18 month old still not sleeping his nights?

Question

My son has never slept through the night for any long period of time. A couple weeks ago I decided to let him cry and he slept about 3 nights through. Now he is waking up again 3 or 4 times per night, sometimes a quick cry and back to sleep, sometimes he cries for about 20 mins. I just want to know if anyone knows why he would still be waking? I'm pregnant with baby number 2 and I want my little guy sleeping well before the new baby comes or I'll never have any rest. Thanks for any advice!

Answer 1

I may be wrong, but isn't around 18 months when a toddler begins actively dreaming? If that is the case, he maybe having trouble with this new activity.

My daughter did the same thing at that age. She never was really good at sleeping solidly through the night untill she was about 3. Even at 5, though, she still will wake on occasion.

Every persons sleep habits are different. Some people just sleep harder/lighter than others.

Even as adults, don't most of us wake occasionally at night to go to the bathroom, get a glass of water, etc.?

Answer 2

I am going through the same thing. My 18 month old daughter has been doing this for sometime and I am due in May with Baby #3. I have tried letting her cry it out, but sometimes it works and other times it does not. What has ended up working for me is getting up, making her lay back down and patting her or rocking her crib till she nods back off to sleep, I never say anything to her while I am doing this process. It normally only takes about 10 minutes for her to be out and she sleeps through the rest of the night. Which is so much easier than having to get up a hundred times and picking her up and calming her down, my tummy is getting to big to do that anymore.

** Don't expect to get any rest when the new bundle of joy arrives, it only gets harder after that. My oldest daughter who was 5 at the time, was up ever time the baby woke up wanting to know what was wrong with her sister.** I imagine that my youngest will be the same way. So I am getting all the rest I can now. GOOD LUCK!!!
I have noticed that this happens a lot more when she is getting a cold and is having trouble sleeping.

Answer 3

my daughter did this for 18 months. she only slept through the night 3 times her first year and a half and we didn't sleep those night because we were sure something was wrong with her! turns out she was cold. we started putting her in those footed blanket sleepers everynight and she would sleep all night. she's almost 7 now and still gets so cold at night, lots of blankets and jammies, and even then she will still wake up to cuddle and get warm. good luck.

Answer 4

Night waking tends to increase around 18 months of age and almost disappear around 24 months.

"Armstrong KL, Quinn RA & Dadds MR. The sleep patterns of normal children.
Medical Journal of Australia 1994 Aug 1;161(3):202-6.

The above study is the definitive work on sleeping habits of (Australian) children to 38 months. The researchers surveyed 3269 parents, with a 96.5% response rate, over a one week period. The parents had to report on their child's sleeping habits over the past 24 hours, plus answer a few questions related to their perceptions of their child's sleep behavior.

What did they find?

*There is a wide range of normal childhood sleep behavior.
*Circadian rhythm is not well established until four months of age.
*Daytime sleep becomes less regular with increasing age, the most marked reduction in length occurs around 3 months of age. *However, a surprising 11% under 3 months of age don't have a daytime sleep every day.
*Frequent night waking that disturbs parents is common from 4-12 months (12.7% disturb their parents 3 or more times every night).
*Night time settling requires more parental input from 18 months.
*Nearly a third of parents have a significant problem with their child's sleep behavior.
*Sleeping through the night: 71.4% did this on at least one occasion by 3 months of age, but many of these relapse into more frequent waking in the 4 to 12 month period. It is not until after 24 months that regular night waking (requiring attention) becomes much less common. "
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleepstudies.html

However I wouldn't bet on your toddler sleeping through your baby crying.

Answer 5

you need to have his ears checked he could have an ear infection.my second son wouldn't sleep and cry and the doctor said he had ear infections.and eventually had to get tubes put in. it took awhile for him to sleep all through the night but now hes fine and sleeping soundly.dont let him cry he trying to tell you something wrong.