Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed at 1am!?!

[angelae36]

Excellent, Mynx, I'm so glad you seem to have found a solution!

We've had 2 nights of undisturbed sleep, but I expect tonight will revert to type!
The last 3 days she's had a 10-15 minute nap, mid-lateish afternoon (not through my choice but she just kind of collapses) I wake her up. I've tried very hard to get her to nap at a more appropriate time but she just won't.

She's had the longer wind down time tonight again, which whatever happens I will continue, but she's still chattering now - at 8.45pm.
When I put her to bed and was reading her favourite book, I knew she wasn't quite ready because she was playing. However she is very very insistent that after her milk she goes straight to bed so off she went!
We've tried to break this cycle but she goes into meltdown which is counter-productive

So knowing her she will be back to 3-4 hours awake again.
She is our 3rd child so you'd think I'd know all the in's and out's by now but no!
Fingers crossed for us all again tonight!
xxxx

 

[MissTanya]

Angelae-good luck for tonight and fingers crossed for a lucky third night in a row!! My boy went straight down again tonight...but last night he was up just before midnight, was still awake at 2.30am, then I finally tuned him out to fall asleep and when I re-woke at 4.30am he was quiet. No idea what time he drifted back off but boy was he tired today!!

Mynx-i really hope it is just the cold, which would mean that now you've got it all sussed out! I had wondered if that was the case for us too...but my son continued his antics while we were in australia for 3 weeks...and it was summer there!! I find it so hard Knowing if he is dressed right for bed...it seems he can get too hot or too cold too easily, and he just kicks off any extra blankets if I put them on (he still sleeps in a sleeping bag).

Fingers crossed for sleeping toddlers tonight! xx

 

[angelae36]

Morning all, hope you all had a good night with your little ones?!

Abbie kind of slept through - until 5.30! But she didn't come through to us until 7.30, so it's a kind of victory! She was quite happy to chatter to herself!
She is tired though because of the late night!

I don't believe Abbie is waking for being cold/hot. When she first started to wake all those many months ago, we thought she might have been cold so started to leave the heating on constant (it was winter and she'd just kick blankets off or get out and not get back in) But it made no difference!

 

[angelae36]

I'm not sure if I dare hope that we've cracked this, but Abbie has slept through 6 nights in a row - and even had short naps in the afternoon some days!!!!

I've kept up with the longer winde down time, taking her out for a run around most days and made sure she's had enough to eat and drink through the day!

I do so hope it's the start of something good!!!!

How's everyone else getting on?

 

[Mynx]

Aww glad to hear it hun!

Evie's not been quite so good... altho she's not waking up and chatting to herself anymore, she's becoming increasingly restless at night so I'm thinking that her 2 year molars are on their way, as she usually gets like this when teething! Fingers crossed that once those are all thru she'll sleep better!

 

[DaisyBee]

Megan was sleeping better but now is getting her last 2 - 2 year molars in at once and also has a cold. She has woken crying the past few nights from that. She was up for a few hours after that 2 nights ago, but last night would go back to sleep, but was then crying 2 hrs later.

I'm still thinking hers is teething and develpmental?

 

[Mynx]

Sounds like it hun. Hopefully her last 2 will come thru quickly for her .. and you of course!

 

[babyjiva]

i'm getting in on this a little late but yes!!! my perfect sleeper 8-8 with a few mini eyes-closed night waking for nursing (we co-sleep so this was no problem), has now started waking for 2 hours most nights. she has learned she can't leave the room so she no longer fights and now i can see she really is not tired. she stays in bed and simply lays around, sits up a little and (it almost looks like she is trying to self settle) but just that she is not tired. she only naps once a day, it is early and short, we give her a very long settling period before bed.
i suspect
teething
hunger
cold
she's not a great eater so I can't get her to eat enough before bed
i have a heater in the room but sometimes i'm not sure it's enough. i'm always warm but that doesn't mean she is? she won't use a blanket.
teething is a definite but i don't know that it is the cause, but i can see teeth cutting.

we've been dealing with this for about 2 months. there was a time in there where she stopped but she's back at it. it is exhausting but it is clear that she's not tired and she's not actually playing so i can't think of what to do.

i'm going to take away the night light tonight and see if that makes a difference. if no, i'll add more heat and see if that works and continue to trouble shoot.

 

[Mynx]

i suspect
teething
hunger
cold
she's not a great eater so I can't get her to eat enough before bed
i have a heater in the room but sometimes i'm not sure it's enough. i'm always warm but that doesn't mean she is? she won't use a blanket.
teething is a definite but i don't know that it is the cause, but i can see teeth cutting.

Teething is awful for them at night! During the day it's easier for them to deal with as they're playing so they're distracted from their pain but at night, there's nothing to distract them and the pain wakes them up Poor little mites. I dont really know what to suggest to help during the night as Evie's been the same, she's had a terrible time with her teeth
As for possibly being cold, you could try putting some thicker jammies on her or an extra layer of clothing maybe? Especially if she wont keep a blanket on. Evie has a tendancy to kick off her duvet at night, and hasnt quite mastered the art of pulling it back on her, but we have noticed that with an extra blanket, she's alot more settled.
The hunger thing... hmmm I often wonder about that with Evie but she's at an age now where if she was hungry, she'd ask for something, even in the middle of the night If your LO has a bottle/cup of milk before bed, maybe you could try giving her more? Or offering her a small snack before her bedtime routine? I find with Evie that if she doesnt eat all her dinner, we'll offer her a banana about half an hour or so after her dinner... bananas are quite filling and that does seem to help

It's so hard trying to pin point exactly what is making our babies like this at night! My eldest was never like this at night so this is all new territory for me too!

Good luck with the night light thing hun, and let us know how you get on!

How's everyone else's little ones doing?

 

[DaisyBee]

Megan slept from 8-10 last night and then was awake from 10-3. Her teeth were bugging her as she was doing the things she does when her teeth hurt, also she was coughing and sneezing. But was also just awake and talking.

Megan doesn't have a nightlite.. Her room is very dark, and she is still in her crib. We bought her toddler bed but she refused to sleep in it, preferring instead the security of her crib.

She seemed warm and so I changed her pajama top in the middle of the night to a cooler one. She also drank some milk at one point and got more meds as well.

This time its been obvious why she is awake, but there have been weeks of these times that we couldn't figure out what's going on. If this continues past these last 2 molars, I'll have to look for another thing to blame it on! Lol

 

[hattiehippo]

Can I join too....Tom's suddenly started waking around 11pm and then staying awake till 2 or 3am and its knackering. I'm suspecting his back molars are moving into position and that's waking him. Then when he's awake he starts scratching the eczema on his legs and his brain starts going and just can't settle back then. He whinges and moans and shouts so leaving him doesn't mean we actually get any sleep!

I'm going to be trying some of the tips on here especially the longer winding down cos I think he prob doesn't have enough quiet time after 6pm but he isn't going to sleep until 8pm at the mo so its hard to fill all that time quietly IYKWIM.

 

[angelae36]

We had a small hiccup on Saturday night - not sure what time Abbie came running through to us but I put her back to bed and closed her door. As far as I know she tried once to get out after that we never heard her. I do know she was awake a while though because she didn't get up until 9!

If it's just an occasional thing I can cope with that!

This winding down time does seem to have made a difference to us though.
If Mynx hadn't have suggested it, it wouldn't have reminded me that our other daughter also needed half an hour calming time.

Also I only read one book in bed - not too enthusiatically if you see what I mean?! Any more or if I make it too exciting she gets overstimulated again!

I expect we'll have a few more hiccups along the way, she's still got teeth to come through as well, but if we can have more full nights than not I'm happy!

 

[babyjiva]

update: night light off (pitch dark in room) worked!!! maybe a coincidence but she slept through. will try again tonight and if she sleeps again, I think it's safe to say this is the trick for us. now, i don't believe the night light was waking her but that doesn't mean that having it off is not a solution. we'll keep trying this and the next thing i'll try if it keeps up is more heat.

 

[babyjiva]

i suspect
teething
hunger
cold
she's not a great eater so I can't get her to eat enough before bed
i have a heater in the room but sometimes i'm not sure it's enough. i'm always warm but that doesn't mean she is? she won't use a blanket.
teething is a definite but i don't know that it is the cause, but i can see teeth cutting.

Teething is awful for them at night! During the day it's easier for them to deal with as they're playing so they're distracted from their pain but at night, there's nothing to distract them and the pain wakes them up Poor little mites. I dont really know what to suggest to help during the night as Evie's been the same, she's had a terrible time with her teeth
As for possibly being cold, you could try putting some thicker jammies on her or an extra layer of clothing maybe? Especially if she wont keep a blanket on. Evie has a tendancy to kick off her duvet at night, and hasnt quite mastered the art of pulling it back on her, but we have noticed that with an extra blanket, she's alot more settled.
The hunger thing... hmmm I often wonder about that with Evie but she's at an age now where if she was hungry, she'd ask for something, even in the middle of the night If your LO has a bottle/cup of milk before bed, maybe you could try giving her more? Or offering her a small snack before her bedtime routine? I find with Evie that if she doesnt eat all her dinner, we'll offer her a banana about half an hour or so after her dinner... bananas are quite filling and that does seem to help

It's so hard trying to pin point exactly what is making our babies like this at night! My eldest was never like this at night so this is all new territory for me too!

Good luck with the night light thing hun, and let us know how you get on!

How's everyone else's little ones doing?

thank you. this was very helpful. the warmer pajamas are a great idea. i've tried in the past but she's a sweaty little thing so I go back and forth on that decision but this encourages me to give it a go (if the night light off stops working for us). we may have just lucked out last night. Bananas are a great idea and she does eat them. i've been trying grains for dinner but she just won't eat them. she's not old enough to really ask because she just wants "mee mees" to nurse. bah!

 

[DaisyBee]

We've had a rough few days with Megan. And she is getting her upper 2 year molars both at once right now. The one just barely poked through a bit 2 nights ago. Her bottom molars took 6 weeks of bad nights before they stopped affecting her sleep. I think part of my looking for other ideas on what keeps her awake is it just seems to go on forever. I always think teething shouldn't last this long, something else must be happening! But really I'm thinking it's teeth.

3 nights ago she had a really tough time going to sleep and then slept through but woke super early. So it was a very short night. That next day she couldn't fall asleep at nap. So that night she fell asleep before 7. But was wide awake at 2 am and couldn't get back to sleep until 6 and I woke her after a few hours. She didn't nap again and then last night was sleeping a bit after 7. She woke again around 2 which I think is when her advil stops working. I finally got her to fall asleep by 6:30 by basically rocking her. This was after trying medicine, Orajel, milk, change her diaper, resettling her just saying sleeping time goodnignt. I woke her this morning at 9 as I was exhausted .... So what are the odds that she will nap today!?!?

I also do think she sleeps better at night if she has napped in the day. Don't think she is ready to drop the nap. She has been acting so tired that she's practically falling asleep while standing but still can't drop off.

 

[Murphy98]

Megan usually has a very long wind down time so not sure that is it with her. after dinner we have tried more active play to see if that helps but it doesn't. She also has days of lots of outdoor play and still wakes at night. We tried to cut out naps but she was still awake at night... So then would only get maybe 6-7 hrs in 24 hrs. not fun for any of us!

Her typical wind down includes drinking milk while in her room with softer lights with daddy reading her books. That can last 1/2 hr as she loves her books. Then potty ( not potty trained yet but she will pee before bed), pjs on, then bedtime books with me 3-4, and then we brush her teeth. Lights off and I put her in her crib. If she naps too long during the day it will take her a while to fall asleep... But either way she falls asleep by herself. But I've been trying to shorten her naps so that she's not overtired but will still be tired for bedtime. And doesn't make a difference if she falls asleep at 7pm or 9pm she will still wake in the night or early am.

We did cc at 13 months and she would fall asleep quickly without issue then and sleep through the night without a peep. She would sleep 12 hrs at night and 2 hr nap. Around 18 months she started really talking loads ( she had like 250 words by 20 months) and was also teething. And this waking and talking, giggling all night long started then. Then it seemed like it got better. And since november ( 2year molars started then?!?) she has been doing it again. It really makes me wonder if somehow the teeth wake her and then her brain just won't let her fall back asleep? She is very bright... Her dr said that she talks more like a 3 year old than a 2 year old. She does get overstimulated easily and is sensitive to things. As an infant she would have a 3 hr meltdown after a trip to the grocery store. Other kids would sleep in the store at 4 months old.. She never would. She also doesn't sleep in the car or stroller... As she just won't "shut off". Maybe now it's just habit or she's just now in such a cycle she can't stop it. She does have the occasional night where she won't do this.... But NOTHING is different. We did the same routine, same sort of day, same meal time, etc.

I came on today to post about the same issue. Our little ones sound simliar....Elliots never been a great sleeper but lately he is just wide awake around 1:30am. Last night he didn't go back to sleep until 4:00am, when we just brought him in to sleep with us. Unfortunately unlike OPs child, our whinges and then starts to cry and get upset. We have never left him to cry before but feel at wits end with this and don't know what to do. I don't think its good to rock him for 3 hours a night just to try to help him calm down.

We are so frustrated honestly and all of us are tired (toddler included). I can't play with naps because ours is in daycare full time. Warm room, cold room, different bedding, variations on how much light is in the room, bed later, bed earlier, fresh air before dinner.....nothing is working.

I don't want to highjack ops thread but any suggestions are welcome.

 

[DaisyBee]

If you feel up to cc that is what really helped us with Megan... It doesn't work now with us though as she isn't upset but just isn't sleeping. If cc doesn't help then you could try something else. I think they are at an age now where cc works better as they understand what's going on. They know it's sleeping time. With Megan we did the whole 3 min, 5 min, 7 min, 10 min. Wait before going to her. Then we wouldn't pick her up, wouldn't take her out of the crib, no more rocking. It only took her a couple of nights to be sleeping through as for her at that point was just bad habits.

If you think something other than bad habits is what's going on id keep trying other things, but sounds like you've done that? Is lo teething?

 

[hattiehippo]

We've never really been able to use CC with Tom - not that I really agree with it anyway but sometimes I feel desparate enough to consider it - but like DaisyBee's LO now, Tom is never really upset and crying about being awake...he's wide awake and whingy and sometimes gets very overtired and fidgety but doesn't get wound up enough to use up his energy and drop back off in under 3 hours.

We had 2 really bad nights then 2 good nights where he slept through 8pm to 6am, then last night he was awake from 11.30pm to 2.30am again. He got stuck being overtired but not able to turn off and was frantically kicking, flapping his arms and stratching his ezcema. I had to hold him in a tight bear hug in the end and after 2 mins of screaming and fighting he finally switched off and went back to sleep.

I can't work out at all why he sleeps fine some nights and then just so badly on others.

 

[Murphy98]

If you feel up to cc that is what really helped us with Megan... It doesn't work now with us though as she isn't upset but just isn't sleeping. If cc doesn't help then you could try something else. I think they are at an age now where cc works better as they understand what's going on. They know it's sleeping time. With Megan we did the whole 3 min, 5 min, 7 min, 10 min. Wait before going to her. Then we wouldn't pick her up, wouldn't take her out of the crib, no more rocking. It only took her a couple of nights to be sleeping through as for her at that point was just bad habits.

If you think something other than bad habits is what's going on id keep trying other things, but sounds like you've done that? Is lo teething?

I'm really torn about it. My husband and have been in agreement in terms of parenting philosophy on the issue of cc and CIO etc. I'm starting to think though that he is getting to an age where this could just be a behaviour and in which case cc might be appropriate because its doing him no good whatsoever to be exhauted all day. That in and of itself could be an overtired cycle. I feel like we are letting him down - that we should have taught him how to self-settle better by now.

I agree that if its teething or something else impeding his sleep than we shouldn't start cc'ing because of it IYKWIM. His teeth don't seem to be bothering him during the day and nothing is breaking through.

I keep thinking it could be a developmental leap as his language seems on the verge of exploding at the moment and he has taken his first few steps - so walking is on the horizon too (he's just shy of 16months).

I miss him all day at work twice as much because I feel guilty that I've been frustrated with him at night. We are so rational about it during the day but come 2:00am I just feel despair at the moment

 

[DaisyBee]

Megans sleep went out the window around 11 months and we did the cc at 13 months. At that time hers was all behavioral and habit. I would rock her for hours trying to get her to sleep and she would wake a few hours later and would scream until I picked her up and rocked her. I spent most of the night in her room just rocking her. As if I layed her down she would start screaming again. I tried cosleeping but she just wanted to play then. I never thought i would do cc but we were all exhausted including Megan. It was hard on me to do.. But even by the next day her nap went better. The hardest night was the first night.

Fast forward to last summer when Megan started waking in the night... She was going to bed fine by herself. She would wake up in the middle of the night but didn't seem upset or would cry out and by the time I got to her (20 seconds later) she was fine but then just couldn't sleep, whether I went in or not it took her hours to fall back asleep. She was getting canines at the time but also was starting to really say lots of new words every day. She would sometimes just lay there and laugh for hours. We at one point questioned if she was doing it in her sleep as it was just crazy laughing. I think her being so tired with not sleeping those late night hours was just making her be silly.

Now she is getting 2 year molars. She has times of sleeping through, but other times is up most of the night. She doesn't get goofy and laugh like she used to though. But she will just roll around and talk a bit, just not sleep. Im really hoping it's a teething thing that's waking her.


It's hard when everyone is sleep deprived. I'm exhausted being pregnant anyway and when megan isn't sleeping it just makes me want to cry! I am so hoping it improves once these molars are in as being up all night with both girls is just going to be crazy!