My 18 month old son will not sleep through the night! He wakes exactly 1 hour after he has gone to sleep every night, and then again at 1:00 and again at 3:00, and we are usually up at around 6:30. I have always had my kids on a schedule and a routine. Dinner at 6, snack at 7, then bath time and bed time after that. They are always in bed by 8. I can not break him of this. Most nights all it takes is going in there letting him know I am still "here" and leaving his room, but others he will scream for hours until he falls asleep again. (Even on the nights that I have no fight left in me and let him come into my bed) I don't know whats going on and i cannot find a solution for it. Anyone out there have any ideas or going through the same thing?
Also on the subject of him, he often wakes with what i have been told may be "night terrors". He looks absolutely terrified and can not me consoled. i am lost on that subject also. thanks in advance!
My friend just went through this with her son. She did a lot of research and learned about something called the 18 month sleep regression. I think it is just a normal stage of development. Good luck!
Night terrors suck, simply stated. If that's what is going on, there is nothing to do but go in the room and sit with or hold him. If only to make sure he doesn't get hurt. They tend to go hand in hand with developmental milestones. He will outgrow them. They are harder on you than on him.
Try to remember that your son is learning about relationships. If he needs you and you respond, he learns about trust ans security. If you ignore him and let him cry, then he learns that adults aren't reliable or secure, except during hours convenient to them He will have to learn this at some point, but hopefully at an age where he has some maturity and coping skills.
Do you not believe in cosleeping? If it is an easy way to get him to sleep and for you to get some sleep, than why not? My 29 mo old sleeps in his own bed, but joins us on occasion or often depending on teeth, illness, stress, etc. He still wants to go to his own bed at night and I get more rest than if I were to fight him on it.
Good luck,
W.
As far as the night terrors, children are not actually awake when they happen, and trying to console them will only wake the child and leave them disoriented. Most kids don't remember that they have night terrors. We slowly learned to hear the difference between the terrors (not actually awake) and the waking.
For the rest, it sounds like you've tried a lot of things, but I'm sure you know that consistency works best. I would cry it out, but I know that doesn't work for every parent or family. (When I say cry it out, I mean don't even enter the room--that always prolonged the process for us. NO positive reinforcement for the behavior.)
hi kate sorry to hear that my son is 5 at the time but as a baby he would always wake up at nigt which made me tried also, if he wakes up hour after hour maybe he is hungry i know my son was so i would give him a bottle of milk with some oatmeal in it to fill him up for the day, but u also have to cut down on coming into the room everytime he cries i know its hard but he gets use to it some much that he will get stuck to that routine. hope i helped you some much,and hope you get soem rest
My son recently turned 2 and at his 2year check up last tuesday I mentioned he wasnt sleeping through the night. He does exactly like your son. On a routine but still wakes up several times just needing to know I was there but other times crying for a while. The dr decided to run some tests on him and it turns out he is allergic to milk. We have taken away all milk and she thinks after a couple weeks off milk he might start sleeping better. There's a chance my son was being woke up by gas or maybe belly pains or "rumbles" from the milk irritating him cause he always drank some milk before bed. Not saying this is your case. Just something to consider cause I never imagined my son was allergic to milk or this could be the problem.
