Help! LO won't sleep...

ahayes001

My 13 month old has never been a perfect sleeper. However, we used to just have to change her diaper or give her a drink and she would go right back to sleep. For the past month, she has woken up crying every night at 3:30 am. Some nights have seemed like night terrors where others are just like a temper tantrum. We usually give her a drink and when she finishes try putting her back to bed. She just keeps screaming and crying. So, I have to sleep in the recliner with her so that DH can get some sleep as he has to work.

We have tried EVERYTHING I can think of and talked to our pede. She suggested Motrin before bed in case it was teething...no luck. We have tried a snack before bed, earlier bed time, later bed time, fewer naps, and more naps during the day. Help! Any suggestions? I am running a day care and ready to drop! TIA!

scdancer

My 13 month DD has never been a good sleeper or napper. She doesn't usually sleep through the night but the past almost 2 months have been hard b/c she's getting her molars in but also she decided when she wakes up during the night to scream right away and not go back to sleep easily unless I'm holding her. So what I've started doing is not going in right away, waiting about 10-15 min then rock her for no more then 10-15 and put her down and walk away and let her cry herself back to sleep. I battled with her for over an hour once to get her to fall back asleep. I would go in every 20 min. hold her for a min. or 2 till she stopped crying then put her back down. It got better. Now I think she's learned after constantly doing it the same that that when I put her down it's time to go back to sleep. Sometimes it still doesn't work but she will cry for a few sec or a min. then fall back asleep. It takes time, consistency and patience, very hard to do. Nap time is a totally diff story though, that's an even worse battle.

tamararachel2

DS2 gets like this at times. We let him cry for a bit but everyone in the house has to be up at 530 am so if its more than 10 min, he ends up in our bed. This goes on for a few days, then he is back to normal. 

MNmama7112

My DS was doing this for almost 2 months. Finally I brought him to the pediatrician. No ear infection, not teething as far as she could tell, etc. We had tried everything. She said that because the time is almost exactly the same each night it's likely that it's more habitual than anything else. She recommended the Ferber Method. It only took a couple nights before he was sleeping straight through again. As much as I hated it for those couple nights, it's made all the difference. I'd rather have a few rough nights and then consistent good sleep than be waking up every night not knowing what to do. It's not for everyone, but it might be worth a shot.

Good luck!

ahayes001

Thank you all for the replies! I haven't heard of the Ferber Method before, so off to do some research! Thanks. A few rough nights is better than a lifetime of them!