Ethan has been crying in the middle of night for the past 2-3 weeks, for no apparent reason. It's frustrating because we do not know what was the reason he cried so pitifully every night. When we tried to pacify him or hug him, he refused to let us touch him and will say 'NO! MUMMY NO!' and kick and cry even louder. He vomitted a couple of times. Scolding did not work either. Most of the time one of us will have to sleep with him and he will stop a few minutes after that. Milk helps sometimes. When he wakes the next morning, he's perfectly normal and sometimes very cheerful. I'm really puzzled.
I tried very hard to control my temper when caught in this kind of situation. I can feel the blood just rushed up my head when all the efforts failed to pacify him. I really, almost landed my palm on his face. I smacked his leg last night though. I was really really frustrated. One small smack and he cried louder after that.
Thinking about it again now, I wonder what makes us (or rather me) think that a smack will stop a child from crying? It doesn't really make sense right? It only let out our frustration but will never solve the problem. The child will definitely continue crying when he's smacked coz he's in pain or maybe shocked. I know in situation like this, we should take 5 and cool down but in the middle of the night, all I want is to sleep and how to take 5?
Two nights back, the same thing happened. He just cried and cried and cried and then pointed to the door and said 'Neh! Neh! Neh!'. I got up and carried him to the door. He wanted to go out so I brought him out and let him down. He stood there clinging to his favourite pillow and gave me a clueless face. He then sat on the floor. I asked him "Are you ok now?' 'Happy?' 'Can we go back to sleep?' 'Come, lets go to sleep'. No response from him. Then I went in to the room and asked the same questions. He got up and leaned against the wall, hiding himself from me.
Not knowing how to deal with him, I went back to the room and climbed up my bed. I told hubby (who had since gone back to sleep) 'Look at your son. Look what is he doing.' He held up his head to look and that time Ethan came out to peep at us. When he saw me on the bed, he started to cry and wail very badly. I couldn't bear to see him cry like that so I dragged myself up again and carried him back to the room and decided to sleep with him. Thank goodness, the crying slowly stop.
I don't know what kind of phase he is going through now. Initially I thought the crying was due to the sickness, that he was uncomfortable. But he has fully recovered for almost a week now and the crying still goes on. On a good night, there will be one episode of crying and on a not-so- good night, there will be 2 or 3 episodes. Just hope that this phase will end soon, I mean real soon.
Doing some puzzles before bed time - his latest favourite
15 comments:
Poor mummy, it must be one of the "hair-pulling" time for you.
May I ask who look after him in the day? Could something happen during the day that makes him this way?
Hope he's out of this soon. You take care.
Ryan went through the exact same scenario. It was wayyyyyy passed his sleep time and he just cried and cried when I shut him in room for bed. Insisted wanna go out. I switched off all the lights and let him stood outside. Then he cried cried.. (heart break).. but when I opened door again he refused to come in. No choice. Force him in bed. Force milk. Force everything. Eventually he drank the milk and dozed off. But it just happened twice so far. So, I think Ethan will be okay soon.. Dont fret. It will pass... :D
maybe over simulate in the day time. I did encounter that Vyktore was crying n kicking both the nights when we were at Penang. We shake and woke him up after that he was OK and slept again.
Read my blog (A tough day with a demanding toddler) then you;ll know you are not alone. It sounded so much like Darren. What I did was ignored him and continued sleeping (sleep on his bed). He would definitely cry louder, let him cry for a few minutes, then only pacify him. No need to scold or try talking to him coz they cannot hear us at this time.
Hope this phase will really end soon...I'm praying hard too...
blessed mum,
he's at the daycare and i really don't know what triggered the crying at night.
etc-mommy,
after 2-3 weeks of crying, i kind of loosing hope liao...sob sob
jazzmint,
my son was awake when he cried, can whack me somemore
baby darren,
i wanted to let him cry but if cries too much, he will start coughing and vomit..more work for me
will check out your post :-)
i think he beginning to enter a new phase since he's near 2. not very much a baby now. so maybe you can try change the bedtime routine abit so he can experience something new and feel different. ya know, sometimes he can feel bored for the same thing everynight and that can frustrate him since his mind has broaden widely as toddler. reading storybook is good.set & be firm; after the reading session,everyone sleep.
esther
Oh dear. I just hope this is just a phase that will go away soon. But I agree with Jazz - maybe he was over simulated during the day. Like we Malays got pantang too.. like cannot laugh or play too much during Maghrib (circa 7 p.m) time as that'll mean that the kids will cry in their sleep and have nightmares all. I don't know whether true or notlah.. but there have been times that when Irfan played too much during the day, he'd sort of "cry" in his sleep and we had to rouse him.
Btw, love the last pic! :)
gib cries at night too.. its like he's having a very bad nightmare! sometimes he'd cry his eyes out and we get so frustrated. so i can understand how u feel :( Husband thinks gib is over-stimulated during the day because he's always playing chase with his counsins during the day. i have no idea why he's that way and i'm also praying that he'll get over the phase soon. nadia's right; malays have got some "pantangs" too (the don'ts!) and sometimes i find it weirdddd that when i follow the pantangs, gib cries less! like dont play too much with him after sunset and stuff like that. dunno how valid it is though...
good luck and i hope ethan will get over this soon too
errr when u see me in msn, u msn me la. I got nearly the same story but i think i better not write it here ;)
Hope Ethan had stopped his crying at night!
Sometimes, no choice, when our little one cry like that, we just got to assure them that Everything's all right, Mummy's here.
They might be waking up from a dream and was shaken by it so they started crying.
For many nights, Kayton would do the same too....so, i would just stroke his back and assure them that we are here. But when i am sure he is fully awake and that he continues his tantrum and refuses my touch, i would simply shut off and go back to sleep. After awhile, the crying would stop and Kayton would doze off.....
Came over from Jasmine's blog...hmmm....I know a few kids who have been acting up like that after their illness. Maybe they know mummy will come to them and comfort them now when they cry...
Sometimes dont know lah...these creatures are masters at manipulating us!
i been thru all those... u won't believe it, my Wen Wen woke up middle of the nite wanting to watch tv, and i carried her and watch tv fr 3-4am, sometimes 2-3am... (of coz i watch tv with my eyes close lah) thank godness, is all over... sure ur nightmare will end soon!!
esther,
will try it out but the problem is 'firm'. he always win
nadia & babybooned,
oh, i heard of the pantang too. if it's during the day then it's really out of my control bcoz he's at the daycare but if it's in the evening, then it's worth a try. thanks!
sasha,
ok!
km,
thanks for sharing your experience. here. kayton and ethan showed similar symptoms
ann,
haha! like you last sentence and i agree with it too
kelly,
the 'watching tv in the wee hours' actually happened a few times already.
PST PST, i just realised i left out ur feed!!! :(
anyway, Rachel's been like that lately too... but not midnite lar... up to the stage where i bet she forgot why she cried in the first place...
n'how, crazy mothers like us think smacking will help hoh? hahaha... good luck to both of us that this episode goes away... pst, i got no justification, but i think it's terrible two...
shannon,
oh, welcome back :-)
arghhh...this terrible-two thing is driving us nuts
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