Why is my 2 year old daughter waking up crying around 3am every night for the past 4 nights?

Question

My daughter has just now started this. Today is Thursday, it started Sunday night/Mon. morning. She is crying like something is hurting her or scaring her at around 3am, and I don't know what is wrong with her. She is now doing it in her naps. She had colic when she was an infant, and she has ear tubes. The thing is when she is awake, she is fine, no complaints. She don't like me putting her ear plugs in for bath time in her left ear, I took her to her ENT doc yesterday, he said it was trying to make its way out, but it has been doing that for a while now. He said it shouldn't be waking her up though. It is worrying me to death. She just holds on to me so tight when this starts happening. Any answers would be greatly appreciated. She is my only child and I am sort of a young mom (24). I am just puzzled with this.

Answer 1

She could be having bad dreams, or even just teething.  They do get molars right around this age, and molars tend to be more painful.  When my kids have done this in the past, I usually let them cry for a while at first and usually they fall back asleep on their own.  If you keep going to her, you will create a pattern that may be hard to change later, and she may keep waking up and crying because she just wants attention from you.

Answer 2

it may not have anything to do with her ear plugs espically if it has been making its way out for a while now. babies dream she could just be having a nightmare. or she may just be restless and wakes up and since it's dark cries because she is afraid. my daughter did that when she first started using her own bed I though there was something wrong too but as time went on she got used to it and slept the entire night. I'm a young mom too (22) and I understand it's scary when you don't know what's wrong.

Answer 3

A couple of things come to mind...at first I would think some kind of ear ache, but if the doctor said it's not, than maybe not.  Ear aches can effect them while laying down because when they are flat, they can't drain.  

Another thing that happens to my son sometimes is just night mares.  He will wake up screaming bloody murder and won't let me go for a while. I have to turn the lights on and try to wake him up sometimes to get him to calm down.

Answer 4

The same things happen to my litle sister. She wakes up in the middle of the night crying and pointing at something for example a garbage can and stares at it like something is there. It scares me too. She might have nightmares, but it probably won't be something about a scary movie since you probably won't let you 2 year old daughter watch those. It probably is because she's used to it or she's just sleep walking but she's awake. You should probably take or add some activites or food and see if she reacts to it and if she does or doesn't do things at night. My sister ate alot of peanut butter and that's when it all started. So my parents made her eat nutella and it worked! Hope this helps and I hope your daughter gets rid of her waking up at 3.

Answer 5

Possibly night terrors.

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Answer 6

my 3 yearl old kept waking up crying too. it may not b helpful to you but i realized she was just having a wee in her nappy and thats what woke her up everytime and then she couldnt go back to sleep by herself.

Answer 7

hi,

first of all stay with her in the night, let her sleep right beside you. if it is something which scares her, that will help. when she wakes up react completely relaxed. ask her if she is thirsty or hungry, feels hot or cold...look for the normal things first. (you can still panic later) sometimes it happens that one night at some certain time(in your case 3 o clock) kids wake up and the next night they are already kind of timed, wake up at the same time again. this can go on for several nights until something interrupts it. try to take her to bed a little later for like one or two days, that helps. and yes, with 2 years of age, small children already have a lot of things to think of and develop fears too...so just be there right beside her. make sure she hears no nasty stories and doesnt watch any tv. small kids understand and see more than we think. i have 3 kids and two of them had things like this sometimes, so dont worry too much. good luck to you and your child and i hope this helps!

Answer 8

Probably "night terrors"  many toddlers go through them.  Two of my daughter's had them.  It is a phase, that eventually will end.

Answer 9

That happened to us too. My neighbor was a bar tender. He would get home at 3:00 or 3:30 every night. He drove a motor cycle. Every night when he came home, he woke up the baby. It was infuriating. It took me forever to figure it out. I talked to him about and he tried not to be too loud. I also took her outside to see the motor cycle one night, so she knew it wasn't anything to worry about. Just Mr. Hunter getting home from work.

You might set your alarm to wake up a bit earlier than she usually does and listen to what happens. There might be some nightly airplane or train or something making the sound.

Good luck.