14 month old with awful night wakings

[daisymelan]

Ds was sleep trained and slept through most nights.  We always had the odd night waking and he wasn't a great night sleeper, but it was much much better than before BW (implemented around 3 months)

Even his few night wakings are usually easy solve and to put him back down but lately he has started something new.  After going to bed fine, he wakes up anwhere betwee 9 and 2 and begins screaming and crying.  Picking him up makes it worse... he flails his body all over the place.  When you put him in the crib he will sometimes throw his head down and hit it on the crib sides.  He won't accept water or his paci when he is in the midst of these tantrums. 

I took him to the dr last week for a check up and he looked in his ears and didn't see anything, so I don't think it's ear related. 

He has awful separation anxiety right now, but can fall asleep independently for both naps and for night sleep.  He does put himself back to sleep during other night wakings without us even going in.

The only thing that we found soothes him back to sleep is a bottle.  When he sees it he sucks it like there's no tomorrow.... it soothes him enough to calm down and fall asleep on the bottle.  I do not like this one bit adn last night the night waking was only an hour after his bedtime bottle so I refused to give him another.  I just sat in there and touched him gently and said reassuring words.  It took maybe a half hour but it worked.... this is the second time this method has worked.

Can anyone offer any insight as to what's going on or how to help the poor little guy out?  It's very very unlike him and is hard for us to watch.

Any words are welcome.

Many thanks.

[Florencia]

Sounds like teething related to me. My ds (and you couldn't beleive how many around here!) started doing EXACTLY what you describe around the 13-15 mo mark because of molars coming out. I was astonished when i couldn't hold him or rock him to sleep (some nights i would beg for him to go to my bed so i could have some zzs--- thankfully he wouldn't want any of it!).

Teething pain is awful, sp. one of molars. It could set any sleep training off and cause horrid and stressful night wakings. The bottle seems to calm him cause then he can suck and release some of the tension in his gums. Try oraljel instead of the bottle. Try a harder dosage of meds (check with your ped first) and even homeopatic remedies seem to work with this.

Ohter than that, keep up at what you're doing (calmly rubbing his back and comforting him till he drifts off). Usually when they are in so much pain, mommy's presence is the best of meds. THat's what's confusing cause you'd think they would need something else, but toddlers are tough cookies that can go through anything only with the help of mommy's cuddles.  IT is also confusing the fact that this process takes up to 3+ weeks without seeing any clear signs of teething (like runny diapers or white bumps). If he lets you try and feel with your fingers and if it feels hard where the molar should be then it's positive he's into it.

With the right prescription, night wakings should tend to vanish or be less awful. It seems to me that he has healthy sleep habits since he goes down easily and is able to go back to sleep when he wakes in the middle of the night and the pain is not so strong. Keep at it!

[daisymelan]

Florencia,

thanks so much for your speedy reply.  It does certainly seem like teeth, but the poor little turd has 15 of the 16.  The only one he's missing is a bottom tooth just next to his front ones.  Perhaps it's his incisors.  I suppose I may be looking for an answer when there just isn't one.   

But I do appreciate you resting my mind about staying in there with him calming him.  I don't want to set bad habits, but he definately needs to be consoled. 

Thanks again,

Jodie

[Florencia]

Hey Jodie, just a quick thought about teething. You mention Owen has 15 of the 16 set of teeth/molars. Are the molars all out yet? some of the lo's i know from the site had the hardest time when the last half of the molar was popping out, that is the first part had broken the gum but the "big" part was still in the inside... i don't know if this make sense but i thought this could be Owen's case. Anyway, it does sound like he's in pain and I hope this ends soon. Post back if you notice anything else so we can put on our thinking caps!

[daisymelan]

Florencia,  I never realized how busy this board was before.  I think I'll pop around more often and offer words where I can.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that you were right and that it was a pesky tooth coming through.  It was the tooth next to the front one on the bottom.  He's had all other 12 teeth for awhile now and we've been waiting for that.  But I finally felt it this morning. 

Anyway, there are a couple things I want to change in his routine, that I had started, but stopped when the night wakings began.  The three things are eliminate bottles (he's currently on two), remove the paci (only used for sleep) and maybe move to one nap. 

My question is, how long should I wait for him to get settled back into routine before attempting one or all of these. .. (it will likely be bottle and paci, then nap)

Many thanks again.

[Florencia]

Hey Jodie, be sure we'll appreciate any help we can get! the forum is for sure a busy one, toddlers are changing monkeys that need tweaking every time. I've also noticed the forum to be particularly busy around 1.5-2 months before a time change; lots of nightwakings, early mornings and lo's difficult to put down... funny ah?

Back to Owen I'm glad to hear that you figured him out. It is for sure that something developmental or physical is going on when lo's are already sleep trained and have good sleep habits and then break them down.

I'd wait at least a week (i'd better wait for 2) to start any major changes related to routines after a sleep strike. You need to be sure that he's back on track and feeling ok without any pain. I think your plan sounds great and it's better to get rid of props/bad habits before switching the schedules. I wish you the best of lucks and keep us posted if you have any doubts, questions or just want to share your success!