For what seems like an eternity (but more like 2 weeks), Tyler has been waking up crying in the middle of the night. It happens anywhere from 1-4am and has become so routine that I instinctively wake up pre-cry around 3am and just wait for him to start crying. Initially we made the mistake of bringing him into our bed simply because we were exhausted and he would fall back asleep immediately. But who can feel fully rested with a toddler kicking and thrashing around right next to you? (answer: Tom, because Tom could sleep through a hurricane.) Over the last few days, my latest tactic was to lie on the floor of Tyler’s room with him, trying to break the association of sleep with our bedroom. This also worked and he would fall asleep immediately. Again, a short-term solution which was no better because he was still associating “falling back asleep” with “mommy”.
It’s obvious that Tyler has a problem falling asleep after waking in the middle of the night. The “Internet” suggests going into his room, rubbing his back, soothing him, then leaving the room. This only makes him angrier. We’ve tried to let him cry it out but the boy is loud and we have neighbors. However our downstairs neighbors have recently moved out (we hope un-coincidentally) so it might be the right time to let him cry it out again. A couple of our other friends with 2 year olds are going through the same thing so at least I don’t feel alone. Just exhausted…
2 Comments
June 8, 2009 at 2:58 pm
To our 2:30 wake-ups, we have added 101-degree fevers at bedtime (for no apparent reason), and finally waking up at 5:15-5:45 every morning. This, of course, is too early, but instead of sleeping to an appropriate time, he has a tantrum until the normal wake-up time (after which he’s mostly fine, albeit a little sad and tired all day).
Hopefully you’re not in for this in 2 weeks as well…
June 9, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I’ve been reading a lot about “sleep setbacks” that happen from the 2.5-3 yr mark. Basically, we have to wait it out until they’re…gulp…3.