HEEEEEELP! Toddler waking up ever 2 hours at night

amother

Fri, Jan 30 2015, 12:46 pm

Thank God he asks for Abba (and won't settle for me) when he wakes up- I guess at least there is that to be grateful for! But seriously, my 2.5 yr has been having some serious sleep issues ever since we transitioned him to a bed from the crib, maybe 3 months ago. Getting him to bed at night took hours until we started ehem drugging him to sleep with 2mg melatonin (dr approved). So that helped with the going to sleep part, but now he is waking ever 2 hours almost like clockwork, screaming for Abba to sleep with him (maybe he is having night terrors?), or starts screaming and wandering around the house or comes to our bedroom, saying he is hungry, wants a cup of milk, making request for light on/off, door open/closed, or wants to sleep in the other bed (his brother's), or the living room couch.... All this with a lot of crying and screaming and me wondering what happened to my sweet boy!
He probably just wakes up and is upset Abba is no longer beside him. I think an easy "bandaid" solution would be to have Abba sleep there all night. Then the house will be quiet and everybody would be able to sleep. However I'm looking more for a long term solution, to teach my sweet little terror to sleep on his own, even if it requires a month of crying and screaming. This is starting to really affect our shalom bayis and how well we function the next day. Toddler, however functions perfectly fine during daytime even with these crazy nights! Please help! I am ready to try Chinese herbs or half an Ambien that would knock him out and keep him asleep! If only it were that simple and not neuroligically detrimental..

amother

Fri, Jan 30 2015, 2:20 pm

If he was sleeping well in his crib and is not sleeping well in his bed then it should be obvious that he is not ready for the switch. No need for drugs of any sort, just put him back in his crib! Why the rush to sleep in a bed? A few of my kids slept in their cribs till almost 3 1/2 ...we tried the bed but they just weren't ready. They will let you know when they are ready. Don't rush it! You will not have a teenager in a crib -- don't worry!! Put the poor kid back in his crib and maybe try the bed in another 6 months.

sky

Fri, Jan 30 2015, 2:23 pm

I agree that many children under 3 are not ready to sleep in a bed. If you want him to stay in the bed you will have to be consistent and firm (within reason of course) for it to work.

I did find at just before 3 my daughter was waking up very often at night, I think she was teething, and eventually it ended, so you want to rule that out first.

amother

Fri, Jan 30 2015, 3:33 pm

OP here. The problem is he was starting to climb out of the crib and we did not feel it was safe for him to sleep in there any more. We had the mattress at the lowest setting but I guess we still could have put it on the floor of the crib. So we transitioned him to a big mattress on the floor in the corner of the boys room. We moved the crib out of that room already, which required taking it apart and putting it back together.... (I want to have my baby sleep in the crib now even though currently she is sleeping with me. So right now the crib is in my bedroom.) We recently took him to the dentist and she said he already got his molars, so I don't think it's that. I guess I just don't know if I'm supposed to be having him cry it out all night or what exactly needs to be done to train him to sleep through the night or at least not wreak havoc when he wakes up?

FranticFrummie

Fri, Jan 30 2015, 5:37 pm

amother wrote:

maybe try a pack n play -- they're much harder to climb out of.

Seconded! DD transitioned to a pack n play before a bed, and it worked perfectly. I could put a few toys, a book, and a bottle filled with water in there, and if she woke up she could entertain herself or take a sip of water as needed.

amother

Sat, Jan 31 2015, 2:45 pm

Have you tried making him feel secure in the bed? If he's falling asleep with abba he wants abba to be there when he wakes up. He needs to get to a place where he is safe to fall asleep without abba.
When my son was in such a situation we gave him a teddy bear and explaied that we can't sit with him every night and come every time he wakes up . We gave him the teddy bear to hug when he wants us and told him we know he can do that. At 2.5 he was able to understand that the old days were over, we aren't comng to him anyomore and he has a teddy bear there to hug. The transition happened over night. We had the "talk" and that was that. Frmo having to put him to sleep for hours nightly and wake up for him a few times a night - he went to going to sleep on his own (I would talk to him from the living room if he called me while trying to fall asleep) and sleeping through the night