Sorry I haven't posted much - I have been dealing with the wee monkey having middle of the night tantrums. I am exhausted and getting worried since I start back to work in a week. I've tried researching the causes of night time tantrums (he's 11.5 months) and there seems to be a few possible causes.
- night terrors
- teething
- growing pains
- separation anxiety
- frustrated at not being able to do something
- unknown cause
We've ruled out night terrors because he is fully awake and has been awake for at least 10 minutes before the full blown tantrum starts. Growing pains and teething don't seem as likely either because 'tempra' and other natural methods aren't helping. Separation anxiety is probably not a cause since his routine has not changed any and the tantrums start AFTER he sees one of us.
I am going to try the distant contact method - where we let him cry it out after letting him know we are still near by. We don't pick him up or stay in his room. We simply open his door, let him know its ok, that mommy and daddy are near and that it's time to go back to bed. We repeat that a few times as we go back to our own room. Hopefully the neighbours can't hear him screaming bloody murder at 1 am!
We are offering 15% off most items in our Etsy store http://www.mommysmonkey.etsy.com/ and watch for our big birthday sale on 2/28 for one day only!! Also lots of new inventory has been added to http://www.mommyslilmonkey.com/ - and ad space is still available (see the Other Fun Places page for details)!
- night terrors
- teething
- growing pains
- separation anxiety
- frustrated at not being able to do something
- unknown cause
We've ruled out night terrors because he is fully awake and has been awake for at least 10 minutes before the full blown tantrum starts. Growing pains and teething don't seem as likely either because 'tempra' and other natural methods aren't helping. Separation anxiety is probably not a cause since his routine has not changed any and the tantrums start AFTER he sees one of us.
I am going to try the distant contact method - where we let him cry it out after letting him know we are still near by. We don't pick him up or stay in his room. We simply open his door, let him know its ok, that mommy and daddy are near and that it's time to go back to bed. We repeat that a few times as we go back to our own room. Hopefully the neighbours can't hear him screaming bloody murder at 1 am!
We are offering 15% off most items in our Etsy store http://www.mommysmonkey.etsy.com/ and watch for our big birthday sale on 2/28 for one day only!! Also lots of new inventory has been added to http://www.mommyslilmonkey.com/ - and ad space is still available (see the Other Fun Places page for details)!
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good luck - you must be exhausted!
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