Change in Sleeping Time

22 months, 2 weeks & 3 days old.....

My little boy has turned from an early bird to a night owl. The crying episode in the middle of the night has come to an end since last Saturday (29 March 2008). It also marked the beginning of him sleeping late at night. He used to sleep early, as early as 7.30 p.m. but on a typical night he will sleep at around 8-8.30 p.m. and will wake up at around 7 a.m.

Last Saturday, I brought Ethan to my mum's place and we stayed overnight there. I let him slept late because he can wake up late the next morning unlike weekdays when he has to wake up at around 7a.m. He slept at around 10.30 p.m. and surprisingly he didn't cry that night. So, I was wondering if the crying episode was due to his early bed-time. It sounds ridiculous but that's the only night he didn't cry and I couldn't think of other reasons. The routine before bed-time was the same.

Ever since that night, he has become a night owl. He refused to go to bed at the normal hours and he can stay up until 11.30 p.m.! The earliest time he would sleep now is 10+ p.m and he still have to wake up at 7 a.m. If it's not because that he has to wake up early in the morning, I don't mind him sleeping late. I'm worried that he does not have enough sleep.

Every night when we brought him to the room, he will refuse to let us switch off the light and because of that he can continue to play until the wee hours. Sometimes when we have no choice, we just have to switch off the light. And yes, and he will wail, which will lead to only 2 endings:
- He cries himself to sleep or
- We give up and he sleeps very late

I think I cannot switch him back to the old sleeping time. I just don't know why the change is so sudden and not gradually. Is this also part of the terrible-two syndrome?

My mischievous little one. Wanted to
be put inside the washing machine
but regretted it shortly afterward.

P/S: There will be no updates on this blog from 9-16 April coz Mummy will be away.

Nightmares?

22 months & 5 days old.....

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