How do you adjust after awful nights ?

[Mum to cool dude]

We had a truly awful night today with my 2.5 YO DS and I don't know why. I would tend to rule out teething as I can see all the bottom molars (no idea if the top ones have popped out too) but I would lean towards overtired.

On Sunday, we had another crappy night, so I let him sleep until 10 am, thinking that nighttime sleep in the cot is more restorative than naps, and knowing full well that he would skip the nap. Then that night, bedtime was earlier than usual and we only had one night waking so I thought it wasn't too bad. Yesterday's naps and bedtimes were as usual but we had the morning from hell from 3 am onwards

So, did I make the wrong decision by letting him sleep till 10 am over the weekend ? I would have felt pretty bad waking him up knowing that he had a bad night too

I mentioned it to the nursery nurse this morning. She mentioned a growth spurt but it's the first time that I hear of growth spurt affecting toddlers ? Any ideas ?

Many thanks in advance. I am off to the coffee machine now

[Mum to cool dude]

My 2.5 YO DS has always been a poor sleeper. I've blamed the NWs on teething, development issues, SA, you name it,  and I hoped that sleep issues would sort themselves out over time. True enough, he can now fall asleep independently and when he wakes, I can now ignore the requests for milk most of the time but he still does not sleep consistently through the night (and I mean from 9 pm to 7 am). Currently, we only have uninterrupted sleep for about 60 % of the time

So, do they get any better as they get older ? Frankly, I would say that he just likes to wake up during the night and touch base with us. Sometimes, I can just shush from my bed (his bedroom is next to ours and the doors are kept open), or give him back his blanket and he will re-settle. The best nights we have had are when we are in Scotland and his cot is next to our bed and I don't think it is a coincidence

Could I have a point ? TIA

[mari]

If you have been giving him milk on some occasions, then I would say that he is waking because he might get some. 
I think that you have to do cold turkey on the milk, a definite no no, you know that he can do without it. 
How does he fall asleep at nap and bedtime?  And could you post his daily routine.

Thanks
Mari

[mari]

I noticed that there were 2 threads here so merged them to avoid confusion.