Hi ladies-
I'm hoping you have some ideas or have a child that's gone through this before. My 18 m/o normally sleeps pretty well at night, but the last few nights he's been a terror! This doesn't seem like the previous teething episodes we've been through. He'll go down fine and then wake up after an hour or so screaming, and he's awake (unlike other times when he was younger and would cry while still being asleep, kinda like the night terrors). Two nights ago he started crying and then had strider (sp?), so I called the doctor's exchange and they told me it was the croup (he's had that before, but who'd have thought, in August???), and then he slept fine, but yesterday both at daycare during his nap and last night, it was almost like he was afraid to go to sleep. He woke up at 9:00 and screamed, even while I held him to try to go sleep, until I let him roam around and basically play. He finally got tired enough around midnight, and slept fine after that. Do you think this is because he got scared from the croup episode, or he's just not feeling well? I did give him Tylenol before he went to bed, and he hasn't had a fever or anything so it was more pre-emptive than necessary. Also, his dad is out of town - could this just be him protesting about missing his dad, or maybe not getting enough time with me since I couldn't pick him up as early as he usually gets home when his dad is home? Just trying to understand the thinkings of a toddler! Any help you can give will be appreciated.
My girls are really great sleepers, when they are up at night I know something is wrong. Usually it is an ear infection. They get them without a fever. Just an idea ;-)
well, croup is obviously more prevalent in winter but occurs pretty often in summer, too. just a tip tho....if you hear stridor, which is high pitched, whistling upper airway noises in his throat as he breathes, TAKE HIM TO THE HOSPITAL. that can be a medical emergency and requires a very specific breathing treatment called racemic epi that they don't give prescriptions for bc it requires monitoring after its use. and it could have very well traumatized him to go through that...waking up with air hunger will cause a lot of anxiety and fear. good luck!
Hi, M..
My son, who is now 14, had night terrors from the time he was two until he was four. His eyes would be open and he would seem awake, but we could not calm him down unless we gave him a pacifier. He would then relax and go to sleep peacefully again. I don't know what he was seeing, and he doesn't remember, but it must have been some kind of terrible monster. Anyway, nothing worked except giving him the pacifier--I mean NOTHING. You may have to just wait it out and let him do whatever helps to calm him down. It will eventually pass.
Croup does last more than a day and my son, who always got it, never slept well with it. It does become very hard for them to breathe and I would imagine that is scary. If his breathing ever sounds labored or wheezy take him to the hospital or dr immediately!
Have you tried opening his breathing passages with steam from a shower or a humidifier? Tylenol is good and I would stay away from dairy products during the croup.
August is actually not that surprising because we have had some drastic temperature drops 100 degrees to 70 or going from the 100 degree day into airconditioned house. This always triggered my son who is now diagmosed with an RAD (Reative Airway Disease) which will later become asthma. We ended up buying our own nebulizer and had a standing prescription to treat him ourselves. He is now old enough for an inhaler.
Good luck! LA
I feel for you. Not sure what you can do other than keep him on his schedule. If you can go in his room at night and comfort him but don't talk to him and hopefully he'll go back to sleep. I would discourage you from letting him play that late at night - it will be something that he won't forget and something that he will like to continue. If he wants to stay up - I would just have him sit in his bed but don't make it fun for him or he won't go to sleep. Good luck...
It could be any or all the things you mentioned. But you can't come right out and ask him and expect an answer :) He sounds perfectly normal to me. Kids just go through this stuff sometimes.
Sounds like you are doing a good job with him. Hang in there and it will pass.
Suzi
we have sleep issues with my daughter, getting up in the middle of the night etc. but usually when there was a change as significant as your son's it was due to one of two things...illness (most often an ear infection) or any major change-like starting at a mother's day out program or a new school. you might consider taking him in to be seen by his doc. my daughter never had any of the other obvious symptoms of ear infections, but most of the time my gut instinct has been right.
i hope you all get some sleep soon!
You may want to visit the doctor and make sure he doesn't have an ear infection.
Otherwise, I work with toddlers and have seen this a lot. I had one little girl who started doing this during nap time about two weeks after she stayed out of town with her grandparents while her parents went on vacation. It lasted about 3 weeks. We realized it was from that separation that she went through a couple weeks prior and laminated pictures of her parents that we let her hold, helped her calm down.
In your case, any change, like your husband being gone or a change in his routine, could contribute to this. His cough may be making him uncomfortable to sleep too, or kids this age do have night terrors. They can't yet distinguish between dreams and reality and this can be really scary to them when they wake up from a bad dream. I think it's possible that any of these things could be causing this.
As for a solution, I would suggest keeping his routine as close to normal as possible. Talk about daddy coming back home too and look at pictures. Maybe he could talk to him on the phone. Otherwise, if you can, try to keep his schedule and routine the same. Sometimes TV in the evening can be stimulating even though it might seem like an innocent cartoon or movie. He could be having nightmares about something he saw. Try to eliminate TV in the evening and only do calm activities before bed.
When he wakes, decide on a routine that you will follow every time he wakes up so that you are consistent. Decide ahead of time--will you let him play, then back to bed; will you rock him, read stories; offer some water, then back to bed, etc. I would suggest doing this same thing every time he wakes-whichever method you decide according to what you think might work best for him. By him being able to predict what will happen, it may help him become calm and go back to sleep more quickly.
best wishes!
i think you're right with all the answers you provided. like suzi said it's probably a mixture of all of it. you might try putting him down just a bit later, maybe 30 minutes, if he's more tired maybe he'll sleep through whatever is keeping him up? i'm sure he'll get over it, hang in there!
