half now she will go to bed, no drama. But wake several times crying. I go into her, ask her whats wrong and she doesnt really know (like last night she said she wanted a carrot?) So i say its time to go to sleep, i will see u in the morning.. blah blah. All good, shes fine with that. I go back to bed. 10mins later, same thing.... go in there.. nothing wrong.
By the 10th time lastnight, I got into bed with her to see what was going on. She was SOOO tired by this stage and didnt really care if i was there or not, but closed her eyes. I watched her. She was trying so hard to go to sleep but couldnt. So I dont know if its the issue that she just cant stay asleep?!
So i did the mummy things that u do.... change nappy, drink, cuddles, cooler bedding etc. I dont even know if she woke up after i tucked her in again.. i was so sleep deprived i just flaked it.
Umm her diet is low in sugar, so I dont think that is the issue.
I keep taking her temp, but its always normal (around 35.8), so I dont think its a ear infection or something like that. Ive checked her mouth and it doesnt look like anything is happening in the "teething" side of things. She been in a big bed for about 3 weeks, so I dont thinks its that either and she loves her big bed. She has a night light in her room, though it doesnt do much, its on the baby moniter. Ive tried leaving her music on that she falls asleep to, on all night. Made no difference and she asked me to turn it off at 3am lol.
She doesnt sleep during the day anymore and if she does, she wont go to sleep until 10pm anyway and she still wakes heaps and gets up @ 8.
She has a sippy cup in bed with her. So if shes thirsty, she knows its there. I dont "think" its night terrors, as shes not overly distressed when i go in?! *shrugs*
Looking at her now, she so utterly exhausted and big rings under her eyes, but shes still pretty happy.

I hope that makes some sort of sense.. im really tired..

Please help... why is she waking up? Have i done something wrong?

[Olive]

sounds like dreamining or nightmares darl... other than that i have no idea.
DD1 sometimes wakes and finds it hard to resettle resulting in a baaad night

[[M]umma[M]ia]

Thanks for you reply hun. Im so stumped. I would be ok if it was every now and then, but its EVERY night. If it was dreaming.... its not really something u can do to help, is there?

[Olive]

with DD 4yrs, ive found scary spray to work wonders but im not sure your DD would be old enough to get it iykwim,
have you changed her diet at all? some colouring can really effect kids and sleep/nightmares

[HotI]

does she have any teeth coming through?

[[M]umma[M]ia]

What is scary spray?

No, her diet hasnt changed at all. She has mainly grains, fresh fruit and veg, meat etc. She only drinks water and milk. She does have the odd packet of chips (shapes etc, maybe 2 packs a month)

I rememberd I have some bruers (sp?) CALM in the cupboard and its meant to help with insomnia, irritability and restlessness, so im going to give it a go today and see if it helps.

Was talking to my mum earlier and she suggested giving her some warm milk before bed (lol love them old wives tales) with a little bit of honey.

ETA - Kate - Ive had a good look and it doesnt look like it. She says it doesnt hurt. Panadol/Nurofen doesnt seem to make a difference to her waking and doesnt help her get to sleep.

[Ozziehoffy]

I think it's to do with dreaming... Oskar does it sometimes too and says or asks for the strangest things! Their minds keep going and I think they find it hard to settle, much the same as we do at times.

Re: milk and honey.. if you do this, make sure she brushes her teeth before going to sleep! We used to give Oskar milk before bed but after brushing and he's got some decay (which has luckily arrested and stopped) which we think is from doing that... it's cos there's natural sugars in milk. So if you add honey to the mix, you're doubling that risk. Just FYI

Scary spray is just water In a spray bottle (which you can decorate or mark) to "scare away anything bad"

[[M]umma[M]ia]

Soo far so good tonight. Though she didnt go to bed until 10pm as we were out. But I gave her a good massage and put her eczema cream all over her (just incase the heat is making her itchy etc) and gave her some warm milk (no honey though, i dont really like that idea! lol) and did make sure she brushed her teeth before bed I talked to her lots today about it and told her that she doesnt need to cry when she wakes up (i really dont like to hear her cry ) and she can just call out to mummy and I will come. Also talked to her about her teddies and if shes sad then she can give them a cuddle and they will make her feel better etc. We put her safety gate on her door today and will leave the aircon on tonight to try and keep her room abit cooler to see if its the heat keeping her awake. Also took off her mattress protector and put on cooler bedding. When i got into bed with her lastnight, i did notice it was really warm in her bed because of the mattress protector. Sooooo we will see how we go.

Im off to bed as its almost 1am and I really need some sort of sleep tonight. DF said he will get up to her in the morning though so I can sleep in cant wait!

Thanks so much for your replies!!!

PS. Scary spray.... what a good idea. I think shes a lil young for it yet and wouldnt grasp the whole concept, but I will keep it in mind, thanks

[studymum]

I found DD2 became really upset at nights when her last set of molers were coming through, she got them rather early at 21 months. Since then we have also had times where she would have bad dreams, I found I would actually have to sit her up, wake her up properly and get her to look at me and talk, calm her down and put her back to bed. Sometimes even raising my voice to get her in trouble. It seemed like she was still partly asleep and couldn't break herself out of the dream routine and would continue to wake up for hours. It pretty much did the job if she continued and wouldnt calm, now if she wakes I go through this and she is asleep fine again.

She does tell me some really funky stuff though, one night at 2am she was determined she was getting up for breakfast because I had told her that after breakfast the next day we would be visiting nana. It took me awhile to wake her properly and convince her it was still dark