# 2 1/2 year old always wakes up MISERABLE!!



## tylerdylan (Aug 29, 2007)

I am fairly new to this board and am finding the responses very helpful, so here is another problem we are having....
For as long as I can remember, my 2 1/2 year old son wakes up miserable, especially from his naps. He wakes up crying 97% of the time and sometimes wimpers and cries in my arms for up to an hour after he's woken up. Then finally he'll crawl off my lap and start to play and before long he's totally fine and ready to go. It's always been tough to deal with, but now I have a newborn that needs me to, so I can't always hold him for as long as he needs (or I am trying to hold both of them at once and neither one of them is overly happy with that). We always thought this was just the way our son was until our ENT told us this is not normal and will stop once he is sleeping better (he had sleep apnea due to huge tonsils and adenoids). But, he's sleeping great now and still miserable when he wakes up. Does anyone else have a child who does this??? We praise him like crazy the odd time he does wake up happy, but that is so infrequent. We have tried telling him that big boys wake up happy and just say "mommy I'm all done" instead of crying, and he does that once in awhile. We have tried putting him back to bed thinking he needs more sleep (even when he's had a good nap), but he just screams and screams. Does anyone have any suggestions how to deal with this and get it to stop?? It is extremely frustrating (especially since he has soooooo many other issues as well...) HELP!!!


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## NicaG (Jun 16, 2006)

My ds was always like that after naps. I found that giving him a snack immediately helped. Or taking him out of the house immediately, going for a walk or outside to play. Now he's giving up naps. When he does nap, he seems to wake up in a better mood than a few months ago--I don't know if it's because he's sleeping later in the day, or maybe because he wakes up at a different point in his sleep cycle.


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## tylerdylan (Aug 29, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *NicaG* 
My ds was always like that after naps. I found that giving him a snack immediately helped. Or taking him out of the house immediately, going for a walk or outside to play.

Unfortunately, my son is SO miserable that he starts screaming/crying harder if I so much as ask him if he wants a drink or something to eat or to go outside. He screams harder even if I just talk to him. He is quite inconsolable. He even refuses his favorite tv shows for the first while. Not fun!!!


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## Tellera (Oct 28, 2005)

DS is just like yours. I try to get him really full before a nap, because, like you, afterwards it most often makes him shriek more to offer something. I keep trying different snacks beforehand. I do notice that it is better if I can get him stuffed, which isn't always easy to do...often we can't get him to nap for an hour or so after his food so while he's not hungry enough to take anything else, he's not full either. oy.

Sometimes he wakes up babbling and, for the life of me I can't figure out what was different about that day to get that outcome. It's pretty frustrating.

I hope you find something that works, but, perhaps our wee ones just need us a bit more - waking up often sucks for me and I think it would be lovely if I had someone to cling to, to ease me into wakefullness.


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## alysonb (Mar 15, 2006)

My older DS never did this, but my younger one, now 21 months, does it at least 80% of the time. I initially thought that the hysteria was from having a wet diaper, so, since we cosleep, I would change his diaper immediately on waking and I have noticed (sorry if this is TMI) that his hysterics correspond with typical male morning issues, and that when things settle down down there that he stops crying. Personally I cannot see why this would bother him so much, but then again, being a woman I don't have any first hand experience with those parts. And days that things don't pop up he's fine and wakes up happy and cheerful. I don't know if it is just my situation, but I thought it interesting that so far all of the respondents had boys as well.


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## Maggieinnh (Apr 3, 2007)

All the previous posts could pose possibilities!
Another thing that might be a problem is the sleep routine, even if he sleeps well maybe at the wrong time of the day,...or does he go down for night time sleep and his nap well?

If so, the other VERY possible thing that it could be is that he is allergic to something that he is eating or drinking and upsets his stomach or nervous system.
There are all kinds of things that can upset the digestive or nervous system without actually showing obvious signs of allergy, like yeast allergy, dairy, artificial colors in drinks or foods, sugars etc. and yes those allergies do not have to be obviously apparent!
Does he have a lot of gas for example? I used to love orange juice when I was a kid and still do, but my stomach can not take it, it makes me sick to even just drink a glass.

If I were you, I would sit down, make a list of ALL the things he is eating, drinking and take a close look at each food AND at the ingredients of the foods! They put so much artificial stuff these days into the so called "nourishments", that they make people sick all over the place!

Good luck and I hope your baby will feel better soon, as it sounds to me that he is genuinely feeling bad.


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## chamomeleon (Jun 6, 2005)

Yes! I started a thread about this a few days ago looking for advice as well! My 2-y.o. son is the same way. Someone suggested to me that it might be a blood sugar issue, so I've been taking a snack and a drink up to his room with me when I go to get him, and it has helped. A LOT. It's weird though - I'm still not entirely sure he's all that hungry when he wakes up, because he still acts like he's going freak out when I open the door, but as soon as he sees what's in my hand, he stops and smiles and is perfectly happy. He doesn't even necessarily eat or drink whatever I bring him - just the fact that I brought something seems to make all the difference! Silly little man.









Now there's something I hadn't thought of, alysonb! In the past, on occasion, I have noticed that if a diaper change corresponds to an "up" time for him, he does seem upset and uncomfortable. Maybe you're on to something there! I almost always change my son's diaper right before his nap, because he hates having it changed when he wakes up so I usually wait a little bit, so I hadn't made the connection. Hmmmmmmmm.......


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## Viriditas (Aug 30, 2004)

My ds is 21 months and most of the time it's vital that I help him ease out of sleep and into wakefulness when he wakes up. Occasionally he'll wake up talking to himself and come down the stairs to find me with a big smile on his face, but most of the time, he wakes up whimpering.

If I don't go to him immediately, lie down beside him and nurse him, he will erupt into full-blown tears for at least 20 minutes. This morning I made the mistake of picking him up onto my lap to nurse, and he freaked out, started crying hard, and refused to nurse. All he wanted was for me to lie down beside him! He also dissolves into tears if I suggest that we go downstairs too soon. I've just learned that he's really sensitive in this asleep/awake window and I have to respect that.

I really feel for you, though. It must be hard to deal with this with a newborn to tend to. I would advise against the "big boys do ___" tactic, though. I can only imagine that it would introduce more stress, pressure, and guilt into the situation.


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