my lo wakes up terrified, help

[daisy777]

my 14 month year old has been a terrible sleeper from the start but since about 10 months he has got alot better, waking only 3 times a night, having a little whinge but going straight back to sleep with a dummy.
the past month has been awful! from about 7 to 2 he wakes every half hour, screaming his head off, i'm really getting worried as it's like he wakes up scared!? hes good then until about 5 when he starts waking for the day. i don't know why he's doing this, he's not teething either. any advice? x

 

[upsy daisy1]

When u put your lo to bed do you put him to sleep in hes cot or does he fall asleep and then you move him there.also does he nap in hes cot.recently my sil had problems with lo waking at aroun 1am and screaming,hiting wouldnt let them go near him but when they moved away he cried cause they did.but then hit them if they came near them.they wer at a loss as this was hapening for 2 to 3 hours a night.i told them to make sure he naps only in hes own bed so he knows thats where he sleeps.and at night after bath to go straight to hes room for milk,quiet time and sleep.before they wer leting him go sleep in there bed watching hes fav film then moving him.he was waking up alone scared and confused.now he sleeps through most nights.x

 

[daisy777]

thank you for the advice.
lo goes into his cot at night awake and i leave him to self settle which most days he is good at. he doesn't nap in his cot (i am trying to get him too) atm he naps on my lap for half hour during the day and its proving impossible to change this! i'm just really worried how it's suddenly started happening in the night when i can't think of a real reason why x

 

[kirstylm]

Just a thought .... Does he have a night light in his room? This helped to calm Eva down as I think the dark scared her a little.

 

[pinktaffy]

this kind of thing started to happen to me with my little one is he maybe growing out of his cot?. my little girl started doing this and we put her in a bed were she was free to get in and out we showed her how and showed her it was a big girls bed and she stoped waking scaired instantly. maybe the bars on the cot get scairy at a certain age they feel traped maybe.

 

[Pixelle]

This happened to us a few months back. It was a combination of him being scared of the dark and also because he never napped in his cot.

Now we have a nightlight for him and also leave the hallway light on at night so if he does wake, it's not too dark.

We also transitioned to him sleeping in his cot at naptimes by staying with him while he fell asleep, then putting on white noise (waves/heartbeat in our case) and gradually he self settled and has done since, whether naptime or night time.
It did take a while though, and lots of patience but was well worth it. He sleeps so much better now than when he was on my lap/in my arms and wakes up happier!

Good luck!