Two year old child wakes up in the middle of the night every night?

Question

This whole week, my little 2 year old sister has woken up in the middle of the night crying. One night, it was from 2 till 5. The next, 1 till 3. And she is up crying right as I'm writing this, and the time is almost 1.

We have no clue why this is happening! She gets her naps every afternoon. We put her down to sleep at night around 9:30, sometimes later because she is acting so hyper, which is weird because she is missing out on sleep at night!

Each time she wakes up, she tries so hard to get back to sleep, but she gets frustrated easily and starts crying. My mom keeps her in her crib, turns on some music for a couple minutes and tries to calm her down as much as possible. Lately, she's just turned to ignoring her as she cries because NOTHING works!

Please give us as much advice as you can! My mom is really losing a lot of sleep over this, while as my sister seems to be fine throughout the day. Thanks in advance for all your help! :]

Answer 1

My son is doing this right now too...He's 2. unfortunately I think its just a stage they go through. They are starting to develop fears, and when they wake up, they get nervous. Just give it a little time. My son is finally getting better. It's been about 2 1/2 weeks. Good Luck...Sorry if I didnt have any advice, but Im pretty baffled too. BTW, you are so sweet for being concerned about your mom :)

Answer 2

my 2 year old went through this for a little while, and when he would start crying i would ask him what was wrong and he would tell me something like dinosaurs, or alligators. so i think he was having nightmares. i would just comfort him and tell him that the dinosaurs were gone, and now i have to be careful about what he watches on tv. he still has them occasionally, but not as often. good luck

Answer 3

My own experience with my boys is that around 2 to 2.5 years they didn't need naps any longer.  Granted, boys and girls are night and day at this age - but they both behaved similar to your description.

Sometimes my boys were hungry and they woke up for that in a generally upset mood.  That was combated out of becoming a routine by changing dinnertime and changing bedtime.  

When kids are hyper at the late hours sometimes they're just loopy from being tired and will crash as soon as the real action stops for them.  Other times it's because they've had a fulfilling nap earlier in the day and they just aren't tired.

I'd try cutting out the naptime first - she may be outgrowing them.

Answer 4

We did this to our nephew (3yrs), We didnt have him take a nap during the day , we played with him outside playing ball , chasing around trees etc.. end of day fed , bathed , and popped in Nemo (his fav) and it wasn't even 15 mins onto it little after 9, he was fast asleep and didnt get up till 9 next morning :)