Everything is happening at once.

[dalia]

Ds is about to turn 16 months. He has been having major sleep disturbances, like seriously fighting naps and bedtime then waking up for two hours in the middle of the night. About two days ago he started banging his head, at first lightly just to see how it feels but now he does it hard when he gets upset. He is also getting his two-year molars in and has been super cranky and even feverish at one point. He saw a doctor to confirm it is teething and not something else.

I have made a slight change in our nighttime arrangement recently. I have started putting him in a side-car crib after he falls asleep at night. Could this be causing all these changes or is it just the teething/developmental changes? It does seem like he has become way more verbal in the last week.. I dunno.. he just seems like he's crying a lot more and having way more tantrums and i'm concerned it's because he is fearing being more separate from me at night... I mean, he is right next to me and to be honest I am loving having more space but he does cry for a few seconds when I move him before he falls asleep. Ugh.. is all this just normal??? I hope i'm even making sense here..

[dalia]

Bump.

Just had one of the worst bedtimes ever. I'm at a loss.

[waiting2bemommy]

I don't know if it makes you feel any better, but we are going through the same thing with my 9 month old dd. She is suddenyl trying to "talk" and she is teething again (been working on the same tooth for, oh....three months now?) AND she is on the verge of walking indwependently. I have had to get really, really firm with her at bedtime. I will not under any circumstances do CIO and leav her alone to cry but she does cry while I am rocking/shushing/patting her to sleep and to tell you the truth I don't see how it could be any other way. We tried letting eher wear herself out and she was up form 9 AM until 2 the next morning. Ant even with me actively putting her to sleep (and she is clearly tired) it was a 2 hour ordeal and by the time it was done I needed a strong drink.

[DaisyMay]

If I were to guess I'd say it has nothing to do with you moving him out of the bed and is just a difficult phase relating to the other things.  If he is right beside your bed, presumably you can reach out and hold his hand etc to comfort him when he does wake so I really don't think he'll be feeling separation issues.  Also, if he is crying for a few seconds but no more when he realises he is being moved then that sounds like he's adapting fine to the change and really not traumatised by it. 

I found with mine that leaps in development in terms of speaking often went hand in hand with frustration that they couldn't communicate more!  Both mine did some minor head banging as well and I think that was partly due to lack of communication too - ie, baby is cross but can't communicate it, if he/she hurts him/herself then it becomes a more simple problem to solve ie sore head = cuddles to make it better.  That was just my amateur baby psychology, but that's what it always seemed like to me.  Has your schedule been busy recently?  Maybe to counteract some of the issues you're having, a couple of low-key days where you don't go out or do much in the house other than just lie around with baby and play and have lots of cuddles; use TV and movies if you are ok with that or else music, just aiming for lots of reassurance and not too much outside stimulation.  Try not to get too stressed about the sleep issues - these are always going come and go as little ones grow and develop.  Persist gently with your routine and you'll probably find that once the teething and other problems recede, things will go back to normal pretty soon.

Sorry you're having a hard time and hope it gets better soon.  I usually found that when mine were going through a difficult phase I'd get pushed right up to the "I really have to do something about this, can't take any more" point before things would naturaly just get better on their own - these phases never lasted too long (like a week or two) although of course at the time it felt like forever.  Good luck. 

[carmel23]

Sounds like he has a lot going on developmentally and you are having a "wonder week."  So many new things/developments are happening.  I wouldn't make any more changes for a few weeks. 

And teething can be horribly painful.  Like so painful that if an adult experienced it, no pain med would give relief. 

[Greenlea]

I've heard 2 yr molars can be some of the WORST teeth for kids when they come in.  I know my DS had sleeping issues, fever, rash when they started coming in at 18 mths that he never got with other teeth.  I think this is just a phase for your DS.  Have you tried a teething pacifier?  I know it helped wonders for my DS and his molars, especially at night when it seemed the worst.

[dalia]

Thank you everyone. I think we are just going through a difficult phase (love the term "wonder week"). We have been really busy lately, mainly because I feel like he really needs a good run before he will nap/do bedtime.. but I do think i'm gonna be more chill for a couple of days. I forgot to mention that dh has been out of town for two weeks as well. I didn't really think it was an issue since he travels a lot but I think ds is starting to notice now that he is older.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone. This toddler thing is something else!!!

[dalia]

Oh and I do think i'm gonna get one of those teething pacifiers. I gave him Advil last night and it didn't seem to put a dent in his pain. Poor guy was crying in his sleep.