middle of the night all going wrong!

[helenj]

Hello. I am hoping someone can help me shed some light on our new timetable! Charlie (just turned 2) has always been a great sleeper (the usual teething and illnesses aside) and was sleeping from 7.15 - 6.50 every night. For the last few weeks, he has started waking several times in the night and crying or shouting out words in quite a distressed way in his sleep. He can usually get himself back, although there have been some occasions when I've needed to go in. He has also started waking up at 6, although I'm wondering whether that is simply the lighter mornings (he has black outs but I think the birds waking up disturb him!)
The other thing to mention is that he has really started talking recently and is being far more active (and can be now the weather is getting better) - do you think this could be disturbing his sleep at night? If so, how can we fix it? I wouldn't mind but I am 11 weeks pregnant and struggling with the broken nights a bit! Any help or similar experiences would be much appreciated. Thank you. H

[mari]

Could be developmental, could be that he is picking up that things are going to change, could be that his routine needs tweaking as he is 2.  If you could post his daily routine then we can take a look.

[helenj]

Thanks for coming back so quickly. Charlie's routine is pretty much like this:

he wakes between 6- 6.30 (at the moment)
milk at 7
breakfast at 8
snack at 9.30/1000
lunch 1145-1200
nap 1230-2.30 (sometimes shorter but always at least 1hr 30 mins)
snack 3.00
teatime  5.45
bath  6.30
stories and milk  7.00
asleep by 7.30

hope that sheds some light. He always naps in his cot and spends the morning and afternoon activity periods either playing with friends or at the park/beach etc.So he's getting lots of stimulation. I try and keep hathtime onwards verylow key to ensure a good wind down. He always settles to sleep straight away - but last night woke at 12, 3, 5 and 6. He settled himself each time and the finally woke up at 6.30.
Thank you!

[mari]

If he has a shorter nap, do you move his bedtime earlier?  I would, perhaps it would help.

Do you need to go in to him when he wakes?

[helenj]

Yes, if he sleeps for less than 2 hours, he goes to bed earlier. I don't usually go into him - for the last week, he's managed to settle himself back to sleep each time. Just seems odd that it's happening when he usually sleeps through and there doesn't seem to be a reason for it....

[mari]

Perhaps he is having dreams.  As you don't need to go in to him I would just turn the monitor low or off so that you hear only the cries that need you to go in and you will be desturbed as little as possible.  Going in to him might disturb him unecessarily.

[helenj]

Yes, thank you for that - that's a good idea - I managed to do that last night. Is the dreaming something they get used to or is it possible this will continue? I saw that someone else had written about the blips they have once they turn two. I'm hoping it will calm down soon!

[mari]

Oh we had blips all right!!!  We started a thread about it and it went on for ages.  It all settled down after a few weeks, try to make light of it and not to worry too much.

HTH