Dr. Robert Needlman
Specialist in pediatric behavior and development.
|
|
 Ask Dr. Needlman
Two-Year-Old with Nighttime Crying, Coughing Fits | | | QUESTION | | | Dear Dr. Needlman,
Our two-year-old has begun to wake up in the middle of the night and gets himself in to a fit. He screams, kicks, and progresses into a coughing fit. He just wants to get out and sometimes wants something to drink. If we let him cry it out, he has continued for up to 1-1/2 hours. What should we do?— Midnight Mom | | | ANSWER |
March 8, 2001 | | | Dear Midnight Mom,
This is an important question because sleep problems are so common. There are many reasons why a two-year-old might start waking up in the night, but until you understand why your child is waking up, you'll have a hard time knowing what to do.
Here are some possibilities to consider:
- If your child has slept through the night for years and all of a sudden starts waking up crying, make sure there is no physical ailment causing him pain. Consider ear infections, if he has a fever, stuffy nose, chronic cough, pulling at his ears, or pus draining from his ears. Bad diaper rash also can wake a child.
- Consider nighttime fears, more common in three-, four-, and five-year-olds. Usually these show up at bedtime as well as in the middle of the night. It's common for two-year-olds to go through a phase of increased clinginess, which could make separating at night difficult. Again, this problem would show up at bedtime as well as in the wee hours of the night.
- Night terrors, a normal physiological response that causes agitation and sometimes screaming or struggling in young children, is another possibility. Review the article on night terrors to see if the description fits with your child's behavior.
- Think about any sources of stress at home or in preschool or daycare. Any change can be stressful for a young child, even positive things such as a parent getting a new job or a promotion. Negative events, including the death of a grandparent or marital discord, also often cause children to wake up and need comforting.
- Sometimes children simply learn that by calling out in the middle of the night they get their parents' attention. These children are trained night wakers. The treatment for this, as you suggest, is to un-train the behavior and get the child used to the idea that they do not need a parent next to them in order to fall asleep. The Sleep section of our site (in Behavior & Development) has more suggestions for solving this problem.
— by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. |
|
