20 month old cries at 4am then goes back to sleep

[Anonymous]

For the past three mornings, DD has cried / screamed at 4am for a few minutes. She is consolable, diaper is fine, goes back to sleep after a few minutes, wakes up happy later at 7, but DH and I are now wide awake. Any ideas why she would cry at the same time for three nights in a row?

[Anonymous]

Could be night terrors. Or if there's some noise like a garbage truck.

[Anonymous]

Just for perspective, my 20 month old did this this morning. It was one of the best nights of sleep I've had in 20 months!

[Anonymous]

I would assume it's just part of her natural sleep cycle to wake up around 4am. And if you've always gone in there to console her then she wouldn't know how to calm herself back down to fall asleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would assume it's just part of her natural sleep cycle to wake up around 4am. And if you've always gone in there to console her then she wouldn't know how to calm herself back down to fall asleep.

OP here. We actually don't typically go in. I went in this morning because she was screaming so loud and sitting up. But I didn't put her back to sleep...she was not happy when I left but fell asleep within a few minutes.

[Anonymous]

Normal. She will grow out of it. Sleep is a constantly moving target. You have to train yourself to fall back asleep easily. Something that helps me immensely is a night mask. If I get woken up in the night by one of my children, I put it on when I go back to bed and it forces me to keep my eyes closed and also the darkness can convince my body to go back to sleep. Do not, under any circumstances: have a conversation, look at your phone, get a drink or snack, turn on the lights.

The other night our smoke alarm went off at 3am, and I woke up, addressed the issue, made sure there was not actually smoke or a fire, went into my daughter's room to check on her, calmed down her terror, laid next to her for about 10 minutes while she settled and fell back asleep, and then went back to bed and went to sleep. Slept for 3 solid hours.

You will learn.

[Anonymous]

Could his room be too dry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would assume it's just part of her natural sleep cycle to wake up around 4am. And if you've always gone in there to console her then she wouldn't know how to calm herself back down to fall asleep.

OP here. We actually don't typically go in. I went in this morning because she was screaming so loud and sitting up. But I didn't put her back to sleep...she was not happy when I left but fell asleep within a few minutes.

Ok, that's good. Our kids had similar struggles around that age, despite generally being pretty sleepers (once they actually went down- bedtime was always rough). I think she'll just grow out of it without doing anything particularly special.

I know it can be rough on you, though. You get used to finally getting full nights of sleep and then this happens!

[Anonymous]

Probably just a developmental thing or teething. If you have a good sleeper normally, this too shall pass.

[Anonymous]

It's a developmental thing. Both of my kids went through something similar around that age. Hang in there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Normal. She will grow out of it. Sleep is a constantly moving target. You have to train yourself to fall back asleep easily. Something that helps me immensely is a night mask. If I get woken up in the night by one of my children, I put it on when I go back to bed and it forces me to keep my eyes closed and also the darkness can convince my body to go back to sleep. Do not, under any circumstances: have a conversation, look at your phone, get a drink or snack, turn on the lights.

The other night our smoke alarm went off at 3am, and I woke up, addressed the issue, made sure there was not actually smoke or a fire, went into my daughter's room to check on her, calmed down her terror, laid next to her for about 10 minutes while she settled and fell back asleep, and then went back to bed and went to sleep. Slept for 3 solid hours.

You will learn.

True. I used to be better at putting myself back to sleep. I was really good at it during the newborn stage. I like the eye mask idea. I think I also need to lay off the caffeine a bit. But DH has always been a light sleeper and really struggles with this. Thankfully DD has generally been a good sleeper, especially since we sleep trained her at 13 months. Totally get that we are lucky. It was just odd to us she was crying at the same time but yeah I guess it is sleep cycles. Also might be a temperature thing since it was warmer for a couple of days. Last night she didn't cry though, so whoo hoo!

[Anonymous]

Could they be cold? My daughter is that age, has outgrown a sleep sac and won’t keep a blanket on. She started waking more frequently in the middle of the night. A friend mentioned she double ups on pajamas to make sure her daughter is warm enough. Started doing the same with socks and we haven’t had as many wake ups. Although we keep the heat on and at 72, it can get kind of cold before the heat kicks on again in the cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could they be cold? My daughter is that age, has outgrown a sleep sac and won’t keep a blanket on. She started waking more frequently in the middle of the night. A friend mentioned she double ups on pajamas to make sure her daughter is warm enough. Started doing the same with socks and we haven’t had as many wake ups. Although we keep the heat on and at 72, it can get kind of cold before the heat kicks on again in the cycle.

OP here. Yes we struggle with the temperature issue - her room gets chillier than the rest of the apartment for some reason. I don't think that's what this is because it's been happening even while the weather was warmer this past weekend. We actually still use sleep sacks - they do make them for older children if you want to go back to them. Right now she is using the Gunamuna 2.6 TOG duvet. We also have a 2.5 TOG Restcloud sleep suit (basically a duvet pajama) that was working pretty well for a bit, but I think she sleeps better in the Gunamuna.