Two year old is up all night

My 2 year old won't sleep, he's up every hour on the clock, screaming, flailing, kicking, absolutely inconsolable... I requested his paediatrician send him for a sleep study to get told "this is normal for toddlers" ... I will be taking him to a different doctor tomorrow for a second opinion, but I'm at a loss. He wakes up my other 3 children all night long because of the screaming and crying. Anyone have any suggestions or been through something similar? I guess I'm just looking for ideas to help and some validation that I'm not crazy that there could be something medically wrong with my baby.

Signed one heart broken mama

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Replying annon bc I’m in fb jail so it sent me to a link online to answer this way at least. Anyways…. Has he by chance had any recent vaccinations? I know that’s a sensitive topic but it is a serious one bc it’s true and happens to so many kids, it’s heart breaking especially when parents don’t realize it and connect the dots. That is one of the symptoms of vaccine damage. Hopefully it’s not! Check out vaccine guide online if he did have recent shots and look at the symptoms/possible reactions for the specific ones. Most doctors won’t tell you that or give you the vaccine insert that shows in the ingredients. That site provides that as well. Good luck! I hope things calm down soon :heart:

Help a mama out and respond anonymously on our forum. Two year old is up all night

How long has it been going on?

My almost 2yr old still does this often. Not every child is sleeping through the night. It’s rough. But eventually passes.

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I had the same issue, I am giving my 2 year old a very low safe/natural/ non habit forming melatonin and it works great!

My daughter is doing this. She is 2. She’s been falling asleep between 11pm and 12am for the last 2 weeks. She turned 2 last month.

Could he have autism or um ADHD. :thinking: or whats he eating amd drinking. To much sugar creates hypo. No fizzy or sweets before bed. Maybe a nice warm milo, or warm milk. Book and chill time for unhour before bed. No tv or computer celphone as that stimulates the brain to much. Down time basicly before bed. And last but not least tough love.

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It could be night terrors.
Neothe rof my children acted like that, nor have most children I know…so, not sure how common it is.
May sound odd, but there’s been one good study in food and sleep. Pediatricians and child psychologists had family’s keep a food diary for one month and the behavior of the child. Then, they pulled gluten and wheat soy from the childs diet for one month. Still keeping the diary. After 30 days families went back to normal, behaviors that had stopped with the diet came back full force on day 1 of going back.
Poor baby, ot could be simple or it could be diet. There’s no one right answer bc everyone is different. But if nothing is working and Dr’s can’t help, read that’s study. It’s on Google.

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My 3 year old has been doin this recently he will scream and cry couple times throughout the night I’m thinking it’s night terrors ?:disappointed:

My littlest had ear infections that the pediatrician couldnt see. I pushed for a refferal to the specialist and he said the baby would have gone deaf if I hadnt gotten him in. The pain was always the worst at night. Babies that age will tend to show you whats wrong, you just have to put the signs together. Are they chewing on thing? Tugging at their mouth or tongue? Scratching their body of head? Digging in their ears or mouth? Eating less than usual? Look for a sign. And then try to follow what baby is showing you is wrong.

My 2and 3 year olds did the same thing :weary: I won’t let them take naps anymore and our pediatrician recommended melatonin. I was hesitant to give it to them but now They’re almost sleeping thru the night. We use 1mg gummies. I give a half of one to my 3 year old and 1/4 of one to my 2 year old. It doesn’t knock them out but it does calm them and help them to fall asleep without the fits. They went from waking up every hour at night to only once a night now.

One of my kids had night terrors, sounds like the same or similar. It didn’t last forever but was so hard. Google all the ways to help that specifically and maybe something will help. Dr never was able to give an answer or solution to me.

Please be careful with any following of melatonin advice as given to young to often can be bad as once you start taking melatonin your body realizes it’s getting it some were else and does not make it the same naturally

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I have a 4yr old daughter who does this every night. She will sleep on her own bed, in her room but she will wake up after 2-3 hours and sometimes she’s in a good mood when she wakes up, sometimes she’s crying and screaming. The reason? She just wants to sleep beside me. And once she’s with me in my room, she will sleep comfortably and soundly the whole night and will wake up in the morning. Good thing tho, even if she cries, her brother and sister were not disturbed :sweat_smile:. I guess, it’s because of separation anxiety? She never naps in the day. Also, before she sleeps in her own bed and room, she must go out 100x for kisses and hugs :laughing:

Do not give your child melatonin without a recommendation from his pediatrician

Kaitlynn Castle Aiden does this…maybe reading some comments or talking with this mama would help

My son ended up having some sensory processing issues. Same thing you described. One night I kissed the back of his head and he just stopped crying. It calmed him and it made me wonder. He now sees an Occupational Therapist and it has tremendously helped!
Apparently at night my son would have issues with his vestibular (orientation in space), tactile (touch) senses. He would fall out of his bed from not having enough input for his Vestibular sense, and when he hit the carpet, his tactile sense had too much input and it hurt a lot more than it usually would a person. So he of course was very upset waking up that way. I feel so lucky I had that mom instinct on this with my kid.

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Sounds more like autism

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Try a Bible in the pillow if it’s bad dreams it might help

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Macy, saw this and thought of you

2 year olds from a developmental stand point can have sleep regressions, my son went through a rough couple weeks a month or two back. I was crazy exhausted and it felt like it was never gunna end, but we worked on getting more stimulation through out the day and we slowly got back to normal

Try soft spa music :notes: I find a warm bath with lavender and spa music has worked in the past…

My oldest had night terrors. It finally stoped when I got him This huge teddy bear that was almost as big as an adult to sleep with.

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Night terrors, we went through it around that age. Your doing great and will get through it!

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Sounds like night terrors… sounds like my son.
Humor me and try putting him to bed one night with you and sleep with him just for one night so he can feel you there when he falls asleep and feels you there while he sleeps and see if that makes a difference. If it does PM me.

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I went through this and tried absolutely everything for months. Low strength melatonin gummies were a lifesaver

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I would also try melatonin some ppl don’t like to give it to their kids cuz we have it naturally anyways but it does help them to fall asleep faster and get a restful night of sleep my 3 yr old will take them every now and then when she is up late and not sleepy and it helps her if that doesn’t help then I would be seeing about autism either way you got this keep on pushing through :pray::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

This was literally my kid. I took him to multiple specialist to find out he has a high resting heart rate. In older kids it’s ADHD. They just can’t fully shut down their minds. I thought of every other possibility. Scared or uncomfortable in his room. Lack of strict schedule. Nothing helped but melatonin gummies. He has a schedule & takes a gummy every night at 9. He’s usually asleep by 10/10:30 and sleeps most the night. I DO NOT let him nap for more than an hour because if I do, we are up all night with him. Try melatonin & if that doesn’t work, go to a sleep specialist.

Try some lavender bath to relax before bedtime :heart:

My daughter also went through this. I bought her an amber necklace and she never had an episode again!

My 2 year old goes through the same thing. He has to sleep with us most nights because if he’s with us he wakes up way less. We have a 3 yr old and a 6 week old so he sleeps with us most nights so that we all get some sleep.

With the multiples I’ve had gas is a huge issue even if it isn’t as noticeable as you think

My son is 4 and has very vivid dreams so anything he watches has to be g-pg things only. If he has a bad day he will not have a good sleep. I would just be watching what he’s watching and who’s around him during the day.

My 17 year old son used to do this when he was little. He has autism. Please get an assessment done to rule out or get services that can help him while he’s still little.

Could be sleep terrors. My 5 year old gets them.

Make sure he does not have ear issues, or allergies. If that’s not it, make sure he’s not hurting from teething.

I put my 2 year old grandson to bed at night as his mom works nights & we use nighttime soothing tablets, 3 mgs of Tylenol & 1/3 dose of liquid melatonin.

He went from being up every hour screaming to sleeping 8-10 hours nightly.

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It is fair normal and should grow out of it soon , if not there could be an underlying issue

Have you tried a weighted blanket? Can weighted blankets really help you sleep better? - CBS News

I was gonna say maybe allergist? Might have an intolerance to something he eats or if he drinks milk.

You won’t get answers here for YOUR baby… every baby is different; every human is different… I bet you and your spouse have different sleep patterns/ tendencies… I am a very light sleeper, on the other hand, my spouse is a fall asleep anywhere under any circumstances and hears nothing but talks in his sleep, sleeper… people try to put a blanket over a child’s sleeping… but just like you can’t put a blanket over a person’s personality or behavior , you can’t generalize sleep either. If there isn’t anything medically wrong with the child; it could just be their pattern. Mother of two, both breastfed and was told by a pediatrician once that - being breastfed was the issue and why they would wake routinely. Well… the four and a half year old still wakes at some point of the night to pee and comes to bed with us… she doesn’t breastfeed anymore obviously… my almost two year old wakes up all the time… and well… I just deal with it… my favorite line is… we spend our whole life looking for that person to comfortably sleep next to at night… why do we expect a child to not want to sleep with or be next to their comfort as well.

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Try melatonin start with small dose ,give it to him about an hour bf bed time , let him watch a I pad or your phone and when you see he’s getting sleepy then lay down by him… and try dim lights and a heavier blanket ; if it is autism he will want his own… space . I know not everyone agrees with melatonin ; talk to his dr.Dr… ours . Ours actually recommend it , and when we found the right dose, my gs was good, and he eventually stopped taking it.

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Something is causing him pain while laying down? How does he act during the day? Get every opinion until you find out the cause.

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Does he sleep alot during the day?

What’s his daytime schedule? I’m a sleep consultant and he sounds overtired IMO granted I don’t know the full story either

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Have you tried giving gripe water … sometimes a little things helps …

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My son had night terrors

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Two of my sons had night terrors. I realized with the first one it was usually when he had to pee so without really waking him up just guiding him to the bathroom so he could pee and that usually ended it🤷‍♀️

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My son was the same for almost a year and a half on and off at that age . My pediatrician told me it could be night terrors I stopped tv before bed and it helped a lot . I made sure his bed time routine was relaxing as possible bath time before getting into bed , story quiet time , cuddles and I’d just try to console him the best I could when he would get up even if I needed to lay with him for a bit .

I went through the same thing with my son. For my experienced. I put him on a routine schedule. He wakes up at 9am then takes a nap at 1pm to 3pm. Then I take him to a park to the park between 5-630pm. Then after dinner 730 I give him a bath. By 830 it’s bed time. He would wake up here in there but I let him cry it out till he falls back asleep. At night I had to sleep train him after 20 min of crying I go check on him. I would cuddle and rock him till he falls asleep and let him know everything will be ok. Then as soon as he falls asleep I put him back in his bed. He would cry a lil bit but he would back to sleep. I did this for almost 2 weeks till he got used to his routine. Just be patient, comfort him and most importantly have a routine. Good luck. I know it’s hard but be patient.

My daughter did this as a toddler. I would lay her down and rub her back, say its OK. Mostly she go back to sleep.

My son had night terrors . Does he drink milk before bed? If so try just water

This is normal. I would suggest 1 mg of melatonin, and see if it helps.

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I had nightmares of snakes all around and on me when really young. It was a medication for asthma-allergies that I was allergic to.

A 15 minute back massage will relax. I’m an L.M.T so I should know . You can trace the alphabet on his back for fun.

See an ENT … my son was the same until his turbinates reduced, tonsils and adenoids removed. Different child now!

Prob teething my guess

My daughter had night terrors start at 2. I realized it was in the first two hours of sleep. I’d take her potty and just try to comfort her until she was ok. If your child is up every hour, I would think that it could be something else. Definitely seek a second opinion. Poor mom and kiddo

At that age my daughter had night terrors that were like this. She grew out of them eventually. But the dr brushing off your concerns isnt ok. Definitely go somewhere else til you find a dr that will liaten

We used the toddler lavender stress lotion on or kids and hell I fell asleep might help hang in there

Mine was like that when her molars were coming in. Tylenol before bed improved it.

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My daughter did the exact same thing for a long time. Homeopathy was the thing that finally stopped it!!
Please don’t give melatonin as suggested by some. Not a good idea.
We saw a lot of relief by rubbing her down with a good quality magnesium lotion.
We also started her on a probiotic and multi vitamin. Sometimes the strangest symptoms can occur simply from vitamin and mineral deficiency.

Try sleeping with the child!

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My son does this every so often except it’s not multiple times! I kept thinking it was gas still not sure after about 30 mins he comes to confused and back to normal self! Can’t touch or hold him etc! I know I slept walked as a child so maybe night terrors

Night terrors. My son did the same at that age. Only thing i thought to do was no TV or busy play before bed, consistent bed time routine, sugar to a min and also I’d start dimming lights or switching off lights an hour or 2 before bed time to help him calm down and prepare for bed type of thing

My little was like this, after seeing a child sleep specialist, blood test revealed she was low on iron which contributes to restless leg syndrome/poor sleep. After starting on an iron supplement it got better. My oldest also had night terrors. They. Can do a sleep study, they have equipment that u can use at home:)

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Maybe it can be night terror. My son had a lot when he was 2. I searched about it and I realised that his trigger was when he didn’t have a nap during the day. Since then he has naps every single day and no night terror anymore.

My daughter does this and she has severe sleep apnea. She’s two as well. She will be having surgery to hopefully help her but def a new doctor.

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Get a second opinion & have his iron checked.

My son was deficient & had insomnia due to it.

Night terrors. Make sure he’s getting naps or decent sleep.

Every child is different hun hang in there try a bath routine before bed… My daughter is nearly three and only started sleeping alone about five months ago she was a very cuddly little one and always loved being held which i loved too cherish these moments x they wont want you when they turn into teens apparently mums and dads are just taxi drivers at that teen age stage :joy::joy:

My daughter also too only does this the odd time. Not every night and certainly not every hour basis.

Teething, gas problems, wants comfort, etc.
my daughter does the same thing. All she wants is comfort. Comfort as in feeling safe and calm and nothing to worry about. That they can rely on you if they want snuggles. And trust me when they get older, they don’t wanna snuggle no more. They will over time push you away as they get older. And your gonna wish they were small again.

Has he got a night light, my son’s plays music and seems to work

My son had night terrors… tickling his toe so he rolled over or moved helped distrupt the sleep cycle and stop them( about 2 hrs after bedtime)

I didn’t sleep at that age and mine had difficulty sleeping. If you did get a sleep study all they would recommend at this age is practising good sleep hygiene. Melatonin won’t help, sorry. It sounds like he might be scared to sleep which I’ve suffered from. Why do you think he is screaming and kicking? My Mum found I’d be quite happy in bed with a book and toys. Eventually I started falling asleep too. Maybe don’t mention sleep. Call it quiet time and get them to just play quietly. Do also check they don’t have something causing pain which is keeping them awake such as an allergy.

My youngest is the same, well was. I tried everything, drs, sleep training, therapy the lot. I ended up buying a night light that has colours and keep it on the red light, he watches it for 10 minutes and then sleeps so much better! It could also be night terrors as my boy suffers them. My boy is 3 now, suffers seperation anxiety and has infant ptsd (few medical issues which caused this) but stick with it hun it’s sooo hard but you will get through it xx

I am going to say teething. Try Tylenol before bed. He might be hurting and can’t relax. And they are so busy during the day he may be busy enough that he isn’t realizing the pain until he lays down.

My daughter would have night terrors when she was sick. Did they check the ears ?

Sounds like night terrors my son has them also and there wasn’t anything I could really do for him

My son did the same thing and his Dr recommended melatonin. I also let him watch tv until he fell asleep when he was going through that something calm and soothing. He really liked CoComelon. He’s now 3 doesn’t need melatonin, he sleeps with no tv and in his own bed for the most part. He still sneaks in bed with me sometimes but I ain’t complaining about that lol precious memories.

It could be many things… Also could be how you react to these fits as well. Kids do crazy stuff!! Keep a consistent routine, warm bath, lavender bedtime lotion, protein based snack w no sugar, NO tv or electrics, story, lights low, white noise (I had a room purifier going), soft sleepy music. When he gets up, keep interactions brief. My question is, is he only doing this with you, only in his own room, only at home?? If he is not doing this away from home or if u let him sleep (say on the couch or next to your bed)… Then I’d say it’s more environmental & not medical. Reward him when he sleeps through & make a super big deal about it.

Record it to show the doctor

My granddaughter woke up with night terrors for 2 years .it stopped finally . We think it’s because we took custody from her mother.

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Sometimes it’s a phase but other times it could be sleep apnea. See an ENT

We had great success with a weighted blanket for our little one! He loves it and sleeps all night in his own bed with it since the day we got it! It calms him so much.

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My oldest was the same, he was having night terrors. He grew out of it after a while. But during, it was exhausting. Good luck :heart:

Sounds like night terrors. I had them until I was about 10yrs old along with sleep walking.

When my son did this and still does his legs are hurting him. Dr said growing pains but my son plays all day everyday or is constantly moving. Tylenol helps and he can go to sleep and stay asleep.

When I say this I promise you that it’s just something they go through. My now 5 year old use to do it. The doctor told me it might be night terrors, anxiety or just scared to be alone. I would just cuddle her extar and I would sit with her until she would fall to sleep so she knew I wasn’t leaving her. It was a rough couple of months but there was light at the end of the tunnel. And I promise it does get better.:heart: I know right now it seems hopeless and hard but it will get better. Sending love and prayers to you mama!

Sounds like night terrors. My brother did the same thing. He’ll grow out of it. I wouldn’t try sleeping medication even melatonin as it can make the situation worse.

Well see you’re pedi was wrong to do that. I told my son’s pedi about my own son doing the same thing at 14 months and 16.
We rushed mine in at 2am to find out sleep apnea was causing it he stops breathing for 12 to 20 seconds. It could be a number of things honestly try a night light though see if that works if he wakes up again rush him tell them the pedi won’t turn her head to help you.

Melatonin gummies!!!

My daughter did this and it was because of night terrors. I got her a 5lb weighted blanket and it helped keep her asleep much longer

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I know this sounds weird but it seems to work flip him up side down right before bed just once turn him all the way around, it seems to switch there clock doesn’t always work but it’s worth a try :sweat_smile: we did it with my daughter and my parents did it with my brother now it was done when they were under two but it can’t hurt to try​:woman_shrugging:t2:

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Check for pin worms, could be teething.

My niece had night terrors and couldn’t have anything at all with sugar after dinner or it would trigger them.

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melatonin. and unfortunately this is what some kids do. there’s nothing wrong with the child

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Sleep training. Respectful Sleep Training/Learning

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Night terrors my little guys is two as well. We had a week it was like this it gets better