My little Sophie, my crazy girl, has actually been a terrifically consistent sleeper since she was about 15 months old. (Before that, not so much. But after 15 months? Golden.)
Until this past week. All of a suddenly she is screaming and crying at night, and when Bobby or I go to talk to her, she tries to get out of her bedroom door and run to ours. This is all new and befuddling to us. I mean, 4 or 5 months since we finally got Joshua to stay in his own bed, and now we’ve got to get Sophie back to sleeping soundly in hers. (Because fer realzies, there is going to be a baby in a bassinet in our room in 3.5 months!) For the past several days, Bobby has been taking one for the team and has been sleeping in her room much of the night, sneaking out when he can, going back when she wakes up calling for us again. Because, with my myriad sleeping problems, I really cannot sleep at all if I’m in her bed. And with the constant sleep interruptions, I have a lot of trouble falling back asleep – which is why I’m writing this at 4:22 a.m.
Sophie’s had a cold the past few days – coincidence or not? She acts totally fine during the day, just has had a runny nose and cough. Is that it? Illness has disturbed her sleep before, but never for this long. Or is she experiencing some sort of night time separation anxiety? She does great when I drop her off at preschool, but maybe her nervousness about it all is coming out at night?
I have no idea. But I am exhausted, and my husband is half-dead (and has Sophie’s cold) after a week of this. So, any advice? What should we do to get Sophie’s bedtimes and nights back on track? I could use some advice!!
Speaking of advice, I’m Co-hosting a chat with some other great bloggers on The Motherhood.com today at noon EST. The Topic is “Best Advice for New Moms” – I’d love it if you’d join us! (I hope to get some good advice myself. I feel like a new mom all over again with this baby since Sophie will be FOUR when he is born!) All you have to do is log in to the Motherhood.com and then go here. It’s just a text chat, simply refresh the page to see the latest conversation.
But before that, please help a sister out – back to my Sophie sleeping problem – what should I do?
Shelby slept through the night at 3 weeks, Donovan hasn’t yet. I did not start sleeping soundly until 2 years ago when I got my sleep machine. Daddy (Grandpa) said I was the only one of 5 that he had to walk the floor with to get to sleep…in short…no help from this quarter!
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Whenever this happens with Isaac he has an ear infection. Especially if he just had a cold. You might consider that route. They hate sleeping or don’t sleep well because it hurts worse to lay down. We’ve had these same issue this week because he currently has one. I can’t wait until he is at am age he can tell us it hurts! Good luck with your Internet detective work.
Have you thought about having Sophie and Joshua sleeping together? Maybe not a good idea while Sophie has her cold. But, if she gets better and still isn’t sleeping have either Joshua camp out in Sophie’s room or the other way. (switch by night) She might be comforted having big brother there. Plus, kids seem to sleep more soundly even if they are on the floor.
I totally agree with the enlisting Joshua as Sophie’s sleeping aide. I never slept well as a child except for the years Megan and I shared a room. Sometimes kids do better in the same room.
Have you considered she may be feeling nervous about losing her “baby” status? Just a thought.
Oooh, I feel you! There could be some sort of actual trigger. Have there been any changes to her room?
My son Spence, who’s 3 1/2, did that ALL summer. After 3 months of wondering WHAT the heck was going on with him, I realized that it was…the fan. Yes, the fan. We only use the A/C if it’s really humid and for most of the summer, we were just using an upright fan. I noticed that the really hot nights when we used the A/C, he was fine. And now that it’s cooler at night, he’s sleeping just fine. I think he felt the breeze of the fan when he’d sort of wake up and get confused as to where he was. I don’t doubt he thought he was outside or something.
It really freaked me out when he started screaming out in the night because, like Sophie, he was an excellent sleeper up until this summer. So, my suggestion is to think of anything that may have changed in her room.
Jenny, is it possible she’s having night terrors? Annalyn has been going through a similar situation, and my mom said this was about the age (almost 3) when I started having night terrors. I hope that’s not the situation with Sophie (it’s thankfully not with Annalyn), but I thought I’d throw it out there.
I hope you ALL get some good sleep soon. We’ve had major behavior issues going on at our house and that includes middle of the night screaming fits. Last night was the fourth night in a row of NO waking up, and it’s like a miracle! I’ll pray the same for you!!!
hi Jenny, I don’t comment much here – but I’ve got quite a bit of experience with night terrors – do a search for it on babycenter website and you should have a clear idea if that’s what’s going on. If it is, it usually happens when they are overtired. My 4 year old recently started them back up again because she gave up napping and started back to preschool. Maybe school is wearing Sophie out and if she isn’t napping she’s overtired?
I definitely think that if the cold clears up and it’s still going on then you’ll have a better idea, but it could just be the cold.
Good luck…sleeping issues are no fun when you are pregnant.
Have you been talking up the soon to arrive new member of the fam?? She could be freakin out about not being the center of attention soon 😉 My daughter has had night terrors since she was in the NICU ( half of now 3 yr old fraternal twins ) but this doesn’t sound like that. TRUST ME u would know! They r sooo creepy-she looks right at u but doesn’t see u! Kinda of like sleepwalking except screaming the whole time!!!!! Just sounds like either she was sick (or getting sick) or feeling upset about soon to be changes in her life. My son Tucker ( the other twin half ) does have nightmares and moody at night before he gets sick-so could be it??? Either way hope things get back to the norm soon!
My son had night terrors and they’re pretty awful. If that’s what Sophie’s going through, she won’t be consolable and she won’t even know that you’re there. Our Pediatrician says you just have to help them enter a deeper level of sleep (dreams, night terrors, etc. change when the sleep level changes). We would just rub Alistair’s back, while he screamed bloody murder, until he fell back asleep.
It could just be nightmares, in which case she would know that your husband is in the room and would potentially be consolable. Here’s St. Pete, FL we’re seeing lots of scary commercials for Howl-O-Scream (Busch Gardens) and Halloween Horror Nights (Universal Studios). They even show them during the day while kids can see them (BOO!). We’re pretty sure that Alistair accidentally saw one of these frightening commercials and was having nightmares every night for a couple of weeks because of them. So maybe she saw something scary, but doesn’t know how to tell you.
Either way, you could just try praying with her each night before bed. Maybe God will have mercy on your family. I hope so 🙂
Sorry to hear you three are going through a rough time I wish I had some advice for you….When E gets scared in the middle of night its usually night frights were he is awake but asleep and his eyes are open but he can’t see we talk to him until he comes out of it and by then he is soooo worked up that we know throwing is coming. Once he does then he fine and back to sleep in an instant. I hope the Soph isn’t that bad. Sending you positive vibes for a good night sleep….
I’m right there with ya- sort of…. A slept perfectly sound for about 10 months (starting at 9 months) and then she started waking up in the middle of the night. Most of the time she just wants to see us or wants a hug, but some nights she just screams and it doesn’t mater what we do/say/try. She’s also started wetting her bed (potty trained but in pull-ups) b/c of too much water at night. I’m trying to wean her off from that, but that causes another round of crying in the night. She’s 2.5 and Im wondering if we’ll ever sleep through the night again! I’m wondering if we have to go back to letting her cry it out. Have you tried that yet? Good luck!