I have a 15 month old little boy and up until about a week ago he was sleeping through the night. Now he will wake up at least once or twice a night screaming like the house is coming down. He has always fought sleep, you can rock him or let him cry it out and he will fight and cry until he just wears himself out. Once or twice i've gotten him out of bed when he does it and won't go back to sleep and put him in bed with my husband and me and it seems to be the only thing that will work. He has a night light and I play classical music for him at naps and bedtime and until recently this helped. I'm not sure what to do about it or if it's a stage that he will out grow. Help Please.
Teething or growth spurts can also have this effect. My son just turned one and got moved up at day care; he's only taking one nap a day instead of two and it's totally messed up his sleeping at night. Is your little one getting enough sleep during the day?
There is a book you should read, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. It's a step by step program for a good night's sleep. It has helped me with my 7 month old. It explains how children sleep, how getting healthy sleep will change the child's temperament ( no matter what age ), and sleep disturbances. I think you will find it helpful.
My son was also always a good sleeper and all of the sudden at 10 mos. he started getting up a couple of times a night or gettting up for the day at 4am. He is now 15mos. and has settled back into a much better sleep routine ( he still wakes up about 4am some days, but like you at those times I put him in bed with us - fo rthe last hour or so).
There are so many things that could have changed. He could be teething again- this about time for the first set of molars - maybe the pain is waking him up - for that we use Motrin (it lasts 8 hours). He could be hungry - we started a "night-night" snack - just a cookie or two with some milk or juice - that seemed to help get him through the night longer.
As for the co sleeping thing - we just made up a rule that if he gets up after 3:30am he goes in bed with us - we both have to get up about 5am and he will go back to sleep in bed with us where he might not if left alone. I know there are many schools of thought about co sleepign and i agree that it can't go on forever, but if it is not a ightly thing then I don't think of it as a mhabit I think of it as just another trick we use to get through the day/night.
Good luck - I hope it is just a phase for you as it was for us!!
I have a grandson that had that problem. We strated giving him just a little oatmeal before bed time and that helped alot. Most kids do go through a stage of where they wake up crying and screaming. My grandson was having bad dreams we found out. A nice warm bath helps also.
good luck.
C. m
i would not get them into the habit of sleeping with you if you can help it...(unless co sleeping is what you want)
