help me troubleshoot?

joyfullyfound

I need you guys to help me solve this... DD has been having a really rough time sleeping lately, both for her nap and during the night. She's just really restless, and wakes up crying a lot. This is very different from when she just doesn't want to sleep... she's more than tired enough (especially as the days like this continue, and she's less and less rested) and happy to go to sleep, falling asleep almost immediately. But then I hear her wake up over and over... for her nap, it's every 15 minutes, and she gets progressively more frustrated, until she just gives up (today, after 2 hours) and starts crying harder and calling for me. During the night it's more like every hour or two that she's waking, and then calling for me in the morning at 6:00 am, as opposed to her usual 7:30/8:00 am wake up time. 

I'm faaairly sure she's not teething... I can't feel anything, and when I ask her if there's an owie in her mouth she says that there isn't.

She's not too hot or too cold. She's not wearing anything uncomfortable... unless all her clothes are, because she sleeps in a variety of things. She's still sleeping in her crib (after that one escape, it never happened again) and there haven't been any changes to her sleeping environment or anything... and, besides, if something was annoying her in there, she'd make it very clear to me what it was, haha. 

I rarely don't understand her wants/needs anymore... she's become really good at communicating and has a fairly good vocabulary at this point. But when I ask her what's bothering her, she has no answer, and I'm really stumped... everything I can think of that could be the potential issue, I know she'd be able to tell me about, so I can't figure out what would be bothering her that she'd be unable to communicate. Bad dreams? Every 15 minutes during nap seems a bit too frequent for that. 

Could it just be an insomnia phase? Or... what? I dunno, you more experienced mommies weigh in please! Any experiences with something like this? It's been about a week now. 

mandymack

Hmmm... I'm grasping at straws here but could it be her mattress? I mean, I know I purchased a super firm mattress for the kids as infants and switched Emily to a softer one just before age 2 I think. I kept the mattresses and did it with Nolan as well.

Perhaps she's more aware of wet/dirty diapers? Again, grasping.

Too much light? Too much noise? Or the opposite?

You've already kind of eliminated everything else...

Cherryblossoms07

I cannot see tickers, but from Mrs. Shavers response I am guessing your child is 2, or close. My DS has been having sleeping issues too and he just turned two. He figts naps and if I can get him to finally go down he will only sleep for about 15-20 min before he wakes up crying and then fights nap time again. DS is super easy to put to bed at night. He will not fight it, but he will only sleep for about 4 hours, then he is up every 1-1.5 hours after that. This has been going on for the last month or so. It is exhausting for both him and I.

I have no idea what is going on either. I am hoping it's a passing phase. I haven't found a solution, but I found something that works for us. I have found he will sleep if snuggled up to me. When he fights too long at nap time or wakes up early from a nap I rock him so he sleeps more. I use it as a chance to catch up on tv shows. At night I put him to bed in his bed and depending on my exhaustion level I either put him back to bed or bring him to bed with us when he wakes up. I put him in bed with us last night at midnight and he didn't wake up at until after 7 this morning. This reminds me that I was going to try putting a shirt of mine in bed with him and see if he sleeps all night.

I forgot to add that the I have heard that achievements of milestones can cause sleep disruptions. That is why I am hoping DS's sleep issues are a phase. He was/is expressive speech delayed and he went from 2 words to 75+ within this last month.

PhillyRN

Could it be an ear infection? DS has only had 2, but both times the only "symptom" was disturbed sleep.

joyfullyfound

Thanks for the responses ladies! Some really good thoughts... the ear infection is interesting... and the diapers is a possibility as well, since she's semi-potty trained. 

DD is sleep trained, and I don't go in to resettle her either, so it's not her just trying to get me to come back over and over. I duunnoooo.. but thanks for some good ideas! 

lyingliarlies

we've gone through a few phases like this, very similar to what you describe and at around the same age (DS is about 9 months older than your DD.) it takes 1-2 weeks for his sleep to go back to normal. though w/ her being partially potty trained i'd definitely consider that as a possibility as well. good luck figuring it out or just surviving it! it's rough for you all!