[cxk04d]

My 14 month old has been having problems waking up at 2am and we don't know what to do with her. We end up bringing her to bed with us because we are so tired, but I don't want this to last forever. Any suggestions would really help. Thanks.

[joskids]

My strong suggestion is to NOT bring her into your bed. Go into her room, let her know that you are there, lay her back down, cover her up, kiss her, and walk away. If there is nothing wrong, you've checked her, she needs to find ways to calm herself and get back to sleep. Or you could be doing this for a very long time.

[Stormster]

E just started doing this too. Last night he woke up at 11 crying (went back down easily) and again at 2.

At 2 we comforted him and gave him a 2 oz bottle just because that's how he soothes but he was batting the bottle away! That means he's REALLY upset or has a tummy ache.

What works for us but I don't think is actually recommended is, I take him out of the crib and just walk with him like is is a baby and I sing to him softly carrying lovey and letting him also have something in his hands (also soothes him) he likes to hold something small so I give him one of his small bath toys. Once he stops crying, really stops I do a short version of our normal bedtime routine and he goes back. At least he lays down and isn't crying and gets there on his own so we can sleep.

So for us it's just about comforting him because knowing him as we do his crying is real vs. just trying to get attention. It's actually not his "style" to use tears to manipulate. When he needs us he just calls and knows we will come so.....

I don't know if that helps but personally I think kids don't LIKE waking up in the middle of the night and they usually have a legitimate reason for waking.

2 cents!

[Saya]

Originally Posted by cxk04d

My 14 month old has been having problems waking up at 2am and we don't know what to do with her. We end up bringing her to bed with us because we are so tired, but I don't want this to last forever. Any suggestions would really help. Thanks.

Question - what does she do when she wakes up?

If she lies in her crib and talks to herself or whatever, and is basically OK with being awake, I'd say just leave her be and stay in your bed - shell fall back to sleep eventually!

With A, if she's crying or calling for us, we usually go into her room and give her a kiss and tuck her back in, rather then bringing her into our bed. If she would keep crying, we would keep going back in every few minutes or so, and usually she'd fall back asleep pretty quickly (crying tired her out, poor thing). If it was REALLY bad one of us would rock her to sleep like she was a little baby, but we'd try to avoid that if at all possible.

I often find when A's sleep patterns change there's something going on - either a change in her life or some kind of physical problem. Could she be teething? Maybe try some Tylenol? Or could she be coming down with something?

Also - does she have some kind of a lovey? A blanket or special stuffed animal? When A wakes up in the middle of the night I always put her blankie in her hands, and it sooths her.

[finallyamom0310]

DD has been doing this on and off for months. Sometimes she goes a week or two without getting up. But then suddenly gets up at 2 or 12 or 4. Anything after 4 am I take her to bed with us so I can hear my alarm for work. Before that I check her diaper, comfort for a minute or two with a hug and tuck her back in. I then lay down on the extra bed in her room so I am still in there and wait till she is back to sleep.

I know not everyone has an extra bed but works for me. Hope this helps.

[nikkianni]

We too have been going through this for several months. We've tried everything from night lights to music to moving her crib into our room.
The one thing we don't do is bring her to bed with us. I may be sleep deprived but I'm certainly not got to start that. My SIL did it and they've just now gotten their 4-year-old out of their bed.
I don't have any suggestions because so far nothing has worked for us, but I have a TON of sympathy. Good luck!

[Shadowfaerie]

My son went through a period of time when he did this, about 16 months or so and it lasted a couple of months. Very occasionally he still does it, I assume it's nightmares?