I need help with getting my son to sleep and calm down!

Rianna - posted on 05/11/2010

my 15month old daughter is doing much the same! its driving me insane i was awake from 12pm-4am last night. I have been camping in her room as suggested by Ngala but nothing is helping!!

Karmen - posted on 05/08/2010

ignore him, my son is 16 months and he does it too i go up there and relax him and put his mobile on and he goes back to sleep, just try not to stress...

Amy - posted on 05/07/2010

i am going through that now too from time to time. i check all of the normal things (diaper, temp of the room, etc) it's a gamble. my youngest daughter is 16 mths now. her biggest thing was teething. i would check in her mouth during the day to see if i could see any teeth coming or just watch to see if she was biting on a certain side of her mouth. the other thing that wakes her into a screaming fit is that she rolls around a lot and somehow gets into a sitting up position. it seems to scare the life out of her and she screams until i get her to sleep again. it could be hunger unless ur little one eats good prior to naps. the burping thing might be a problem, but i think that at this age, they burp pretty good on their own. it could be gas from the "other end". one thing that i had w/ my older daughter (now 3) that we havent' seen w/ my younger (fingers crossed!) was night terrors. she would lay in her crib and scream like the devil was chasing her w/ her eyes open and sometimes moving around a little but she would not respond to us picking her up or talking to her. after a few minutes, she'd just fall right back to sleep. and when i say fall, i mean, fall. the first time we experienced it, my husband was holding her and when she was "done" it looked like she fainted. i crapped myself! i didnt' know what to do. then, she woke up and looked around, like "what's going on". and we put her back in her crib, she snuggled up and went right back to sleep. luckily we only had a handful of episodes. the dr. said that we should just make sure that she doesn't hurt herself if she moves around and just let it go. it was teh hardest thing to do and luckily the terrors only lasted a few minutes. but it was the longest few minutes of our lives. and she had no idea it was going on.

Chantale - posted on 05/07/2010

My son does this as well when he's teething. As soon as the tooth has broken through he sleeps throught the night again. Usually 1 or 2 nights in a row of disturbed sleep. Good luck :-)

Katie - posted on 05/05/2010

My daughter has woken several times and I have spoken to people about why this happens. My daycare lady and Dr have told me that it's often times night terrors or nightmares. All you really can do is hold them and rock them back to sleep.
At this age, they can be overwhelmed trying to understand the world around them, trying to figure out how things work.

Jennifer - posted on 05/03/2010

My daughter just went through a phase like this around 14 months. I think it started because she had a cold one night and I held her alot to help her breath and then she got used to being with me at night. At first I wondered if she was having nightmares but then I realized it was just that she wanted to be with me and play so I decided to let her cry for a bit. She got so worked up that she vomitted. Three nights of no sleep later- I develeoped a method where I stood outside her door and let her cry until just before the point where she would vomit, then i would go in and calm her down and lay her back down, then she would cry again and I followed the same steps. I wanted to send the message, "I'm here, and i love you, but you are going to sleep in your crib tonight, not with mommy." It took an hour and a half of this process, but she eventually fell asleep without getting sick and she is back to sleeping happily through the night. At this age they are more aware and if they think you will give in, they will push you. You just need to decide what message you want to send and be consistent. Childrend seem to be the happiest when they have reasonable boundaries enforced

Beverley - posted on 05/03/2010

My daughter has the same problem and It's night terrors. You have to just let them be when they scream like that, you can go in the room and just say " it's ok sweetie mommy's here" or something to that calming nature. Sometimes picking them up can make the screaming worse because they might not be fully awake when you pick them up so it can actually trigger a bigger scream fest. usually when she screams now we wait by the door and she has learned to calm herself back to sleep, she doesn't seem to do it as often now, we quickly learned that it's not food, children at this age shouldn't need food in the middle of the night.

Larysa - posted on 05/01/2010

do you feed him anything before bed. Sometimes water when he wakes up could upset his empty belly. Give him Hot cereal before you put him to bed. He may be going through a growth spert and he neeeds his belly full to do so. Keep your chin up and Ill be keeping you in mind. Let me know if it helps.

Melanie - posted on 05/01/2010

i know what you mean! my daughter does this on occasion and it drives me nuts! i know its not teething because she has most of her teeth she just wakes up and she screams for like 20 minutes....she NEVER wakes up any other night and i have no trouble with her sleeping but its those occasional nights that get me....i have to go in and try and calm her down but it seems almost impossible...she will quiet down for 2 minutes then have an outburst again...it goes on for a wile i hate it! i really dont know what causes it but if you find out let me know! lol

Kim - posted on 05/01/2010

My son has been doing it and I believe he is teething, I gave him tylenol and he seems to be find. If he is not teething as he does it every so often and I just cuddle him till he calms down and then I change him and put him back down with his binky or bottle of water. Hopefully it will pass soon. Good luck.

Sophia - posted on 05/01/2010

it sounds like night terrors. My son has been having them as well but not crying as long. I still nurse him so he calms down when I give him some milk. I've been told it's a developmental thing and very natural (my first didn't do this). Hopefully it will pass soon.

Jerica - posted on 05/01/2010

My son is 15 months also and has started doing the same thing. but only during his nap times, I lay my son down and sometimes i lay down with him if hes having a screaming fit and i sing to him, he goes right off to sleep most times. Im a stay at home so i can lay down with him in the afternoons alot of people think that i may be spoiling him but he doesnt need me to help him fall asleep all the time only on the days when hes too wound up to go to sleep on his own.

Jennifer - posted on 05/01/2010

Are you sure he is not teething??? My started doing that but she is teething.... also could be bad dreams - they say babies have a lot of those...

Amanda - posted on 05/01/2010

Hi there, my son occasionally wakes screaming. At first we thought he was hungry or had wind. It seems though that it is teething. The last few times, I would put some Bonjella or equivalent soothing gel on his gums and dummy and he would go straight back to sleep.

Worth a try.

Jennifer - posted on 04/30/2010

the only time mine would wake in the middle of the night screaming was when i gave her pain medicine found out a chemical in the motrin and tylenol gives my daughter night terrors she is not awake but she is screamong like she is we were told not to wake her up cause it could make things worse they only last like 10 to 15 mins but OMG those were the most horrible screams a mother could ever hear

Cindy - posted on 04/30/2010

sounds like he's either going through a growth spurt and the growing pains are hurting him or he's having nightmares. My son does that during growth spurts and I'll give him 1/2 a dose of Tylenol/Motrin and he's fine after that.

Elizabeth - posted on 04/28/2010

I'm going through that same thing at night. I have noticed if my 15 month old son eats a lot during the day he seems to sleep better at night. but other then that, i'm not sure what it could be. could try speaking with his doctor to see what they say.

Dawn - posted on 04/28/2010

I don't know what it is about this time in a babies life but, my other two did it at this age and now my son is doing it every once in a while and he's 15 months also. I have always related it to nightmares because it doesn't last. It has always been a span of 3 months (15 months to 18 months). It could be their mind over working now that they are walking and seeing more things or even understanding what is around them a little better. I think your doing right thing by checking on him. You may want to consider night time diapers as well. Sometimes at this age they tend to pee more ;) and the regular diapers just don't soak it up enough and they get uncomfortable. Every baby is different but, hopefully this helps.

Tanya - posted on 04/28/2010

Sounds like your son could be having nightmares? I would just pat, soothe and stroke him back to sleep, say mommy is right here all is ok. What about a little night light?

Katharine - posted on 04/27/2010

it might also be that he's teething, my daughter generally only wakes up in the middle of the night if she's teething...she woke up 4 nights last week as she is getting her molars through...she's suddenly wide awake and so we've ended up sleeping in the spare bed in her room with her (against our better judgement but the only way to cope) thankfully she's through it now...until the canines I guess..

Catherine - posted on 04/27/2010

I personally wouldn't give him a bottle or anything apart from changing his diaper (Yes, I agree, use the nighttime diapers since they don't ever feel wet and hold ALOT - my daughter would flood regular diapers) and laying him back down to sleep, "night, night". Now I don't believe in the "crying it out" method, but would probably sit down in the room with him or go outside and check back on him each 5 minutes or so and give him pats again and "night, night" My daughter goes through this when we have a change in routine - sickness, travel, etc and that is what I do. good luck!

Jennifer - posted on 04/27/2010

I think it might be bad dreams. My son tends to wake up if he doesn't get that last burp out before he falls asleep. He would also wake up crying because he got cold, so we dressed him in warmer pj's. We also us the Huggies Night Time Diapers. He would EASILY soak thru the regular diapers at night. Changing over to these helps him snooze thru the night much better.

Jenny - posted on 04/26/2010

My son just turned 15months and does the same. He wakes during the middel of the night screaming. It coudl be nightmares or overstimulation from the day. Limit his TV in take if he watches TV. I usually change him, give him milk then coddle him for comfort. Once I lay him back down he's ok. No worries

Heather - posted on 04/24/2010

Babies cry because they need something. He might just need some help going back to sleep. He might still be hungry/thirsty. My daughter's last few growth spurts had he waking up in the middle of the night because she is hungry.

Sara - posted on 04/19/2010

Sometime my boys would get overstimulated.... and it would register with them until later on in the night...try giving him a massage and playing some classical music, Vivaldi is what I would recommend that or Bach. and if he is going it during the day, create a quiet space for him,and then play the classical music.very quietly tho.
it's works wonder for my kids.. and my little sisters.
hope this helps.

Breanna - posted on 04/19/2010

when my son started doing that i asked my mom what she thought since she has me n my two sisters and she said that sometimes they will wake up like that and just cry because they are still hungry...idk if thats your case...just a thought....she said that since they dont know how to tell you that they are hungry they jus cry n cry n cry so i started feeding my son a little bit more for dinner and it seemed to have helped....it could also just be a bad dream and its scarin him ....idk i hope you find whats troubling him

Tamara - posted on 04/18/2010

My son is 15 months old also. I am a first time mom and my son did this several times right after I took his bottle away. All I can say is be strong. Go in and check on him and tell him he is ok like you are doing give him his pacifier and his water and if he is ok walk out of the room and close the door and don't go back in. I know it sound cruel, but if you do it for 3 -5 nights in a row he will realize that he is ok and hopefully start sleeping through. Or you just have to ignore the crying cause most likely he is just doing it because he knows you will come in there. My husband could not stand it at first, but when I told him if he wanted to fight him, he did not like that idea. I was so exausted that i just let him cry and he went to sleep. One night he cried for over and hour and I fell asleep and woke up in a panic cause it was quiet and he was asleep. If you can be strong and not go in his room he will figure it out and start sleeping again. Hope this helps..