Sleep Interrupted
It was last Tuesday night (technically Wednesday morning) at about 3:15am. Up until that point, I was sleeping peacefully. But at that moment I was ripped from a deep sleep by the sound of Tiny’s cries. They were strong and loud and this was very unusual. But I didn’t jump up right away. Because sometimes, not often but sometimes, she does cry out in her sleep for a few minutes. And without any intervention, the crying stops, and the night goes on as usual.
But on that particular night, the crying didn’t stop, and by 3:25am, Tiny wasn’t just crying, she was screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!” This had never happened before. Never. She had never ever called for me in the middle of the night. Not even when she was sick with a stomach bug.
I rolled over towards T, and we both agreed that I should break our no intervention policy and go to her. When I got to the kids’ room, Tiny was standing up in her crib, and she immediately reached out for me. Unfortunately, Buba began to stir at that same moment, so now I had two crying kids on my hands. I quickly removed Tiny from the bedroom and took her into the kitchen, thinking that maybe Buba wasn’t fully awake and would go back to sleep, but no such luck. He continued to cry and scream for me as I worked to calm Tiny down.
The whole house was dark, and I could see that Tiny was somewhat surprised by that. As I checked to see if she felt feverish, I explained that it was still nighttime and that T and Pokey were sleeping. I told her that she and Buba needed to go back to sleep too and asked if she was ready to go back to her crib. She agreed, and then I went through the whole thing again with Buba.
With both kids calm again, I headed back to bed. I could hear them chatting for another 30 minutes or so, and was still awake more than an hour after I’d first heard Tiny’s cries. But in the morning, I still felt fairly rested and just hoped that the night waking was a one-time only deal.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights both kids slept right through as usual, but Saturday night (technically Sunday morning) just after midnight, Tiny woke up crying again. Her cries were not quite as loud, and I hoped she’d fall back to sleep quickly, but she didn’t. She was screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!” just as before, but this time I felt more conflicted about what to do. If I went to her, would the night waking become a habit? Would Tiny start to expect to see me in the middle of the night? But before I even rolled over to voice my thoughts, T said, “Don’t go in.” He was thinking that the night wakings would only continue if Tiny knew I would come each time and that she was old enough to self-soothe and get herself back to sleep.
So I didn’t go in, but I sent T to discreetly scope out the situation. He came back to report that she seemed fine, was not caught in the crib bars or anything and that she appeared to be winding down. Right about this time, Buba woke up and cried a bit, but he was able to get back to sleep pretty quickly and luckily slept through the rest of Tiny’s on and off crying, which lasted about 50 minutes in total.
By 1:15am, the house was quiet again (except for T’s snoring), so I quietly crept down to the kids’ room to see for myself that Tiny was okay. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to fall back to sleep without checking in on the kids for myself. Once I saw that they were both sleeping peacefully, I crawled back into bed and hoped to sleep soundly until morning.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a horrible night for me. While everyone else slept the night away, I tossed and turned and had horrible dreams when I did finally sleep. I think I may have gotten roughly 4 hours of sleep that night, and I woke feeling groggy and cranky.
Thankfully, last night we all slept soundly, but who knows what’s in store for the nights ahead. I mean, we’ve had 17 months of kids’ sleeping through the night, and I guess I just assumed that it would continue that way forever. Why is Tiny suddenly waking up when she’s been such a good sleeper for so long? I suppose I should go and dig out the Weissbluth book before I find myself awake in the middle of the night again wondering what to do.
One other thing – Tiny is really potty trained during the day, right? But she still wears a diaper at night? She could be waking up because she has to pee but she doesn’t really know that is why she’s waking up so she’s getting agitated? Just a possibility. Not really sure what the solution is to that but maybe asking her if she needs to pee? Or putting her on the potty?
Rebecca goes through these phases, too. She seems to be a pretty restless sleeper in general, possibly with very vivid dreams. It’s sadly not unusual for her to wake up crying a couple times a week and need a quick hug to go back to sleep. I try to keep her in her bed, though she does often pull the potty card. But we keep it as minimal and quick as we can, and usually she goes right back down.
This happens from time to time in our house, too. As someone who has vivid and terrifying nightmares, I tend to go in to make sure not only are they physically OK but emotionally OK, too. I was big on the “cry it out” method when my girls were infants. They’re great sleepers… so I know that if they’re up in the middle of the night, something is wrong… even if they just need to see me to know they’re OK. The potty training theory is a good one, too, as I’ve had friends with experiences similar to the previous comments. I say go with your instincts.
She may be getting to the stage of “night terrors”. Mr. Mischief gets them once or twice a week. He doesn’t get them as bad as some kids, but he does have a “bad dream” or something and he can’t calm down by himself. He has to wake up completely, calm down, and then he goes back to sleep very easily. The whole process takes maybe 15 minutes. Sometimes he will have a really bad dream that will throw him off for the rest of the night, but that has only happened 2 or 3 times.
Good Luck!
I do hear “night terrors” are common for this age. I hope things calm down for you. We have amazing sleepers also, and it will be so stresfull to go through that! 
I hope things get better!!
If she is awake and coherent when you check on her, it is NOT night terrors. She might be having nightmares, though. We’ve experience both in our house and they are two distinct and very different things. Here’s some decent info on nightmares that also includes a link to night terrors:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_nightmares-why-they-happen-and-what-to-do-about-them_64922.bc
My biggest bit of advice when trying to track down the source of the fear, is to avoid adding to those fears. Don’t ask questions that introduce a fear, ie. Are you afraid of something under your bed, in your closet, etc?
Right around 2 or so, they often start to notice shadows and such in their room that makes them start obsessing and making themselves afraid. Sneak into their room at night while they are sleeping and take note of light sources and any shadows they may be casting. You may have to sit in there for awhile until your eyes adjust and you can see what they see when they wake up in the middle of the night. Night lights are notorious for casting “scary” shadows.
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My only thought is, teething? We’ve been having issues with Michael and I noticed today that he is getting his second molars! Last night he actually slept through the night. I am hoping that since they broke through, we might be going back to sleeping through the night.