21 Month Old Waking up at All Hours of the Night

Kids are all different, maybe he doesn't need as much sleep. My daughter needed a lot of sleep and napped until she was four. So when my son came along and was waking all the time, but more naps and earlier bedtime didn't work like it did for my daughter. By the time he was 20 months I was letting him skip naps completely sometimes and putting him to bed early, like around 5:30 or 6. Then he would sleep until 7 or 8am. If I let him take a nap, he was up until 7:30 00r 8 and then woke up alot and would wake in the am around 6 to 7am. So putting him to bed later did not work. Putting him to bed a lot earlier did work with no nap. There were days he was asleep by 5pm, which meant if I was going to give him dinner I had to do it early and I didn't always get it done before he fell asleep, so I would give him formula in a sippy cup while he was sleeping before I went to bed. It didn't really wake him, and I felt better, Putting him to bed earlier with no nap was tough, but then he would sleep better and longer, so I put up with it for a while. By the time he was 2 and a half he was sleeping through the night and going to bed around 6:30 to 7pm, and sleeping until 7am. He just turned 3 in Dec. and this is still his schedule. My daughter was not like this at all, she needed her naps or she would wake more often at night. But he woke more when he would take a nap. The key for him was a really early bedtime, I discovered this by accident, when he missed his nap one day and fell asleep in the car around 4:30pm. I put him in bed and figured he would wake up, even tried to wake him to eat something, but he was sleeping so soundly. He slept from 4:30pm to 8am with no wakings and that was a first. That was when I started letting him skip naps. I can't say this will work for your son, but it worked for mine. I also started cutting his nap down and on the days he did nap and that helped too. It seemed horrible to me to wake a sleeping baby especially since all my previous experience with my daughter. But for him it worked and he slept better at night. All kids are different. My daughter is 5 and still needs more sleep than most her age. She sleeps around 12 hours at night still. And will occasionally lay down during the day to rest. My son needs no rest time, and he is younger. So I would say play around with his sleeping schedule maybe you will find something that works. Oh and huggies are the only diaper that worked overnight for us. Huggies supremes worked the best for us even better than the overnights.

Here are my ideas. I would try restricting fluids after a certain time in the evening, just to cut down on the diaper leakage. Maybe cut the 2 hour nap back to 1 1/2 or 1 hour only. Stretch bedtime to 8 o'clock by gradually adding 15 min to the time each night for a few nights. I am sure you are thinking 4 am isn't waking time for the day! UGH! I will tell you that my littlest guy woke at 5 am for almost a year, despite all my best efforts. I would just get up with him and turn on the Baby Einstein while I napped on the couch. I wouldn't let him nap until 1 o'clock and it was short. After about a year, he did start sleeping later! It was HARD. I think kids do have sleep disturbances at different times and I bet this will work itself out after a few weeks. Try to let him go a little to see if he gets himself back to sleep before going in. If this continues, I highly recommend the Sleep Solutions book by Dr Ferber. He is my hero and saved my life twice with my boys. I was beyond sleep deprived and crazy. My guess is you won't need it though. I bet your son works this out after a few weeks. Good luck!

He could be getting two year old molars,may be growing pains. Give him some baby tylenol or ibuprophen before he goes to bed abd see if that helps. Try a warm bath too.

My 21 month old is an awesome sleeper, but started waking early due to leaking diapers. I followed the advice of mom's on this site and switched to huggies overnights. they are awesome...no leaking. It could be that. Good luck:)

My daughter is almost 21 months, and for the most part...she stays asleep throughout the night. Occasionally she wakes up, but her bedtime isnt until 10 or 11pm and she sleeps til about 9-10am.

I've noticed when she wakes up in the middle of the night, it is when she becomes very restless and eventually wakes herself up. I do believe toddlers can have dreams, good and bad. Because sometimes, my daughter wakes up screaming. And theres nothing wrong with her.

If a lot of the time his diaper is wet, I wouldn't give him a sippy cup or bottle at bedtime or an hour before bed.

Hopefully you will be able to get a good nights sleep soon!