frustrating - any ideas

Kaitlin'smom wrote: Last thursday night Kait woke up and had what I call a cring episode well it toook me 20 minutes to calm her down to go back to sleep, she had one again saturday night, monday and tuesday night they will last form 10 minutes to 30 minutes. It takes different things to calm her down. She was so worked up saturday ngith that she threw up. Course by the end I am exausted, and frustrated but I am doing really well to stay clam around her. Last ngith was I think the worst, I about had to leave for me to have a time out when she finally showed signs she was calming down. Every question I ask the answer is noooo. I really dunno whats going on with her. My only ideas is some type of dream that bothers her or she is having growing pains and just cant express to me whats going on.

any one else toddler experiencing anything like this?

I am hoping its a phase and wont last long.

DansMom replied: This happens with Daniel sometimes, and it's usually when he wakes up for some reason in the deep part of his sleep cycle, like an hour or two after falling asleep. He cries and cries---20 minutes like you say, and sometimes almost getting sick---and nothing I say or do has much effect. I don't think he's totally awake, and that's part of the problem. He's trying to get back to sleep. It seems like he stops when he kind of wakes up a little more and hears what I'm saying, then he calms down and settles in again. I don't know if there's any way to get through to them when they are freaking out like that. I suspect growing pains or teething when it happens more often. It could be dreams too. I think all you can do is be there, talk calmly, snuggle and wait it out.

Alice replied: Kira has been doing that a LOT lately.

I'm taking the lazy way out, bringing her to my bed for a hour or so then putting her up in her own bed. I'll tough it out when things calm down with school and stuff; right now the sleep for the rest of the family is the higher priority.

ammommy replied: Is she really awake when you are talking to her? It sounds like night terrors to me. Alec went through them at about 2ish and occasionally has them now. I figure Megan will start with them soon.
The only thing that calms him down is to let him cry it out and eventually he falls back asleep. It's weird because his eyes will be open and he will carry on a conversation with me, but he's not awake KWIM? Just strange, but my ped says it's perfectly normal.

Kaitlin'smom replied: thats what I am wondering if she is awake. It appears she is but with they way she is I just wonder. I did ask her this am if she remembered cring last ngiht and she said no so that leads me to believe she is not awake. She did have a night terror when she was really little so I am wondering if she is having them again.

I hope they dont last long, its heartbreaking and exausting.

JAYMESMOM replied: Jayme is just 16 months and has started this. Last night was the first time I let her CIO in hopes that I would get some sleep. She would cry and sleep for a little and then cry again. I don't know if they were night terrors for her or just being awake. But either way I was the mean mommy and let her CIO. I kinda felt bad but there was no way I was up to be up at 2:30 in the morning. I finally got back to sleep at 5 this morning to get up at six.

I understand with everyone about needing sleep. I would just watch and see. Now is the perfect time for kids to learn to self comfort to a degree. I am not for totally leaving them alone but sometimes you have to.

Kaitlin'smom replied:
I know what you mean i have let her CIO o couple times just cause I could not be positvie. It does depend on her cry as to if I go in or not, I have learned what cry need me. I will have to see what she is like next time she has one I might leave her be longer, maybe she can fall back asleep better with out me, does nt hurt to try it.


thanks for your support I am glad to know I am not alone in this.

MommyToAshley replied: Poor baby! And, Mommy too!

I've never seen one, but from what I have read, it sounds like night terrors. Didn't she have an episode with a night terror when she was younger?

Ashley had a really bad nightmare last night. She screamed, the scared and hurt type of scream that goes right through you. I ran in there and she was shaking. But, I was able to talk to her and calm her down. I ended up rocking her for awhile and let her fall asleep in my arms just because I wanted to comfort her, I felt so bad that she has such an aweful nightmare. But, it sounds different then what happened to Kaitlin since you weren't able to talk to her.

I hope this phase passes quickly and you all get some rest.

Kaitlin'smom replied: she did have another last night after she 'woke' up she wanted mommy, DH had gone it to be with her, I ended up sleeping with her for a while. I will give it a few more days and then call the ped if it has not stoped to see what we can do.

thanks for all the support

oh and yes she had one when she was younger, but none until recently

MommyToAshley replied: I wish I remember where I had read this, but I read that this is the prime age for night terrors.... unfortunately.

Please keep us posted and let us know what the Ped says. (Do you still go to Dr. Amy?)

Kaitlin'smom replied:
I need to do some rechearch on it and porbably just go ahead an make her an appointment

and yes we go to Dr. Amy. Kait loves her

A&A'smommy replied: night terrors? Poor girl and mommy I hope whatever it is goes away soon!

ian'smommy replied: Ian does this occasionally too. It seems there isn't a lot I can say to get him to stop crying when he wakes up and does this. I have found that bringing him to my bed for a half hour to watch a quiet video helps and then he goes back to bed without a problem. It seemed that anything else I tried didn't work as well.

luv2read2 replied: My son was doing the same thing. Only here's what I figured out... I watched him while he was crying and still looked like he was asleep. Sometimes it looked like his tummy was hurting by the way he was wiggling around. Then sometimes he looked like his legs were hurting by the way he was wiggling around. Turns out they were.

I asked him and he talked right through his sleep or woke up enough to vocalize a liitle. I needed to give him a little snack before he went to bed and a little drink of water. His tummy was hungry and he didn't know about hunger pangs -his tummy "just hurt" and all he would do was cry - but when I put my ear on his stomach it was grumbling. He just didn't have a word for being hungry yet and couldn't express that or didn't know what it was. The other was leg cramps. These both didn't happen at the same time but off and on. He was having leg cramps. If I gave him little sips of water every 30 minutes when he would cry it worked itself out. I would also massage his legs until he stopped crying.

Since then, I have tried to be real consistant with the amount of water he drinks thorughout the day and making sure there is a nighttime snack. Crazy - but if you listen and watch - you can learn. It takes them a while to learn how to communicate to you what is wrong.

A mother knows. My husband thought I was crazy - but we haven't had an episode for a long time.

Just my two cents.

Dori