4AM Wake up

[psimpson3-5]

So here we are again. DS just DOES NOT sleep through the night. I'm really at the end of my rope. DH is away for 2 nights and I'm afraid I'm going to loose my mind. He is less than 6 weeks away from his first birthday. We've been suffering with this for what feels like forever.

Some back story-
DS seems like his sick more than he's well. Over the past 3 months, he has had 3 double ear infections, the stomach flu, croup, and of course teething pain. We feberized him to get him to fall sleep, which has worked wonders for putting him down for the night and works about 50% of the time for weekend naps. (I WOTH FT; DS goes to daycare weekdays.) While we were Feberizing him, he slept through the night. The 4AM wake up stopped. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!! Now with all of these illnesses back to back, he will fall asleep no problem, but consistently wakes up somewhere between 3:30AM - 4:30AM.

It used to be very simple to put him back to sleep. Just give him his pacifier and he'd go back to sleep whether it was right away or after a short crying session. Now he refuses his pacifier. He will clamp his mouth shut. If you do manage to get the pacifier in his mouth he will either spit it out or toss it across the room. I just don't know what to do. If we try to Feberize him during this wake up, he will cry for 30 mins straight. He doesn't even seem to slow or calm down whatsoever. We have learned during the Feberizing process, that if we do go in at the varying intervals, he just gets worked up again. So we try not to go in at all. After about 25-30 of what I would consider screaming, we give up and go to him. What can I do? He won't take the pacifier. He won't calm down. We're absolutely miserable. I think I might cry!

[Philly Mom]

I would pick something and be consistent but you may need to wait until he is better. For us, DD gets more upset if we go in so we don't unless we see that she is physically sick or something looks wrong. She rarely wakes up but she did twice last night. We let her get back to sleep on her own both times after some crying. I am pretty positive that if we went in, it would have been worse and taken longer.

[Simon]

At that age, I would guess he might be teething and that's why he doesn't want his paci, it could be painful. I'd give a dose to pain meds at that time and offer a drink of water. Its also probably around 8 to 9 hours since his last meal and he may just plain be hungry. Some kids just can't make it that long when they're having a growth spurt. If you don't want to always get up with him then find a way to give him a sippy of water within reach.

Personally, if my kid is screaming in the middle of the night without stop, I go in and check it out.