Why is my toddler waking up for hours in the middle of the night? *yawn*

[acupuncturemomma]

Not every night, but at least three times a week, my DS (16 m.o.) wakes up and will not go back to sleep via nursing in bed. He squirms or thunks his leg loudly against the crib, and if I unlatch him (I can only take so long with him suckling away while I wait for him to fall asleep) he makes too much noise and wakes DD. So, I have to get up with him and put him in the carrier and try to bounce him back to sleep (how I get him to sleep almost always.)

Most times it takes about an hour to get him back to sleep, but the other night it took 4 1/2 hours! Each time I tried to lay him down he woke back up! He used to transition really easily from asleep in the carrier to me laying him down on the bed. But lately he seems so sensitive to it.

I suppose this is just a phase...but any advice would be appreciated.

Oh--and he is refusing to be transitioned out of the carrier for naps as well--no naps for a couple of days now.

Thanks!

[acupuncturemomma]

Well, now it seems to be that he's waking EVERY night. No tips out there for me?

[Carrie1105]

Sorry, no advice, but my 14 1/2 month old is doing something similar.  She won't nap, either.  So it seems to be getting worse as she becomes more and more overtired.  It's so much harder now as I also have a 4 week old, which could be part of the issue.

[Treece]

My 3 yo wakes up every night to potty. Maybe your son has to also?

[crobinator]

Maybe he's hungry and needs more than milk.  my niece woke often for food and still does at 3. maybe try giving him some banana and cheerios?

[dalia]

Idk but when you find out please let me know!!

[iheartwren]

Teething?  My daughter did that as well for a few weeks and it when we finally figured out it was teething -some motrin helped.

[Birdie B.]

Yeah, sorry but I have no advice for you either, just commiseration! My daughter did that a lot between 14-20 months, and I think it was a combo of teething, learning to crawl/stand, and learning words.  Her little brain was just working overtime.  She would wake up and practice crawling or talking and just play, as happy as can be, for hours in the middle of the night. I was terribly frustrated, but luckily my husband thought it was cute and would play with her.  I just had to ignore it.  Sorry, I hope it stops soon! Starting around 23 months, when I night-weaned her, she began sleeping all night long, and it's heavenly!

[acupuncturemomma]

Thanks fro the replies, mamas! We are still struggling with this. Could be that it's teething--his last two canines are just almost all the way in. He also is on the brink of being way more verbal, so maybe that's it.

I'm considering nightweaning him, though I don't feel quite ready yet. I still think he's so young! Hmmm, maybe tonight I'll try ibuprofen to see if it makes any difference. I feel that my quality of life is really being affected my his terrible sleep, and so is DD's, which just is not fair to her.

Good luck to us all!