Getting up in the middle of the night--3 year old!

[sidmand]

Up until about a month ago, I could probably count on one hand the number of times DS has woken up once he's gone to bed (since he was about 9 months old--until then, forget about it! but once he hit 9 months that seemed to be a magic number).

But in the past month I'd say he wakes up at least a couple of times a week SCREAMING at the top of his lungs, usually for me. He's still in his crib and is jumping on his mattress and screaming. When we go in he almost immediately calms down and asks for juice and a story (?). I've tried just giving him one or the other (I usually just give a story, DH usually just gives juice :)) but then he often wakes up again for the "missed" one. Last night he woke up twice (and DD only got up once for the first time in weeks!). Argh. He's not getting up at the same time she's getting up, so she's not waking him up. He's a very sound sleeper once he gets to sleep, but when he's ready to get out...first we hear everything in his crib drop over the side (clunk, there goes two babies, clunk, there goes two puppies, clunk, there goes anything else we let him take to sleep!).

It's not night terrors...he's completely aware of everything and usually goes right back to sleep. I think there have only been a few times that he's gotten up more than once, but still. I know he's had a lot of changes at once and maybe that's it? I can't let him scream because it would just get louder and louder and he does not calm himself down once in that state. If I don't give him juice (which I've been watering WAY down and only giving a little) and a story, he usually wakes up again for juice and a story! It doesn't happen every night and I can't for the life of me figure out what's different on the other nights. I don't think it's ever happened when my sitter puts him to bed. Usually DH puts him to bed, sometimes me, but it doesn't seem to matter except he usually calls out for the last person he saw.

Just a phase? Will it (hopefully!) be over soon?

[hillview]

DS has done this on occasion. I do whatever I can to get him back to sleep fast. I'd be fine with juice (not so much with story at that time of night). Have you asked him why he wakes up? Maybe there is something (the heat) that clicks on and wakes him up? DS did this maybe 4 times and then stopped. GOOD LUCK!
/hillary

[ha98ed14]

Reading your post, I was going to say "night terrors" but then you said you are sure that it is not that. I am going off of a friend's experience with her DD. Her DD had them 2 to 3 times a night starting around 3, 3.5. My friend took her to a psychologist because she was really worried. Turns out, this is SO common in Preschoolers. Its like their imaginations don't shut down when they go to sleep. The world of imaginative play run amuk. Anyway, not trying to dispute you, just thought I would throw it out there.I would encourage you to ask him why he wakes up and be open to the fact that it may be night terrors/ bad dreams.

[egoldber]

It may not be night terrors, but it could certainly be bad dreams.

Sarah NEVER woke up at night as an infant and toddler. But after age 2.5/3, she started to wake up on average once or twice a month at night. Usually it's a bad dream, but sometimes she needs water, potty, etc.

[mecawa]

My DD went through this at around 3 1/2 yrs. We finally realized that it was when the AC was turning on. It was waking her up and scaring her. We realized this when we went into her room and she started saying make that AC (pointing to the vent in her room) go away.

[sidmand]

I wonder if it the heat going on. It's just gotten cold enough some nights for the heat instead of the AC (although I think the AC is louder). I've tried asking him but although a very smart almost 3.5 year old, he is still speech delayed both in receptive and expressive. So I say, "Did you have a bad dream?" And he says, "yes." So I said "Did you have a good dream?" And he says, "yes." I asked if he knew why he woke up if there was a noise and he didn't answer at all. So I'm not sure.

I can totally see that it might be his imagination too or bad dreams. I guess I thought night terrors were more specific and the kids usually weren't even aware of their surroundings when that happened--more than *just* a bad dream, which is why I said it wasn't night terrors. We hear him talking and repeating verbatim things that happened during the day, so if anything he didn't understand happened, I could see that he could wake himself up worrying or being upset. Whenever he thinks he's hurt lately he says, "need huggie" and he's been doing that too, so that could be it.

It just sucks that my good sleeper is becoming the one I worry about! He does go back to sleep very easily, but sleep is definitely getting worse, not better for everyone!

[KpbS]

What about sending him to bed with a cup containing a small amount of water and telling him if he wakes up and is thirsty he can drink it but the stories and juice have to wait for the morning. I'd be worried about creating a wake-up habit with stories or juice in the middle of the night.

[JTsMom]

We went through something similar maybe 2 months back (Jason is just a few months older than your DS IIRC). It lasted a couple of weeks and stopped. I have no answers/advice, but I'm betting on "just a phase".

[hellokitty]

My 4.5 yr old went through this and my 3 yr old is currently going through this. I think that maybe they are just having very vivid dreams.