crying whilst lying down - what to do?

[Khyan & Sahria's mum]

Sometimes during the night/morning Khyan (15mths) starts to cry and kind of call out to me to come in (normally in the morning - well... 6am or between 7pm and my bedtime) but when I go into him he is crying quite a lot but is still lying down in his cot. Sometimes when he hears me come in he will stand or sit up. But if he is still lying down what should I do ?

Most of the time when he is having a hard time settling, I put my hand on him till he is almost asleep - do you think this is a prop and that is what he is asking for? If that is the case do you think that I should be completely eliminating the hand on the bum and just do walk in/PD/walk out ?

But if that is the case then how would I know if he is standing or lying down and crying? or should I go in and not touch him if he is lying down and crying and then wait for him to stand up or should I walk out - if not standing, until he stands again or cry esculates and then lie him down and touch him for 5 sec and then walk out and repeat until he falls asleep? or should I not touch him at all?

I know that he is pretty good at sleeping thru the night now but he does seem to like that hand on the bum till almost asleep - is this our problem and if so how do you think we should deal with it?

TIA

[SandyGal]

What's his cry like? Is it an all out cry to get you, or is he just fussing like maybe he doesn't want to be awake and is trying to settle himself back down? Are you going in there right away or do you give him sometime to get back to sleep? When you are putting him down at night are you leaving him still awake, even though you are helping him to get to a very sleepy phase with the hand on his bum? Also... is this something that has been going on for a while or is happening with cutting teeth or something along those lines?

Kyra does this thing occasionally where she cries really loudly all of a sudden. I realized that by rushing in there too quickly I was actually waking her up. Now, I make sure that I got to the bathroom before I go check on her. Those few minutes allow her to settle down 95% of the time. When I peek in on her (I do so without being noticed) she is back to sleep or already settling and snuggling blankie to get back to sleep. It really bothered me for a while. I wanted an explanation for those outbursts. My doctor just said that there really isn't one and if she is settling back to sleep not to worry. When she isn't settling at that point... she is really awake and something is usually wrong.

[Khyan & Sahria's mum]

He most of the time is crying because he is so frustrated that he can't go back or just to sleep. I give him some time to settle and when he starts to get really upset I go in there and normally just lie him down and put my hand on him bum and gently rock for 5 or so secs and then he is out to it again.

He has never been able to go into his cot fully awake then then put himself to sleep however he can go into his cot mostly awake and then made drowsy with the hand on the bum and then I can leave and he goes to sleep. But still it's that hand on the bum that seems to be a prop and I'm not sure how to get rid of it. I must admit it is worse when sick or cutting teeth but even when all is good he still needs it most of the time.

I know that scream you are talking about - yep Khyan does that too !

1 LOUD shout almost and then nothing, and he is asleep if I check on him. It has almost given my sister a heart attack when I forgot to warn her and she was babysitting - oops !

Thanks for helping us out - if you have any advice about how to get rid of the hand prop please let me know.

TIA