Bella's waking at night, help!

MrsZiz

SO for the past 3 nights Bella's been waking up screaming bloody murder. I went in and got her right away the first night and held her for about 30 mins, tried to put her down and she screamed and cried again so I brought her to bed with us. I was EXHAUSTED and I haven't done that in ages, since she was 11 months old or earlier! The second night I let her fuss/cry for about 20 mins and then changed her diaper and consoled her and put her back, same thing, right back to the blood curdling screams. Last night Ryan said do NOT bring her to the bed, we're creating a bad habit and I'm afraid he might be right... so I waited, she cried for about 20 mins then stopped for about 15, then cried again for about 15 then stopped for 10 then cried for 25 mins and I went in and got her and changed her diaper. I held her in the rocking chair but she kept crying until I started singing to her. I have NO idea what's going on. She's never woke up from wet diapers before... she might be teething but I don't see or feel anything. She does have a bit of a cold but we've run the humidifier and it seems to help a lot. I'm not sure what it could be or how to help her. When you pick her up she still wants her bunny but she wants to cuddle with me too.... 

 She has become way more interested in walking and is even pulling to stand to walk down the hallway holding the wall. She is also VERY independent, like she wants to put her shoes on herself or her coat on, she wants NO help from you... those are the only new things I can think of.  

I've read it could be night terrors at this age or that she's afraid of the dark. We have a nightlight but don't use it because it's pretty bright IMO. I need something REALLY dim, like barely lit looking...

Any ideas how I can help her?  

Hawaiian Honey

Poor baby! It does sound like she's having some kind of upsetting dreams. That coupled with all the other things going on in a 1.5 year old's life means no sleep for baby or mama. Tia did this for a bit but the other 2 didn't. We did get her a little night light and it seemed to help. We did however have to "re-learn" bedtime routine. Pretty much reassure her that you're still there, everything is ok...that kinda thing. But stick to your guns because those littles will see the opportunity to get one over on mama to stay up and play/sleep in mama and daddy's bed again...little schemers! lol Hopefully it won't last too long and she'll be back to sleeping like a champ!

MrsNJSwimmer

Could be night terrors - our LO is having the same issues - it's almost every hour he wakes up, but since he sleeps with us, we have to calm him down and get him to go back to sleep. 

Could also be the walking from what I've heard - that when they learn a new physical skill they want to practice it and it just wakes them up.  Did you call your pedi?

MrsZiz

MrsNJSwimmer:

  Did you call your pedi?

No I didn't call, she'll have an 18 month well baby soon and I figure I'll ask about it then but honestly I don't have a lot of faith in my pedi (not sure if you remember the issues) but I'll still ask...

 Any input is helpful! 

mrspresley

a few thoughts...

could definitely be developmental, esp if she is working on a lot of independent actions like walking

could also be from her cold? if she is congested at all then she will wake up b/c she can't breathe well.  we had this same problem with Miss A. regular suctioning won't work - you'll have to do a saline flush/rinse to really open up those airways.

could also be night terrors like you said

whatever it is, i am pretty sure like everything else with babies it is just a phase and she will be back to STTN soon. hopefully sooner rather than later

redshoegirl

I don't have anything to add to what the other ladies have said, but I wanted to say awww, poor baby! I think it must be hard being so little and developing and growing and dealing with new things so much.

mrs.winter

Ashton went though the same thing....it could be night terros since she is around 18 months old...if so, I *think* he told me not to touch Ashton during these terros.  It could go on for a year or more.  My Dr. told me that making sure everything is exacly the same as when he went to sleep at night should help so that if they do wake up from the terror it is easier to calm themselves down.

The funny thing is we went though a period of a few weeks with this happening before I made the Dr. apt. That night after seeing the Dr. he didn't do it and has not done it again but once (the other night) since.

Good luck, I can only imagine how tired you are.

MrsZiz

Update: Last night her crying was VERY brief, I'm talking 5 minutes of crying then total silence! So we never went in, we just let her be, I'm assuming she fell back to sleep (we don't have a video monitor).

She was "walking" a ton yesterday, holding my hand at the mall and walking around, and took 3 steps at time multiple times in a row. I think she's right on the brink (who knew she wouldn't walk on her own until she was almost 18 months!!!) I think she's totally wiped out because it's 7:45 and she's still sleeping! This is like a record at our house! 

mrspresley

I guess it was just developmental! glad she's sleeping well again