Sleeping FAQ: 12-18 Months – Night Waking

My 15-month-old son wakes every night and cries hysterically.

My 15-month-old son is a little angel but is waking once a night and has done for the last two weeks. It is usually around midnight and he’s hysterical; when you go in he’s stood up pointing to the door. The only way to stop him crying is take him into another bedroom and sit with him for tens minutes until he calms down and then he goes straight back to sleep.

He has slept from 7pm to 7am for months now – we did controlled crying successfully to get rid of his dummy – and he often stirs or wakes during the night and goes back to sleep, it’s just once a night that he’s really hysterical. We have considered just leaving him but I have really never heard him as upset as this and don’t feel it’s right just to leave him.

Although this might not be serious in comparison to other problems, it is really getting us down.

Hearing your son so upset every night and not knowing why, is stressful for you. At his age he has probably become much more physical and could be walking by now. You may find that he is pulling himself up to standing in the cot whilst still asleep and then wakes to find himself in this position and not really sure how to get back down again. Think how often he falls over in the day; he sensation of falling and also muscle spasms could all be waking him suddenly.

All these are fairly common occurrences in toddlers of your sons age who are have newly begun to walk and are very physical by day.

As he wakes about the same time each night,he also could be moving from one phase of deep sleep to another and is experiencing an incomplete waking from non-dreaming sleep. It is as if he is caught between the end of one stage of sleep and the beginning of another. One way to help him over this,is to go into him about 10-15 minutes before his usual time of waking and stirring him from his deep sleep to help him settle gently into a new sleep cycle.

Night terrors are not unknown in this age group but most toddlers are unaware of an adult and fight off being reassured. Although an adult should stay with them they will settle themselves back into sleep. They appear awake but in fact are still sleeping despite open eyes. They will thrash around, scream wildly and appear to be terrified of something. Night terrors usually last about 10 minutes and the child falls back to sleep as if nothing has happened. They will not recall what happened the next morning. They usually occur in the first 1-4 hours of sleep.

Dr Richard Ferber whose book “Solve your Child’s Sleep Problems” has a whole chapter about sudden night wakings and believes that with very young children the cause of night terrors and other sudden wakings is overtiredness.

Whatever the reason for your son’s waking – you may never be able to pinpoint it – continue to go in and reassure him. Try going into his room and leaving the door open so there is some light coming through and sit with him in there until he is calm and ready to settle back to sleep rather than having to take him to another room.

Have a look at his routine and any recent developments such as walking. Overtiredness, despite his bedtime of 7pm, could be the cause. As he is at nursery full time he will be having a pretty active and full day. Try to have a really quiet and low key bath and bedtime, and try bringing bedtime forward by 15 minutes to see if that helps him. Once out of the bath try not to have any more running around but get him dressed for bed and share some books together. Also try going into him 10-15 minutes before his usual waking time and see if rousing him a little prevents the episode. The down side to this is that this could lead to problems if he wakes fully and refuses to go back to sleep. It may be worth trying over a weekend to see if it helps at all
As with most problems in toddlers it is probably “just a phase” and will fade with time. If it does continue on a nightly basis for much longer, despite changing his routine a little, discuss things with your doctor.