Sleep or Lack There Of

95% of the time 1 of 2 things cured the middle of the night wakings in our house.

- Food
- Tylenol

Food; if he was hungry, he was hungry... and nothing else would fix it but to eat.

Tylenol: hello teeth & growing pains. owee owee owee. He was always happy in the distracting daytime, but at night he had nothing but the pain to focus on, and would be inconsolable until the pain was gone or he was distracted by being awake and moving/playing. Tylenol = sleep 20 minutes later. Anything else meant up for the day.

The other 5 % would be nightmares (snuggle fix), earaches (decongestant fix), loneliness (snuggle again), or perversity ("Hey! I sleep when I'm tired, I'm awake when I'm not, mom! What's the problem?" Oy.). But the other 95% = food or tylenol.

teething pain is most felt at night since that is when the babies are quite and calm, they actually notice "hey, there is pain!" the homeopathic teething tabs are great...

My son has done the same thing-- when he was about 11 months old and then again this past month (he's 17 months now). When he was 11 months, we weren't adamantly against any kind of CIO, but the 3:30-4 a.m. wake-up call every day for a month was starting to make our household extremely tense. My husband and I finally decided we had to let him cry it out. We'd put him to bed without a fuss (he wasn't napping either so by bedtime he was completely wiped out) and when he woke up at 3:30, I would go in and nurse him or my husband would give him a drink and then we would lay him down, kiss him and say night night. Then leave him until at least 6. It took about 3 days--the first time he cried for over an hour, the next 45 minutes, the next 15 minutes and then we had a happy, well-rested baby who started taking naps again. When babies/toddlers get overly tired they can't sleep well and fight it extremely hard, so this early wake up time messes up their entire day. I read in several places that a wake-up time before 6 a.m. is still a night waking, and its stuck with us. We never get him before 6 (he goes to bed between 7 and 7:30) and I always tell him I'll see him when the sun comes back up (or something to that extent that he understands).
Now that she's close to 2, I also suggest you don't go in her room at all until 6 a.m. unless you have reason to know that she's in danger or truly needs attention. It worked with my son, we hear him wake up around 5 still, but he just kinda grumbles and goes back to sleep until 6:30-7. I wish you the best of luck and hope this advice helps a little!

I would guess that it's her teeth. If she is quite active in the day, they may not bother her at all, but when she is laying down, and not doing anything, her body is more aware of the pain. My daughter went through the same thing. You could try to give her some tylenol before she goes to sleep, or have the tylenol and orajel ready for when she wake sup, I would go right away and give her some, and see if that helps at all. Typically if a child who has slept through the night regularly is waking up, there is something wrong, and they won't just go back to sleep.

Another thing, do you and your husband get enough time with her. My daughter gets crabby and wakes up earlier than normal hoping to see her dad when she hasn't had enough dad time. Since i stay home, she always has enough mom time. When she starts doing that, my husband takes that night and doesn't do anything at all except play with her. He plays with her ever night as it is, but sometimes, she needs that extra time of just her and dad.

I wish I had an answer for you, but unfortunately as I write this my 4 year old has been getting up for the past 4 nights at least 4 times a night. Daddy had been going back to bed and laying with her...but tonight we told her to get back to bed on her own so she cried for a long time. Now I'm awake.....she is back to sleep. Kids are funny and they go through things. You can't be sure if she is not feeling good or perhaps is having scary dreams. Or if you let her cry and eventually rescue her then she has gotten used to the pattern of you coming in to rescue her.
My 2 year old doesn't wake in the night *knock on wood* but fights going to sleep every night. We have had to let her CIO almost nightly. So between one fighting it and the other waking multiple times in the night... some nights are a tough.

I just had a male friend who had a baby, Another female friend, said "Congrats, you'll never get good sleep again, JK" I said "JK? no your not, just trying to soften the blow" She wrote back "ok, your right I was" My point...your not alone. Good luck, I hope you find something that works!

My first guess is that she is getting a molar in -- it hurts a bit, but during the day, she is too busy to notice it. At night it wakes her up and she can't go back to sleep. I would try to either give her a little baby motrin before she goes to bed to take the edge off or try to put something on her gums to numb them and see if it helps.
By the way, my son had lots of earaches when he was little -- it would be a mystery why he was fussing the first day or so, but within that time, he would be pulling on his ear and have a fever. I don't think it's her ear if it's been 2 weeks, but you should check it out.
My son also had night terrors -- but you should be able to recognize them unless they manifest themselves differently in different children. In my son,
(he was older) -- he would get up and run through the house screaming inconsolably, but it he would be glassy -eyed, almost like he was sleepwalking. In his case, we kind of figured out that almost every time he had a night terror, he also had to use the bathroom, so he was anxious about wetting his bed and that contributed to the night terror. We got so we would hear him working up to the night terror (whimpering and talking in his sleep) and we would go in and get him and have him pee and the night terrors went away in a couple of months -- but I know that's not what happens to all kids with night terrors.

I did cio with my first kid if they are crying more than 20 minutes check for something wrong. teeth hungry, wet, cold whatever. ear infection maybe. Mine always cried himself to sleep within 20 minutes. keep her up a couple hours or an hour later than normal. mine goes to bed at 11 and gets up about 8 now. don't let her nap in the day if you can help it or make her nap shorter.

I would talk to your dr about night terrors. My son has them. He is 26 months now. It started at 15 months. its much more common in boys then girls, but they still get them. He wakes up screaming for no reason what-so-ever. He is inconsolable. We have to take him downstairs to clam down for about ten minutes then I can get him back to bed. Sometimes its three times a night, sometimes we go weeks without it. Good luck. Stay calm; this too shall pass.

I would bring her to the doctor if you are able and just have them check her out- whenever that happens to one of my kids, its usually their ears- they dont have symptoms during the day, but when they lay down the pressure or fluid builds up and causes pain which eventually wakes them up. Also, two year molars could be moving or shifting, which could cause pain, and the dr could help you decide if pain medicine (like tylenol or motrin) would be appropriate. Good luck, it will get better