Help Comforting 1 1/2 Year Old Second Child.

Hi, J. ~ My daughter is almost two and has always woken up a couple times during the night. She has always put herself back to sleep by pressing the button on her Fisher Price bird crib toy that we bought her when she was about 5 months old. It plays music, the birds move around and it also plays a "movie" on the ceiling. There have been times we have looked in on her and she would be laying there sucking her thumb watching the "movie" on the ceiling. She still does to this day. It truly has been a lifesaver! Maybe you can put it on when you go in to sit with him and you can watch the "movie" together. I have done that a few times when my daughter has woken up because of sickness or teething. It seems to help calm her down. Hope this helps and good luck! L.

I don't know if this is what is happening or not but my son used to get night terrors. They were the worst!!! He would "wke " up crying and screaming but not really actually wake up. According to our doctor you don't want to wake them up as it may frighten them too much. What he suggested was to just follow them around(let him walk anywhere within reason) and guide them to make sure they do not fall or hurt themselves. Once they haev calmed down gently guide them to bed again. That was my second child. My third child wakes up crying and we finally figured out when he wakes uo he needs to go potty. We would get him to the bathroom and he would go then go right back to bed.

Hi J.,
My son is the same way sometimes when he wake it's like he doesn't even know we are there. He isn't very clingy and puts himself to sleep, he doesn't really cry when he gets hurt he self-sooths. He does like his bear but not in stressful times. When he wakes in the middle of the night not much can comfort him and the whole house is up then, (I walk the house with him, rock, rub and sing, hand him to my husband and then back to me) about the only thing that comforts him is milk. Once he gets his milk, then there is a big sigh of relief. He then calms down enough to go back to sleep, so we have started with milk first, if that doesn't work we go down the list. Sometimes looking out a window (I turn on the outside lights) or looking at ourselves in the mirror will calm him enough to be comforted.

At this age they just can't really tell us what is wrong. My son gets like that just before he gets sick, so I also was know we are in for a bumpy week.

I know how frustrating it can be, I know other mothers that just pick up their child and they melt into them, my son is different I have often thought that maybe something was wrong with him, he is fine when he is awake and playing it's just when he wakes in the middle of the night.

Good luck I hope you find something that comforts him so that you both can get the rest you need.

J.,

My son, now 2, is very much like this. We've always had stuffed animals around him but he never wanted them. Since we didn't have a blanket in his crib when he was little, he's also against having that in his crib, let alone covering him.

Thankfully he's never had a problem putting himself to sleep but he's also never been one to cry it out (he would literally cry for hours if we let him) so whenever he'd wake up upset, it was always very difficult to calm him. Usually picking him up would calm him but getting him back into bed was another story.

Every once in a while he'd wake up upset and would almost act as if he wanted us but was afraid of us. He's reach for us and then back away in the corner of his crib, or in the corner of his room and just scream and cry. It was always heartbreaking as we just didn't know what to do. My husband has always been able to calm him when I couldn't but during these episodes, sometimes that didn't even work. I still don't know what caused this -- maybe he was getting sick or teething, etc. I don't know. Walking around the house, doing something with a change of scenery was the one thing that would eventually calm him down -- but only if my husband did it.

Going off on a tangent now...
Towards the end of the summer, I knew I had to get my son used to a blanket so he wouldn't freeze in the winter. I started off with a very lightweight receiving blanket with cars on it. We talked about how cool the blanket was before bedtime and got him excited about it. He let us keep it in the crib that night but when we looked in on him later and tried covering him, he woke up (super light sleeper) and threw it off saying 'no'. Every night we kept talking about sleeping with the cool car blanket and we told him 'yes'! He's going to be covered. This took awhile but he loves his blanket now. We also bought him a Fleece Thomas the Train blanket that he can't sleep without now (and covered!). Since then, he's slept much, much, much better and I don't think we've had a single episode of him waking up upset.

Good luck.
-Jen

Unfortunately we found TV helped for 10 min or so then putting back to bed. (we only do educational pre-tivo'd stuff...shows she likes). Also, a little milk might help.

Good luck! I feel your pain.