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help! 20 month old wakes up crying

Wendy - posted on 01/03/2011 ( 3 moms have responded )

My 20 month old wakes up crying several times through the night. He used to be a great sleeper, I would just put him in bed and he would settle himself and go to sleep. Now I have to sit beside his bed while he goes to sleep and he cries for me in the night and gets very upset if i leave. He is also very worried about my 4 month old, If he cries for a feed then He wakes up and cries too,and get quite beside himself, very hard to comfort. Any ideas on how to get him sleeping better again and not to have to sit with him all the time for him to go to sleep?

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Lorraine - posted on 01/29/2011

243

Not really sure why it is happening. My daughter is actually doing the same thing. Great sleeper since forever and now with the new baby (now 2 months) she is waking up crying through out the night. My only thoughts are that it might be her way to get my attention, the baby crying might wake her, or she might just be cold because she doesn't really know to keep the covers on through the night. I really just let her self soothe though because I really can't be in two places the whole night and I know eventually she will put herself to sleep. I hope you have better luck with your little ones sleep.

Elaine - posted on 01/14/2011

My daughter is 20months old too. She was doing the same thing a few nights ago...so I started to leave her night light dimmed and she's been sleeping through the night again. I think they're starting to have bad dreams or nightmares or something. I just make sure that the last thing she did was reading a happy book which is part of her routine so try the night light dimmed. Good luck.

LaVerne - posted on 01/09/2011

My daughter does this sometimes - especially when she turns a month older. I started checking on the amount of calorie intake during the day. When I increased her meals to make sure she had a good serving of meat, fruit, and starch (lunch and dinner) it seemed to help. I also give her milk about an hour before bed. My husband and I are also talk to her about routines and sleeping during the night. When she wakes up, he goes in and tells her it's nighttime - no crying - go to sleep. This is tough to do but it works.