Screaming fits at naptime and bedtime

[KrisM]

DS has almost always gone to bed easily. He doesn't always sleep through, but we haven't had many battles going to bed. A week ago, we'd put him in the crib, he'd lay down, ask to be covered, remind us to turn out the light, and wave good-bye. Since Friday night, he now just screams when we put him in the crib. Screams.

We didn't travel over the holidays and he was only out-of-routine on Christmas Eve when he went to bed a couple hours late. He seems tired and is willing to go up for stories. I don't know what the screaming is about. Is it just protesting that he doesn't want to go to bed?

Oh, for a while, he'd ask for milk and we'd bring him to the kitchen where he didn't want the milk. Now, we bring it up to him and that just makes him mad, so we think "milk" was a code word used to get him out of bed.

If we go in, there is no soothing him until we pull him out. He wants to sleep in our bed with us. We just don't want to do that again. We haven't done it in nearly 2 months, and only did for a month or so before that. The past 2 night, I've ended up on his floor sleeping with him. He's fine then. My thought is that maybe I can do some steps to keep him out of our bed and in his own.

I don't know what I'm looking for here. Maybe an idea of reason for the screaming and a plan to get him to stop!

[holliam]

Has he been sick at all? Mari is a great sleeper and she has been difficult lately and we just found out she has her first ear infection. :(

Holli

[bcky2]

ok, about a month ago my ds started this(at 19 months). he always went to bed without a peep and all of a sudden he just started screaming at night. we would have to take him out like 5 or 6 times and it was still a fight(we dont do cio). what we found that he like to go to bed when everyone else does. i think he now realizes that we are all still up and wants to be too. so my boys now have the same bed time and we turn out all the lights and we put our youngest in the crib and then i go and lay with my older ds that co-sleeps with me. when older ds is asleep i get back up and all is well :) my youngest ds doesnt want to co-sleep at all so it was just a matter of everyone else being up and him not. a friend of mine went thru this same issue around the same age and it was also a matter of everyone else being up. i hope that it ends soon for you.

ETA: when the night thing got settled he went back to not screaming at naps.

[KrisM]

He had a cold a week before Christmas. Slept great then :). He seems fine during the day, too.

[KrisM]

Maybe DH and I will try something like that. DS is very energy-conscious and makes us turn out lights and the TV before we leave a room, so lights are definitely off at bedtime.

At least it just isn't my DS. I guess that makes me feel a bit better.

I was also wondering if he needs a later bedtime. He used to nap 1.5-2.5 hours and now only naps 1 hour. I wonder if I move bedtime back a bit (is at 7PM now) if he'll nap longer and he'll be happier being up later with us.

[bcky2]

we did end up moving his bed time from 6:30ish to 7:30-8:00 and he now takes a later nap. he used to nap in the am and now does more around noon or one.

dont you just love it, everyone tells you about how bad the sleep issues are with a newborn but they seem to forget to tell you that it doesnt go away :) no one ever said to me "oh, they should sleep thru the night by three months-by then you will be like a zombie but dont get too excited because in a few more months they will have sleep issues again. once you get that figured out and make up some of the sleep that you missed there will be issues again so dont get too used to sleep"

[muskiesusan]

I am convinced they never really sleep through the night. There is always something going on!! I don't expect a full nights sleep until they leave for college, but even then I will be awake with worry!!!

Kris, Alex also went through this about a month ago. I tried moving his bedtime around (it's 6) and his naps (which aren't that great), but it ended up being one of those things that just fixed itself after awhile, meaning last week. I also think it was b/c he realized we were still up.


Susan
Mom to Nick 10/01
& Alex 04/04

[KrisM]

I know what you mean. For months at the beginning, I looked forward to "sleeping through the night". Whatever! I figure he'll start sleeping through consistently when the baby is 1 week old!

We moved the bedtime tonight by 1/2 hour. By the time he was actually not screaming, it was 8:30 though. Hopefully, naptime tomorrow will be different.

[mudder17]

No, it's not just Andrew--Kaya is off and on doing the same thing. I think that it's as Becky said--they know that everyone else is up and they don't want to go to bed. But also, I think Kaya does need less sleep. We did move her bedtime to 7:30 at around 18 months, I think it was and that helped for a while, but now she's also skipping her naps. We're not quite sure what to do about that one, but we are limiting her naps to 2 hours at the most and that's helped with her bedtime. And if she's in her crib during the nap time and she doesn't go to sleep after 30 minutes, if she's protesting, we'll just take her out and she skips her nap. Otherwise, we'll leave her in there for an hour and take her back out if she hasn't fallen asleep (she plays with the animals in her crib--talks to them and everything!). I'm considering taking her for Itsy Bitsy yoga for the next couple months before she turns 2 (that's the upper age limit) during her nap time (once a week), so skipping her nap on those days on purpose and seeing how she does.


Eileen

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/candle.gif for Leah
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_4_Kaya+is.png
Kaya's a cousin! 10/1/05, 5lb13oz

[Judegirl]

Kris, I just wanted to offer my support...wish I had advice, but it sounds like it will resolve itself fairly quickly.

FWIW, dh and I are about to get Rory her own bed instead of a crib. Her pediatrician thinks she may sleep better in a bed, and she did love being on a bed when we were traveling. Maybe Andrew's ready for a big kid bed?

I know, I know. I can't believe we're even thinking about it. :)

Hang in there,
Jude

[mommd]

A big YES to the big kid bed!

We just went through this. On Sunday, she was screaming in the crib again, and I went in to lay down with her on the twin bed we have in her room. Well, as soon as I put her on the bed, she got silent and went to sleep. She slept by herself all night long wit no waking up, something she hasn't done for almost two weeks!

Since then, she has been sleeping in the bed and goes to sleep easier and sleeps better. It may be worth a try!