My 2yr old son has not been sleeping well at all the last few weeks. He wakes up anywhere between 1130 and 3 and comes into bed with my and my husband. Once in there he lays down and tries to sleep, but its like he can't. He will toss and turn, sit up, lay back down, fuss, kick his legs, fuss some more. When he does get to sleep, its 30mins at most and a restless sleep. We let him stay in bed with us until he asks to go back to his bed which is usually after a few hours. When we take him back, me or my husband will lay down in bed with him until he falls asleep and after a while its back to the same thing of getting up. Even when we stay in bed with him he still will wake up crying, tossing and turning, etc etc. We have tried taking clothes off, putting clothes on, cuddling him, not touch him, giving him warm milk, giving him a nightlight and taking it away, etc and nothing seems to be whats wrong. We dont believe in letting babies "cry it out", and he also shares a room with his 1yr old brother, so we def want to make sure that he's not woken up. He has no problems falling asleep at bedtime or naptime. He does the normal fussing but is overall pretty good about it. He's been sleeping thru the night since he turned 1 until now. Also, we checked his teeth and he is not teething.
Could it be growing pains? I used to get them in my legs something awful, enough to make me cry. It felt like someone had replaced my shinbone with a red-hot poker. My dad would massage them for me and it helped somewhat. My daughter had a bit of the same...massage helped her some too. I also gave her tylenol if it was really bad. Just a thought.
You DO NOT have to have fever to have ear infections. My son who is now 10 had chronic ear infections from 9 months of age on and ended up going through 3 sets of tubes by the age of 5 so believe me I know. He only ran a fever a couple of times with dozens of infections. He had fluid that remained and would often turn into infection again. Anyway, my only symptom most of the time was that he could not sleep at night. He'd wake up crying, restless, etc. at least every 30 minutes. It was just the pressure building at night when he'd sleep. I'd definitely rule it out. It could just be a phase, but it is easy to rule out.
I have a 28 month old, and I'm wondering if your little guy might be having bathroom issues. Does he need to go pee pee and is just not able to tell you? Or is he still in diapers and the dampness is starting to bother him? That was just my first thought.... Also, is he having allergy/sinus trouble? Is he just not being able to breath easily and normally?
The same thing happened with my daughter but what I found is that she was having such good naps that she was just not really tired at night. At the time she was taking 3 hour naps just like normal. I eventually started waking her after 1 1/2 to 2 hours and she slept better at night. I understand not wanting him to cry it out; it is never something anyone wants to do in the middle of the night! When my daughter woke up, I went in the living room and sat on the couch with her or held her while in a rocking chair for a 10 to 15 minutes just for comfort and made sure she knew it was still "sleepy time". I also sang a couple of soft songs while rocking. For me, it was easier and better than putting her in our bed. (None of us did well sleeping together!) If your little one doesn't have an earache or teething problems, this might help. Good luck!
I don't know if they can have it that young, but my friend's daughter has Restless Leg Syndrome (because of the discomfort in their legs it makes it hard to sleep). I know you said he kicks his legs, does he also complain of them feeling funny?
Could he be ready to get away from naps every single day? Have you tried cutting out some naps but not all. Maybe keep him up 4 days a week and let him nap 3 days. It's a hard transition because they are usually a mess by about 4:30. However, you have to slowly work your way out of them. My 2 yr 3 month old is showing signs of not needing naps anymore. She hadn't napped for the last 3 days but was sleeping very well at night. She was really grumpy this morning so she had a good long nap today. This is how I didn't it with my son; we made the slow transition. Good luck, fun times.
Ear infection? Possible developmental- their imaginations get away from them? Can he tell you at all the next day why he was awake the night before? Good luck- it made me tired just reading your post- I bet yall are exhausted!
He may be teething. Two year molars can be hard. We are dealing with it as well.
Like other people suggested that your son may have Ear infection, teething.... if your son has those symtoms..then he should have a fever.. For ear infection, you can notice by looking at him if he 's keeping touching ears, or pull down...And for teething, you can always look up.. As you said, he doesn't teething
For what I've learned that MUSIC can keep him calm down. That why I always put the music on for my 16 months old. For napping, if you let him takes a nap near by the night, then he won't be able to go to have a long sleep (over night).. I'm not so sure if you send him to the daycare ??? it happened to my little one, we sent him out to the daycare, after the 2nd day, he wake up around 10pm (he always goes to bed at 9pm) and screamed , cried... so I had to lay down with him until he fell back sleep...or maybe during the day, he played..and maybe something happened.. He may feels insercure. So just try to calm him down by turning on lullaby music. Hope will work out for him .
Good luck to you
I'm sorry to say I can't really offer any advice, as I am going through the same thing with my daughter (who will be two in April). She sleeps soundly during her naps at daycare but will not sleep in her bed at home. She sleeps with us every night and I am to the point of wanting her in her room, but I don't believe in letting her cry it out either. Anyway, I guess I just wanted to say that you aren't alone! I hope it works out for you.
He could be having nightmares or night terrors. Or growing pains. I have no advice as I'm going through a very similar situation with my 2.5 year old daughter, however, she has been having ear infections off and on for two months. Could it be that he's waking up out of pain such as an ear infection?
Try these ideas from this preschool blog for your 2 yr old's sleep issues - hope it works out!
http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/2010/01/09/...
