My son is 17 months old and just recently his sleeping habits have started changing. Ever since he was a young baby, he has been a great sleeper. Just this week, he has stopped. He has never slept with us. We did this on purpose. Also, he has always been put in his crib awake and goes to sleep on his own. Now things are different. Whenever we put him in his crib, he screams and screams. If we hold him and rock, he will go to sleep, but once we put him down, he shoots right up and starts crying again. If we lay on the floor next to him with a hand in the crib, he will sleep as well. I laid in there for 3 hours the other night to make sure he was good and a sleep. He was snoring and everything, but once I went to leave, he woke up. His napping has not been affected, he is actually very tired during the day. He goes to an in home day care and we have cut back on his nap time, but that hasn't helped either. He is just even more cranky at night. Does anyone have any advice? Some of the other things we have tried are playing music and using a night light. He is teething, but even when we give him pain reliever, it doesn't change, so I do not think that is the problem either. Please HELP! We are desperate need of sleep! Thanks in advance.
Both my son and daughter did this at about the same age. We solved it by rearranging their rooms and made it more sleep friendly with a nightlight. The nightlight seemed to do the trick!
Good Luck.
T.
I am a mom of 4, and have seen each of them go through sleeping disruptions. My advise to you, stop worrying. When you make your child feel anxious, (they sense your worry)he will react. He will be anxious, nervous, and in turn, cranky.
Put him down, if after 10 minutes he is still unable to relax and self sooth himself, go in and give him a pat and a kiss. Do not pick him up, this is ultimately what he wants, to get out of the bed. Then leave. He needs you to be consistant. His later development relies on your consistancy.
Hey A.! I love your name! :)
We use an air purifier in our daughter's room as a kind of "white noise" machine. It seems to help block out other sounds in the house and she's been sleeping better with it on. I don't know if that will help your son or not... I'm guessing it's his teeth.
Poor kiddo, and poor you! I hope you all get some sleep soon.
Every child goes through sepration anxiety. I think that is what he is going through now. With my two kids I would put them in the crib and with the same routine as normal, would give them a kiss, say our prayers and leave the room. They would both cry for about 10-20 minutes and then finally go to sleep. The most important thing to do is keep the routine the same every night. Your son needs consistentcy and love. This too shall pass.
It could be just a form of separation anxiety, but I would be sure that nothiing has changed in his routine either with you or in the home daycare. I would check the daycare to see if there is anyone new, etc. Something as simple as that can really affect a child at this age.
Its hard to say at this age what it could be my son did the same exact thing. For the teeth you may want to try Hylands teething tablets and Tylenol at nite. I wasnt sure what it was but I also tried taking off the niteshirt or shirt I was wearing that day and put it in the crib with my son it helped for a bit. I know my son did this wanting me to hold him alot, it was when he was getting sick, could be a sign he might be getting sick. Just a thought.
Good Luck
G.
I've found with my daughter, who will be two in a few days, that if I wait until she is very tired, she cannot settle down to go to sleep and wakes constantly at night. If, however, I get her ready for bed before she starts acting tired and get her into bed soon after that, she falls asleep easily and sleeps very well. By the way, this started suddenly sometime in the last several months. Before that she was easier to put to bed when she was completely exhautsed. She also becomes more difficult when she is teething, waking up suddenly just as she drifts off. So it could just be something that you'll have to wait out. I know how difficult it is when you're tired. It always helped me to remember that my daughter was not doing it on purpose.
When you said that he snores a bit, it reminded me of our daughters. Our oldest had sleep apnea when she was two and a half-- cranky, seemed tired all the time, VERY light sleeper. We had her tonsils & adenoids removed (they were very large) and she was a whole new person. Our youngest, at 17 mos is exhibiting some of the same symptoms (occasionally gasps for air during sleep, snores sometimes, light sleeper, etc.) but she is too young for surgery (I'm hoping she'll outgrow it and won't need it). Like your son, she is a great daytime napper. She sleeps very lightly because when she is totally relaxed, she can't breathe well-- her airway becomes at least partially blocked, probably from her tonsils (Dr. says hers are also big). So she starts to drift off, she has trouble getting air, and wakes up.
We have found that running a (cool mist) humidifier at night & an air purifier all the time really helped her sleep well at night. We're assuming that allergies and a dry throat/nasal passages were a factor in her not being able to breathe well. Lately, we've found that a steam humidifer along with the purifier is working even better (the purifier keeps the room from getting too stuffy from the steam. She has trouble breathing if it gets too warm or humid). I also think the white noise helps her too-- it blocks out any other noises that might otherwise wake her up and helps her drift back to sleep if she does wake. I would try a humidifier for a week or so and see if that helps. Ditto with the purifier. Maybe try one at a time to see what helps-- hopefully you'll find a combination that works for him.
Also, we put phone books under the "head" end of her crib-- this has also helped her breathe better & helps mucus drain better so it doesn't sit in her nasal passages all night.
My son has always been a wonderful sleeper also. He only doesn't sleep when he is getting an ear infection. During the day there are no signs, but when we put him to bed he would SCREAM. We couldn't figure out what was going on so we took him to the doctor. He had a horrible ear infection.
I would just take him to the doctor and make sure that everything checks out.
