Recent Sleep Problems

My now 5 year old son went through the same thing and more often when things changed around the house. Like a routine, a familiar item in the room taken down, etc. The list is endless. Teething is still a possibility. Eventhough you don't see or feel them, he maybe cutting them. But also, on a completely different note...If he is in the beginning stages of walking, his legs may be sore. He is trying something new with his body and that could easily affect sleep.

my daughter was the same way. we thought it was gas. she is now 16 months old. it turns out that she was always very hungry at night. we were transitioning her to a sippy cup and no bottles at night. this meant she had to eat much more during the day to sustain her at night. once we increased the solid food intake, she got much better and can sleep through the night. sometimes she'll wake up once, then we give her a bottle of milk even though we're not supposed to but we do if it'll get her to sleep again and make her happier.

Hi Dawn,

My name is M. I am a mother of two, a three year old boy and my daughter will be one sunday. I have a similar problem with Kaitlyn (daughter) only she doesn't wake up when she starts crying and wailing. The only thing my husband and I can do is pick her up and try to comfort her although she will usually has to calm down on her own. That usually takes a couple minutes and she's back to sleeping peacefully. I don't know what triggers it I usually just attribute it to a bad dream since she isn't waking up. I know this probably doesn't help explain your son's problem but I thought it might help knowing that my duaghter has similar night crying episodes.

I can also say that I envy you I wish that she slept twelve hours straight, six hours is the longest she's slept without needing to eat in the middle of the night.

Hi Dawn,
I've been having the same trouble with my son. It's gotten better, but he still wakes and crys out, but then he'll fall back asleep most times. He gets worse when he has an ear infection that we don't know about and when he's teething, but this isn't always the case. I'm interested in suggestions also.

I would suggest looking up information on night terrors (I think they are called). My daughter never had them, but from everything that I heard, it sounds like your son might.

If you live in the Raleigh area you may want to give Project Enlightenment a call to see if they have any suggestions. I don't remember when babies can start having night terror or nightmares. Is he waking up at the same time every night? He also maybe getting his first set of molars or canines. They both can take forever to come in and are very painful. Good Luck.

major milestone is possible; happened with us too. lasted about 1-2 weeks off/on.

keep ur head up!

Lots of time when a baby is about to hit a milestone they do start waking in the middle of the night. Especially once they start to do something new like walking or sitting up, and they start practicing it at night. Its also not unusually for a well sleeping baby to start waking up for no reason at all. Sometimes with teething, you won't notice the teeth for a few weeks, so even if you see no evidence of it, he maybe cutting back teeth. I have three kids, and all three did the above situations. I think you should check the back of his mouth for lumps showing that the back teeth might be pushing down. If there is no evidence of this, then console him then leave the room. Pat his back, talk quietly to him, but dont pick him up. If there is nothing wrong with him, then let him know you are there, but don't encourage it by staying there long or picking him up.

I have heard of that theory, but i sounds like night terrors to me. Do a "Google" search for children's night terrors and you'll find all sorts of info.

P.