Suddenly Not Sleeping Through the Night.

Another possiblility to look at is could she be teething? 15 months is usually the age babies get molars. They are very painful because they are flat and not pointy and sharp like the other teeth which makes it more difficult to break thru the gums.

Hello! I do deal with the same thing and my daughter has been doing it for a awhile. She is now 4 and it started about the same time as your child. I was told that it is called night terrors. I was also told that it is normal for the child to do this. Normal in what way...All I know is that it is scarey and she sit upright in bed, cries and sometimes she is out of bed doing it. I have noticed that sometimes she does this and she has to pee, so I carry her to the potty and she does go. I have spoken with doctors and therapist. They all say the same, she will grow out of it..and there is never enough coffee for this. The only thing I can say, is comfort her and reasure her that you are there. She will not remember this in the morning, mine never does. Mine has a habit of fighting with me while she is in the middle of this sleep but not asleep stage. I just hold her and rock her till she wants to lay back down. It is hard when you don't have an answer for this behavior. Just knowing you aren't alone helps. tc

Sorry if I'ma little late on my advice! I ran into a similar problem with my 11 month old (just a couple of weeks ago actually). I was making 2 mistakes...one I was feeding her too close to bed time. We have to remember how sensitive our babes tiny tummies can be. My family eats dinner at 6pm faithfully. My 11 month old goes to bed at 7:00. First, I serve dinner a half-hour earlier and the baby goes to sleep a half hour later. Also, at this age some babies are ready to give up some of their time spent sleeping. Try eliminating one of your babies daytime naps. My baby still takes a one -two hour nap during the day and sleeps 11 hours at night. Once in a while she will cry at night too. Be aware of the urgency of her cries. If she's screaming out of nowhere, my first guess would be tummy troubles (gas or hunger). If its a drawn out non urgent cry, maybe she is getting too much sleep.

Hi K. :)

It sounds like you might be dealing with something called Night Terrors. They are pretty common with toddlers - usually starting around age 2 or so, but what you are describing sounds exactly like this.

My daughter began having them when she was about 2.5. We had no idea what was going on - she would just wake up and scream for a few minutes, sometimes much longer. She was inconsolable, and would even thrash or run around her room until it passed. It was terribly upsetting for both myself and my husband, because we just didn't know what to do.

Night terrors are different than nightmares. In a nightmare, your child will wake up as a result of something scary, and feel panicked. During a night terror, your baby is in a deep sleep, and she will not likely remember anything about it after it is over. It's kind of like sleep walking in that way, so you don't want to do anything that will startle her (like shaking her out of it) because that could put her in shock.

They are usually a passing phase. Our daughter has gone through two phases like this, both during times of family transition and lengthy disruption from our normal routine. The best things you can do: keep things calm arond an hour before bedtime - read stories, give her a warm bath, turn off the TV, etc. If and when she has another, stay with her, try calmly saying her name and holding her, maybe even turn on the lights. For our daughter, we ask her questions (do you want to be held? would you like some water? etc., sometimes sing her songs, and gradually she slips out of it and goes right back to sleep.

HTH,
R.

K.,
My name is B. and i am a mother of two a daughter that is 13 and a son who is 20 months. From what you have discribed in your note it sound more like collic you can do what i did and what pediaticians reccomend and give him infant milicon before bed time or every four hours as directed on the bottle. See if this helps it couldn't hurt. My son and daughter have done this very thing before and i do not think it is anything to worry about. It sounds normal.
Hope this helped.
B.

I agree with the others I beleive it is night terriors. My son was a great sleeper and then 2 and 1/2 came and her started having them. They were alot in the begin but gradually got less. He is now 6 years old an still sometimes has them. He wakes up does not cry just runs into my bedroom and I hug him and hold him for a few minutes and then kiss him and walk him back to his bedroom and tuck him back in and like the others say he has no memeory of it in the morning. It will get better just be there for her because something has scared her. Hope I helped.

S.

Hi K.!
My son is 16 months old,and I definitely sympathize with you. I am glad she's beginning to sleep through a little bit better,but the TV may only be half the problem.
My son Hunter has night terrors. He will cry very loudly and sometimes uncontrollably. His eyes are still closed but his little feet still are going. My pediatrician suggested that I pick him up and even though he may be feisty just for me to keep talking to him,and telling him how much I love him,and that he's home,and he's safe. I have tried that with him,and although it dosen't seem like he hears me,eventually he will either calm down and go back to sleep,or he wakes up with that sleepy look and smiles.Then he'll curl up and go back to sleep. Maybe our kind words reassure them so that when they do wake up,we are the first person they hear and see. Mommy to the rescue!! (smiles)
My 11 year old had them at 3 yrs old,and her eyes were open.It was like staring through nothing. She didn't know where she was or who I was for that matter and would scream for at least an hour. Those nasty night terrors can last on a baby anywhere from a few minutes to maybe 45 minutes. If the baby is going to have a night terror,they usually occur within the first 2 hours after going to bed. Other than that here's how I knock out my son.
During the day,I will take him with me for a walk,even if it's to the corner store.No stroller. At about 6 or 7 he eats a good dinner with a warm bath,and some baby tylenol when the teeth were coming in. I left the TV on low because he dosen't like total darkness or total quiet,lol,and if he dosen't have a night terror...he's usually pretty worn out.LOL.I wish you luck and don't worry,the night terrors will pass.

Have you tried playing a soothing CD in the background? it may be worth a try, my favorite when my kids were little was Micheal Card, who is a Christian artist with a very soothing sound. I think he also did a lullaby cd. But you can find what you like best.

Hope you don't mind if I put my 2 cents in!!
First of all, what a fabulous job you have done in making a secure environment that allowed for all those sleep filled nights since birth! You sound like a very intuitive and caring Mom. Some of what you describe sounds like a night terror (although it is a bit early age wise but not impossible)- an episode that happens in 'non REM sleep', a time in the sleep cycle when we do not have dreams. This explains why a child does not recall the episode. In terrors the child screams, may be sweaty, appear disoriented and their eyes are wide open - they look terrified. Arms flail around, you are likely to be pushed away. As much as mommy instincts tell you to console your child during a night terror, picking up or disturbing the event may prolong or make it worse. Your best response is to make sure she is safe- won't fall out of the bed or hit her head on a sharp bed corner, etc and remain until incident is over. It is a very scary 10-15 min.
Look into your schedule and see if there have been changes.....fever or recent illness? change in nap schedules or bedtime? did either parent have same or similar? Talk to your pediatrician about the incidents and rule out any current illness (such as ear infection) that could be source of wakeful sleep. Keep a sleep log with lots of info such as time of wake up, how did it start, how long did it last, any change in behavior during day or evening, change in appetite, urine stool pattern(could baby be constipated) etc.
if there are no physical issues and it continues, there may be a smart girl here exploring cause and effect ie: hmmmmmmm- if i scream for 15 min what does mommy do? if i do this over and over again will she come in and sleep in my room with me? Babies are so incredulously smart!!!!

Sleep is fascinating!!!! please let me know what the doc says and how things go...i'll be thinking of you and hoping for some ZZzzzzzzzzzzz's to come your way soon!

A. m
I am a pediatric sleep coach by day which is why I wrote such a lengthy response!

Hello K., so Sophia is giving you a hard time? Sorry for that. It seems she's getting a nightmare, so you shouldn't wake her up, even if she sounds awake. I read that you just should be there with her calming her like patting her. It shouldn't last long. Be patient and I think is ok to let her sleep with you once in a while whenever she needs. I'm in Miami now and having so much fun with my 2 sisters and nephew! Rick is renovating the house. I'm dying to see it.

See you soon,
P.

K., I am a SAHM like yourself taking care of 4 kids. My third son also third child slept through the night as an infant and after he turned 1, he has been waking me up every night crying. He is 2 yrs old now (26 months) and still doing it. My daughter is 1 now and fortunate for me, she sleeps through the night. I know for me and as well as yourself, when your baby is crying, it gets frustrating but it'll get easier with time. Hang in there.

I agree that it could be night terrors. These can be frightening and frustrating for mom and dad, but believe it or not your daughter won't remember them in the morning. Your child is not awake when she is crying, even if her eyes are open and she is sitting up, and if you wake her she will become more distraught. This is actually very common at your child's age, and it should pass. One theory that it's because your child is going through so many neurological changes and developments so quickly. And yes, this too shall pass, and no- they don't make enough coffee for these things! But they do have naps- take advantage of them for yourself and keep your head up....as much as you can! If they don't subside, call your doc to be sure there's nothing else going on.

It could be her teeth...any other symptoms? drooling, etc? Maybe try a little tylenol when she wakes up and see if it helps...if not it could rule that out at least.

My daughter when she was almost 2 used to do this..She could be having nightmares,bad dreams,whatever you want to call it.Even when she sat up and cried,she was actually asleep. It could also be gas or an upset stomach or something in that nature.You could talk to your pediatrician about this and maybe he could help.My daughter outgrew this.

If she's really not waking up, it could be night terrors. I haven't dealt with them myself, but I've read that the best thing to do for them is NOT wake the child and let it run its course. My daughter will do the same thing sometimes, but not as often as it sounds like your daughter does. Doesn't make it easy for anybody else to sleep, though. :^/