waking up almost every night and being scared

Hoping you can share the ways you have dealt with this situation for those of you who have been through it or are going through it now. My girls are almost 3. Lorien has never really been a good sleeper but when she was in her crib, if she woke in the middle of the night she would just hang out in her crib and then go back to sleep...eventually.

Ever since moving to toddler beds (their cribs with the front taken off and side rails attatched), she wakes up almost every night and cries for me or comes running to our bedroom. She claims she is scared and she does look afraid. She said there were animals on her ceiling and I saw the shadows she was referring to and we talked about them being shadows and that there weren't real animals in her room. This has been going on for a couple of weeks and obviously I'm exhausted since I'm not getting a full nights rest.

We have been bringing her in our room at times just because we are sooooooo tired and it's easiest but she is a crazy sleeper and moves a lot and has kicked me and hit me in the face several times in her sleep. Obviously I don't want to develop bad habits so I'm trying to keep her in her room. Sometimes she wakes up and can't fall back asleep for an hour or two and ends up starving so I bring her down at 3 or 4 in the morning to eat something. Sometimes, she wakes up her sister and then I'm dealing with the two of them in the middle of the night and have even had to make a bed of blankets and sleep on the floor with them in their room. I'm just wondering if this is a phase that will pass or is this just her and I will deal with this for years to come. She is in general a pretty high strung little girl who is very anxious and hard on herself which I don't understand. All I know is that dh was and is the same way as a child: had a lot of fears and anxiety. I wonder if this is hereditary (if something like that can be so?).

Thanks for your advice/opinions

 

Oh man Melanie, I'm sorry!! :hug: I haven't been through this, but my first thought was to take the nightlight out of the room. If she isn't seeing anything when she wakes up (like the shadows) maybe she would just fall back to sleep? :hug:

 

I can not offer any advice, because I deal with this also. Paige often wakes and comes into our room scared...I end up letting her stay in bed with us. But, Chole also ends up waking a couple of times a week and she comes running into our room to sleep. DH sometimes tries to put them back to bed, but they end up crying and next thing you know, the whole family is awake. We have been giving all the girls lots of praise if they sleep in their bed all night. This seems to be helping. Good luck, I know how hard it is!

 

I would suggest taking the nightlight out. My kids have slept so much better since I took it away. No night terrors, no waking and crying, and no monsters cause there is nothing to see.

John has anxieties and it can be hereditary but I also think that it is normal for kids to go through stuff like that, esp. at night. :hug: :hug:

 

I will try that. The only light is from the monitor uint that has a small nightlight on it. There is also a little bit of light that shines in though the blinds. I never did the darkening shades thing and since we are moving soon I won't bother investing. I will try putting a dark sheet over their window at night (which I used to do when they napped) and see if that helps.

thanks for the advice.

It's crazy but last night was the first night she didn't wake up in a while. Well, at least not in the middle of the night but she came screaming and crying into my room at 5:45 this morning. I felt so bad for her. She was screaming "The animals mommy! The animals!" and she had tears streaming from her eyes. It broke my heart that she was so afraid and of course at the same time, I was sooooooooo exhausted. We never went back to sleep. Arwen woke up as well about 15 minutes later :wacko:

 

Do you or JC have bad dreams? Lauren went through a spell recently where she was waking every 2.5 hours crying out as if she was hurt or panicked. I talked to the pedi and found out that restless sleep (anxiety at night, bad dreams, etc.) are hereditary. I wake up all the time freaked out that someone has broken in our house and is going to kill me and DH has lots of nighttime anxiety and wakes up in a fit of panic.

So could this be a part of it? I really hope it gets better soon!!!! :hug: Poor girl, and poor tired mommy!! :hug:

 

I dont have any advice but my twins are just a couple months younger than yours, and my DD has woken up twice in the past two weeks crying and being afraid of. . . ME! I couldnt believe it! Shes always been a mommys girl and always wanted me to hold her and cuddle and anytime she's afraid of something or a stranger is near she wants ME to hold her. . but she literally ran from me, and she slept with my mother both nights! I still cant believe it. The morning after the first episode, she still wouldnt come near me for about the first hour of wake time. She said "mommy bad dream".

So, again Im not sure how to help, but Im right there with you.

 

This happened to us last night for the first time. One of our girls just screamed and was inconsolable. Poor thing. She took about 20 minutes to settle down. Then she did it again a few hours later. Friends of mine have told me that it is probably bad dreams and it is just a phase. Apparently it is quite common between 2-3 years old as kids start to have really vivid dreams at this age.

Good luck.