Nearly 18 months - crazy night wakings with extreme SA

[anna*]

The title says it all really. He's been sleeping great for a few months, the last 4 nights we've had NWs with full on screaming for up to an hour at a time. If I stay in the room with him and hold his hand he will calm down immediately. But, it can take AGES for him to fall back to sleep and if I try to remove my hand from the crib or step away or gradually remove myself in any way, he wil start screaming again. WIWO eventually works but it is pretty stressful for both of us, he sounds really distressed. I'm giving pain meds but they don't seem to have made any difference.

Routine is:

6.30-7am wake up
12-12.30 nap for 1.5-2.5 hours
6.45-7.15pm bed, depending on length of nap

[speechie]

Hi Sweetie- do you think he's having bad dreams? He's entering the age of awareness and fears...
What time is he waking? Early night vs. later in the sleep? Random times?
WI/WO was not too great w/Nick when he went through SA- I did more Grad withdrawal modified as needed. Hugs it is sooo wearing on the nerves. I always give pain meds too, just because I feel like I need to rule it out...
Hugs hugs hugs

[anna*]

It could easily be nightmares, I'm just not sure what to do about it 

Wake up times have been between either around 11pm+/- 30mins, and one at 2.30am. I try GW and then I think, oh is this just confusing? and then I lose patience because I'm still standing in the room after 40 mins and the minute I step outside he starts howling again. And then I think I should have just stuck with WIWO. Gah. It's just frustrating. And tiring. I guess it will pass, these things generally do, right?

[emmas]

Hey Anna - Harry went through this stage (sometimes still does!) I limited his nap to 1.5hrs and that helped.  I actually got him up, gave him some milk in a sippy and a dvd (hairy maclary) and he settled quite well. 

Do you give him nurofen or paracetemol at bedtime......?

[anna*]

Hi Emma, thanks for your input  Well, during the week he generally only takes a 1.5hr nap anyway, because he doesn't sleep as well at nursery as he does at home. I haven't been giving pain meds at bedtime because there doesn't seem to be anything much happening teething wise right now (1 yr molars through, waiting on eye teeth), he's totally fine all day, but I'm going to give nurofen tonight and see what happens. I've read that some people say there's a big 18 month sleep regression due to the huge milestones in communication and cognition going on, so that might be a part of it.

[alilaa]

OMG I offer you the biggest Hug!

I just stepped out of my LO's room (in tears) and came straight here for some moral support, read your post and feel EXACTLY as you described:

 I try GW and then I think, oh is this just confusing? and then I lose patience because I'm still standing in the room after 40 mins and the minute I step outside he starts howling again. And then I think I should have just stuck with GW. Gah. It's just frustrating. And tiring. I guess it will pass, these things generally do, right?

Although we don't have the issue of Night wakings we are having an absolute battle to settle.
our routine is similar to yours but still have 2 naps...

I wish you (us) strength and courage to get through!

[speechie]

Courage, ladies!
It's so hard when we go through these sleep phases- but at least we have each other with whom to commiserate!
Well, not NTs because he's awake when you get there and it's a tad too late in his sleep cycle. Does he seem fully awake and scared? Does he calm down when you're there? or still cry?

FWIW, we've had a few nightmares lately- but it does sound a bit more like SA for your LO. If you are open to herbal/homeopathic remedies, I used Bach's flower essences with Nick and it seemed to help a bit. I also spray lavender in his room, slather him in lavender lotion.

And, yes, speech milestones seem to mess with sleep here too- Nick's had a major speech explosion in the past 3 weeks and he's sleep talking, vivid dreams, waking early to talk all about it, wakes at 10PM talking about filling the car with gas...LOL ugh.
 

[anna*]

Yep, another night of it. 1.50am wake up and I was back in bed an hour later.     
I did a sort of modified GW followed by WIWO and it was time-consuming and frustrating but at least there wasn't so much screaming.

He's growing so fast, not physically so much as developmentally right now, seriously it seems like he's grown up when I pick him up in the evening after a day at nursery. So I feel like this is really linked. He's just starting with two word phrases, which has got to be a pretty big thing for a young mind to process. I think there's nothing else to do but ride it out. Might give the Bachs remedies a try, Cathie do you give him at bedtime or at the NW?

((((hugs)))) to you LL's mummy, it is so frustrating. At least we're not alone   

[* Paula *]

Hugs Anna,

We have just been through a phase of not so great nights, nap refusals, huge bout of teething (eye teeth) and a big massive explosion in communication.

18 months is such a big milestone. 

Huge hugs hun 

[speechie]

Anna- YEP- speech milestones and watching their brains firing all those new synapses- LOL- you know that it's just so NEW and exciting- so why sleep? Their world is opening up before them and along with new discovery comes new fears, imagination, etc...

I use the bach flower remedy at bedtime- hope it helps a bit...
 
we used a modified GW/WI/WO as needed.

My little man slept from 1-3PM then was awake till 9:15PM ! yikes. chattering away, the firetrucks went by, then asking for a snuggle...eek. Hoping for a lie in tomorrow!!

[zeri]

After reading this, I think it might be what is happening with my 13 month old daughter. She slept easily til she was 5 months (laid her down still awake and left the room) and she learned to roll over and sit up. Since then it has been a pu/pd (and now just pd, but no crying) battle. The last few nights though, she has been screaming her little heart out at bedtime, and she only settles when she is in my arms (I always check her bum first, and give her Tempra if she seems in pain - she's getting her molars) but as soon as I put her down she cries. Last night she went down hard at 9:10 (usually she is in bed at 8, and we started the process on time...over an hour of screaming and she fell asleep finally and instantly in my arms when I picked her up to check her diaper again). Then she was up again at 12:20 and would NOT let DH leave the room or put her down. She would just sit and scream. She did this til 4 am, and then got up as usual at 6 am. The thing is, DH just returned from an 11 day trip to Kong Kong, and he has never left her before. She was fine when he was gone, but now seems to want to never let either of us out of her sight again! Any advice? We want to have another child soon, but we need to get her back to just laying down and going to sleep on her own first!