Waking after 90 minutes crying hysterically

[Honey693]

DD1 was sleeping great from 18m-27 or so.  Then the last 3 months that's all gone.  She falls asleep fine (in her playpen which is her choice) and then wakes up crying hysterically after 90 minutes.  Every night.  I've tried taking her back in bed with me, but that doesn't help.  She's completely hysterical for anywhere from 5-45 minutes.  She's lucid so I know it's not night terrors.  but she just screams and cries and freaks out.  This is really wearing on me and lately I cannot keep my cool and up yelling at her to be quiet and go back to sleep.  I know it's awful, but between that and a 7.5 mo who's still waking every 2 hours I'm exhausted.

[lolcatmom]

My 23 mth old has started the same thing, especially if dad goes in to try and settle her back down. I used to get frustrated but now I just sit her on my bed and sit with her, trying to soothe her. It usually takes 20 min for her to settle back down depending on how angry she gets. It's really weird, but I think she's just so tired and can't get back to sleep. I mentally try to zone out and let her get her anger out, and look for windows of calm to really try and soothe her. I also think she just wants to be loosely held, since I'm sure she doesn't want to be put down by herself.

Since my DD is also pretty predictable in terms of when this strikes, I'm going to try and be in the room just before she wakes up. I've heard that if you are right there you can maybe head off the intensity of the situation by rubbing your child's back as soon as he/she stirs or in our case, picking her up to try to get her back to sleep before she gets really worked up.

Hope this helps, you're not alone :-)