21 Month Old Crying at Bedtime

[Anonymous]

Nothing has changed with our 21 month old, but the last few nights he has started screaming hysterically for 5-10 minutes after we leave him and before he realizes we aren’t going back. He doesn’t seem sick or anything, but any advice? Is this just a phase that will pass? We made the mistake the first night of going in there and that turned into an hour long saga. We are now choosing to say goodnight and not go back in

[Anonymous]

This was a year long phase for us. I would just sit on a chair across the room and read my phone under a blanket until he fell asleep. I’m sure others will have better suggestions.

[Anonymous]

We had this. It passed. Sucked to have her cry but it was all for attention and she was fine. And then w remove her to a big bed at 2.5 and it was walking out for a couple weeks.

[Anonymous]

My almost-2.5-year-old has recently started this too and I would love to hear how others handled it or just reassurance that this is normal and will pass!

[Anonymous]

We go back in once and then say "it's time to sleep now, night night" and leave. My 2 year old just has more separation anxiety than his sister ever did. We have weeks that are worse than others.

He started sometimes crying at bedtime around the same time, about 21 months old. He's 2.5 now and is still a bit of drama at bedtime. About 1/2 the time he goes to sleep with just a little yelling/crying and the other 1/2 the time he cries a bit.

I just tell him it's ok to be sad that it's time for bed, but that he needs to lay down and shut his eyes.

We are delaying putting him in a big bed until he settles down a bit. The only thing that keeps him in his room is that he's trapped in the crib! Thankfully he hasn't tried to get out yet.

[Anonymous]

A little bit different ages so not sure if it’s relevant but our 15 month old went through a stage like this recently, I think it’s separation anxiety for us. For some reason for our son it’s worked really well to do what the other poster said - we go in one time, tell him it’s time to sleep we love you (what we say when we leave each night), lie him back down, and walk out. No idea why but then he goes right to sleep. It’s like he needs that little reassurance. This is the second little bout of this we’ve had during times when he’s more separation anxiet-y and it hasn’t lasted long doing that so just thought I’d share.

[Anonymous]

I either hung out in his room until he fell asleep, checked in on him every 30 minutes or so complete with a back rub and tuck, or we coslept. It depended on when he decided to freak out and how exhausted I was. Thank god for Kindergarten, he was finally so tired that he fell asleep. But the naps at day care made getting him to sleep during daycare/preschool years a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

2-year old molars coming early?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2-year old molars coming early?

It could be this. We went through something similar—I want to say 22-23 months? Anyway, just before DD turned two. We started giving Tylenol and it helped a lot. I don’t love the idea of giving it every night, but it was only a couple of weeks, and since it stopped the crying, I think she really was in pain.

[Anonymous]

My 3 yo has done this off and on in phases. It always seems to end quickest when we CIO, honestly. Make sure there's no physical reason like wet diaper, hunger, maybe think about adding a nightlite then be firm "goodnight, see you in the morning" or whatever. The phase ALWAYS lasted longer when we got suckered in and tried to provide comfort.