Yelling and crying throughout the night

AnabelsMama · May 2013

My daughter stopped teething a few months ago so we thought she (and we) would finally get some sleep! Now she has a habit of yelling, "Mommy!" and the top of her lungs a few times each night...while she is still asleep! She also cries in her sleep. It is so distressing and I am exhausted.

I truly think this is caused by being overtired because she has stopped napping. We've moved her bedtime earlier, but she is still so worn out by around 5 or 6PM. Besides waiting for her to grow out of this, any other ideas on what is causing her to be so vocal in her sleep? Nightmares? I always ask her about dreams in the morning and she never says she had a bad dream.

JulySpark05 · May 2013

If she's overtired, I would let her nap again, even if it's only an hour, it could make a big difference. DD1 naps usually from 4pm-5pm and goes to bed around 7:30-8pm. If she misses her nap, she gets VERY cranky and overtired and doesn't sleep well at night so we make sure that she gets her nap.

AnabelsMama · May 2013

JulySpark05:
If she's overtired, I would let her nap again, even if it's only an hour, it could make a big difference. DD1 naps usually from 4pm-5pm and goes to bed around 7:30-8pm. If she misses her nap, she gets VERY cranky and overtired and doesn't sleep well at night so we make sure that she gets her nap.

She refuses to nap. I'd love for her to, and so would my parents, who watch her M-F. Even if we try "quiet time" in her crib, she screams until we go get her. My mom used to have success with rocking her to sleep, but now she thrashes around when my mom tries.

izziebee · May 2013

I really don't have a solution for you but DS1 does this. He's gotten much better in recent months and I think that's b/c as he's getting older he's understanding things better. When I put him to bed I tell him in a firm voice that he has to stay in bed and not to call out to me. Usually he gets it and we get through the night. Occasionally he has what I think is a bad dream and will call out but I usually give it a few minutes to see if he keeps it up before going in. Most times he falls back asleep

JulySpark05 · May 2013

AnabelsMama:
JulySpark05:
If she's overtired, I would let her nap again, even if it's only an hour, it could make a big difference. DD1 naps usually from 4pm-5pm and goes to bed around 7:30-8pm. If she misses her nap, she gets VERY cranky and overtired and doesn't sleep well at night so we make sure that she gets her nap.
She refuses to nap. I'd love for her to, and so would my parents, who watch her M-F. Even if we try "quiet time" in her crib, she screams until we go get her. My mom used to have success with rocking her to sleep, but now she thrashes around when my mom tries.

Oh no!!! That's not good... have you tried putting her down for a nap later then her usual nap time?? We had to do this with DD1 since she had stopped napping but needed one and it worked. Good luck!

logoz80 · May 2013

My daughter stopped napping for a while and she was terrible at night. She started napping again and has been sleeping great. She's probably not ready to give up that nap. We had to lay down with her to get her to nap again, but now doesn't give any problems to nap again.

cyprissa · May 2013

Maybe try laying down in a bed with her at nap time. That works for my DS.

jmdahn · May 2013

You need to find a way to get her to nap during the day. I had to put my foot down with DS#1 and be the bad guy to enforce the nap. He has to stay in his bed for at least an hour- even if he doesn't sleep. There are no toys in his room to distract him either. For about a week it was a horrible crying fight- and then he finally just gave up. It was a bit of CIO for nap time. I haven't had any issues since we went through this. Sometimes he does just lay there and not nap- but the down time helps. Most of the time he falls asleep and is out fo about 2 hours.

Meeshe · May 2013

There is a name for it, my pediatrician told me, I can't remember it right now. Basically the part of the brain that keeps them soundly asleep hasn't fully developed. She said if it were a bad dream they would be awake and reaching for you and would be comforted by you being there. If it were night terrors, their eyes would be open and they'd be screaming but not really aware. If they're calling out but still asleep, it's...whatever this is called. Not much you can really do but wait for them to outgrow it. Mine has gone through better and worse phases of it. I try to wait a little bit to see if he settles down on his own. If not, we go in, rub his back, cover him back up, and then let him go back to sleep. It is disruptive but this too shall pass:)

AnabelsMama · May 2013

Meeshe:
There is a name for it, my pediatrician told me, I can't remember it right now. Basically the part of the brain that keeps them soundly asleep hasn't fully developed. She said if it were a bad dream they would be awake and reaching for you and would be comforted by you being there. If it were night terrors, their eyes would be open and they'd be screaming but not really aware. If they're calling out but still asleep, it's...whatever this is called. Not much you can really do but wait for them to outgrow it. Mine has gone through better and worse phases of it. I try to wait a little bit to see if he settles down on his own. If not, we go in, rub his back, cover him back up, and then let him go back to sleep. It is disruptive but this too shall pass:)

This sounds exactly right, thank you!

Yelling and crying throughout the night

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