Always wakes up crying

[Lu_C]

Whether DS has had a solid night's sleep, long nap or rubbish night and restless nap he always wakes up crying. He has no apparent problem with going to sleep ( a smile and wave at bedtime and usually (current hiccup excepted) quiet murmurings at nap-time). I'm fairly certain it's crying anyway, I have noticed he's getting fairly whiney at the moment generally, and when he 'talks' on his phone it's also whiney.

Either way, whinging and crying are different. When he wakes up in the morning he now has a bottle of milk and a fruit squeezie thing (doesn't always take the fruit) but is perfectly content when he's having Daddy cuddles (he's favourite at the moment!).

He has a few toys in bed, a couple of fabric books and 3 bears, but he doesn't really play with them... he just wants to be up and doing. As soon as I get in there he points at the window and says 'please' then at the door and says the same...

Any ideas? Is it worth considering a big boy's bed or do you reckon it's too early (he hasn't climbed out yet but it's not far off!)

[brightside]

DS nearly always woke crying for us in the morning until we did WI/WO. Basically, he had got used to us coming straight away for him and then playing with him in our room whilst giving him his bottle. Therefore that is what he expected as soon as he woke up. We also used to go to comfort him at night if he woke and end up sitting with him for 1.5 hours! Once we did WI/WO he learnt to put himself back to sleep and also to entertain himself when he wakes in the morning. My point is for you to think about how you respond because that is what he will expect. If you go to him and give him cuddles then he will want that as soon as he wakes. Does he wake in the night and if so what do you do?

[zed]

About the big boy bed,  How old is he???  It doesn't sound like your LO is quite ready for that but I can't say w/o knowing your child.  I also found that WI/WO work well. 

[Lu_C]

He's 16 months; always been a good sleeper. We had a glitch recently but with GW that was sorted (beyond our wildest dreams actually! He went from good night sleeper to excellent, now always getting 12 + hours a night with (disturbing) no wake ups). I tried WIWO but found he got worse. I guess we go to him quite quickly in the morning because there is so little time for DH to spend with him. But naps, I go to him when he stops crying - for the exact reason you mentioned.

[zed]

I just thought of something.... is it possible that his second year molars are coming in???

DS1 was more whinny when those pesky things were coming.  There is a major difference from what you describe and what my son was like.  DS would cry in his sleep.  Not for long though, but you could tell that he was crying out in pain.  It never lasted long so we just coped with it.  For a while my DS would wake from a nap crying but I would have a sippy of water for him to wake up to and it soon went away. 

A friend of mine had told me that she thought that her son was waking up achy from growing pains.  That was her explanation as to why her son sometimes woke cranky.

I hope you can figure this out soon.  I know how frustrating it is when we don't know what is wrong and we just want to fix it.

[Lu_C]

Is it ever!! Well, the molar thing would be a great point, except we still only have his 4 front teeth!!!! He's taking forever to push them out; they're going to be touch little suckers when they get here! I suspect when the teething starts again it's going to be a big cranky mission for a while (wouldn't surprise me if they all come at the same time!). If we're really lucky it'll be in 2 months when #2 is born!!!!

I'm going to start working on losing the am nap today - had some good advice on how to do it, so work on that may help the crying as well.


Cheers for your suggestions and help!