Why does my 19 month old suddenly wake at night?

He's been sleeping through the night since 12 weeks. However, lately he'll have stretches where he sleeps beautifully (from about 8:00 PM-7:00 AM) for a few weeks and then have about 5-7 days where he wakes 2-4 times in the night and won't go back to sleep. He hasn't had a middle of the night feeding since about 5 months, so I'm sure he's not hungry. Sometimes we can just go in and reassure him and he'll go back to sleep, and other times we have to go in 4-5 times before he falls asleep for good. I can't make sense of it- I'm sure it's just one of those things that kids do, but any other similar situations? Any advice (I'm a pediatric nurse so you'd think I'd be able to answer my own question, but for some when reason it's a totally different game when you're the mom!)

This has happened with all 4 of my kids. They for some reason wake at the same times each night just out of the blue after sleeping through the night. It takes some discipline, but you have to let them cry through the first one. It's almost like a circuit and it's out of their control, they just wake and get stuck like a broken record on those times to wake in the middle of the night...you have to break that cycle by letting them cry through it and it's magic, it works. It just happened with our 4th child. he would wake at midnite and 3am EVERY night...at first I forgot (yes, even after 4 kids I forget from one to the next) and thought it was teething, growth spurts, etc....then one night I told my hubby, let's let him cry a bit...sure enough, he cried for about 5 min. and then he went back to bed and this happend about 3 nights in a row and now he is sleeping all night again...THANK YOU!! Broken sleep is the worst...it's a form of torture and when you get used to your sleep, it's hard to give it up!! Try it, if the baby cries longer than 10-15 min, there might be something else going on, but if not, just look at the clock and try to go back to sleep...the baby will too! I hope this helps!

Maybe is something that bothers him at night that is in his room . I dont know if you believe in paranormal but yeah it could be.

It's nice to know that even the experts have these problems! I feel a bit strange giving advice to you, though.

Sleeping is just weird! Could it be a growth spurt? My son, who is almost 4, had a sleeping problem just recently and I hadn't thought of the growth spurt right away since there's so much space in between them now.

Could your son have just realize that he can get you to come into his room to comfort him when he wants you to? I think it was during that growth spurt (my memory never fully recovered from pregnancy. LOL) that we thought he was sick or scared and so we sat in the chair and let him sleep in our arms, mostly mine. Then, of course, he preferred it and we had to make him go back in his crib and I had to turn off the monitor to get him to sleep on his own again. Your son could just be having a power play.

I can't think of anything else but I'm sure other moms will help out. Good luck!

Thanks for your answer! It was certainly good luck running into you! No he won't hold it in his mouth, but that rectal thing is torture. My mom, who was a nurse, used to do it to us until we were 8, so when he screams, I just can't! It's good to know that we have an accurate temp from the armpit--thanks to you!!

My daughter is 21months old and she is having the same problem if I can call it a problem.I've been trying to observe her but the reasons are so many.
Can be theething problem or a moment during the day which left a big impression on him.At that stage they are learning so much and they want to know more and more.Factors like those are not giving them peace during the night their brain is working 24/7.
Recently I've learned that now they can learn up to 10 new words a day every 90min new word.Well they wont use all of them in the very next day but at some point they will.
I've tried that with my daughter and it was true.

does he cry out when he wakes up?my two year old has been having night terrors.all children have them at one stage.i read my son a short story to take his mind of what he dreamt then he goes back to sleep.or it could be something simple like teething or growing pains.