Bedtime terror

[Jillstep]

(Ooops! I posted this on another forum before I found this one!)

My (just) 2 year old dd is getting so upset at bedtimes and I just don't know what's going on. This has been going on for just over a week now and it's breaking my heart.

It began Saturday evening last week at bedtime. I had just bought her a new sleeping bag after she'd gone for a couple of months just in her jammies due to hot weather. We popped her in her bag (which she normally loves) and she was fine until it came time to put her in her cot, when she got horribly upset, not wanting to wear her sleeping bag, or so she said. So I duly took it off and she remained upset, asking for her sleeping bag back on and taking over an hour to settle with constant reassurance from me. She then woke after 4 and a half hours very upset again, so I took her sleeping bag off but she wanted it back on. She was absolutely inconsolable and we ended up downstairs with a DVD on just to get her calm again! She was awake for 2 hours all told and was upset again, tho not as bad when we went back upstairs.

Since then this has happened every bedtime, with or without sleeping bag, starting during her bedtime story and continuing on and off till she settles. She is unable to tell me what is wrong, tho we have established that nothing hurts, and she keeps saying 'Mummy, I don't!' and crying fit to bust . She also seems to be fighting to stay awake and getting upset when she realises she is drifting off to sleep. I am sitting with her and constantly reassuring her that I am there until she finally drifts off. She is also waking upset again during the night (tho not every night) and taking hours to settle back.

Sh is fine at naptimes altho she did once wake early and very upset.

We have had some disruption in the household over recent weeks. I started working again 6 weeks ago for 1 day a week, and she goes to her auntie's to play with her cousins. Her dad was very ill with sickness and diarrhoea 4 weeks ago, then 3 weeks ago she had a horrible flu/cold/cough thing. While she was ill she got very little sleep as she kept coughing herself awake, and I would give her a bottle in her cot and rub her back to help her settle. We also sat in her room and read during the night when she couldn't sleep and we did come downstairs a couple of times. I also slept in her room for a few nights. Once she was better we went back to her usual routines and she was fine with it for 5 days, until the sleeping bag reappeared.

It does not seem like she is trying it on to get me to do any of the things we did while she was ill, but she seems genuinely frightened to go to sleep and I have no idea why. She had not woken upset previously to this all starting and when it did start it was before she went to sleep, so i don't think it is related to a bad dream.

Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any helpful suggestions? I am open to any ideas as this is just so upsetting for all of us, and the helplessness we are feeling is just awful. It's really heartrending to see her so upset and not know why or what to do to help her.

Sorry for the length of this post but I wanted to try and give as much relevant (or even irrelevant) info as possible.

Thanks in anticipation
Jill   :?

[tylersmommy]

It looks like Jane gave you some help on your other post...how are things going?

[Jillstep]

Hi Melissa

Thanks for your reply.

Things are a little better tho dd is still getting upset. We are managing to get through bedtime routine, into cot and ready to go to sleep before she gets upset now. In fact she appears to be drifting off to sleep and then it's as if something is causing her to wake and that's when she gets upset. I had a chat with my health visitor and she said to stick with what I was doing for a few weeks and see how things went, then if things had not resolved themselves to get back to her as it may be something to do with dd's ears.

Well, this rang a bell with me, as I have a condition known as benign auricular vertigo, where cells in my ear crystallize, break off and float around in my ear canal, This manifests itself as bouts of dizziness and nausea as I am drifting off to sleep, causing me to jerk awake again. Having observed dd closely, her being upset does seem to be triggered by whatever is causing her to come awake again. When she had the cold/flu thing, she had a lot of congestion in her ears which the doctor said would clear naturally over time, so I am now wondering if that is what's causing the problem. Anyhow, it's been 2 and a half weeks since I saw the health visitor and the problem is still ongoing so I am going to speak to her again this week about dd's ears and take it from there.

Here's hoping it's something simple that we can sort out easily enough!
Thanks
Jill

[Matthew's Mommy]

oh!  Definately!  I think you're onto something there.

Let us know what happens at your next check up.  :wink:

[Jillstep]

Hi Melissa and Jane

Took Anya to the doctors yesterday to get her ears checked out. The doctor says she is too young to suffer from the vertigo that I have (I thought I remembered the consultant telling me that it happens as you get older, but I wasn't sure as it's so long ago now). However, she had a lot of congestion in her ears last time we were at the doctors (mid-August), left over from a cold she'd just got over, and the doctor says it may be related to that. She thought that should have cleared up in another 3 weeks or so, so suggested that we give it 3 weeks and see if things get any better.

We did have 2 separate bedtimes last week where she settled with no upset, which suggests that things are improving. Here's hoping!

I'll keep you posted!
Thanks again.
Jill