# 16-mo-old moans and groans all night



## SueZVudu (Jul 6, 2002)

I am at my wits' end here. I'm 32 weeks pregnant, and my 16-mo-old DD has always had sleep problems, but lately, it's really getting to me. We co-sleep, and most nights, she spends a significant amount of time tossing and turning, moaning and groaning, and sometimes waking up enough to actually cry. This keeps me up all night. I think she's having tummyaches, because she tends to pass a lot of gas and draw her knees up to her chest when she's like this. I thought she might be lactose-intolerant, but a couple of days lactose-free haven't made any difference; she's still as restless as ever at night. She doesn't have these problems during her naps, and she seems fine during the day. I can't think of anything else it could be that I can fix. Are some kids just gassy? Is this normal? My mother says she thinks teething can cause tummyaches; is this a possibility? I really need some help, because I'm not getting any sleep, and I feel bad for my little one.


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## HonestMom (Aug 25, 2003)

I am having the same problem with my 14 month old son. He was lactose intolerant when he was an infant but I gradually introduced regular milk into his diet at 12 months and I haven't seen any problems such as gas. But he tosses and turns and sits up and moans ALL NIGHT. He doesn't do this during his naps.

I don't know what to do anymore. He is also co-sleeping and my husband has been sleeping in the spare room for 2 weeks because it keeps him awake all night. As a result, I have been giving him 2 bottles a night to get him to fall back to sleep otherwise I have to get up out of bed and try to rock him, but he is too big for the rocking chair and will wiggle his way out of my arms and then he is totally awake and I have no way of getting him back to sleep !

So, my new plan is......no more bottles at night. I have been starting him out in his crib at night. He usually lasts for about 3 hours then I bring him into bed with me. I am not going to do this anymore.....I am going to try to keep him in his crib. I think part of the problem is that he can't self soothe, so he needs me to do that, but if I can teach him to do this without crying, I think we will both get a better quality of sleep.

Thoughts? Solutions?


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## babynell (Nov 19, 2001)

My dd is 26 months old. She was very lactose intolerant as an infant - if I had any dairy in my diet she would be up all night and was very uncomfortable. When she was about 5 months old I was able to introduced dairy back into MY diet, but I still haven't been able to give her dairy on a regular basis. I've noticed that I can give her occasional dairy (maybe one small serving of something every couple of days) but any more than that and we go right back to restless nights.

One thing to note - it can take up to a week to get the dairy out of their systems. So you may need to stop for more than a couple of days to notice any improvement.

Best of luck!

Marilyn


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## padomi (Dec 28, 2002)

Well, I can't offer anything intelligent because I'm too EXHAUSTED from lack of sleep. Dd has been doing this lately. I think you might be on to something when you said teething. Dd has had a little bit of diarrhea and diaper rash lately and this usually happens when she's teething. She's also been extra gassy at night.

I have no advice except what I'm doing - just reminding myself constantly that it's a phase and will pass.


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## JessicaS (Nov 18, 2001)

I moan and groan all night too. I don't think it is from gas though..







.

I always shared a room with my sister growing up and I moaned and groaned all night (it drove her INSANE!!), my dh does fantastic impressions of me moaning in my sleep and I can't believe I sound like that!









I notice dh complains about it more when my legs are hurting, I have lots of problems with my legs from years of sports and dance, I *also* had really bad growing pains when I was younger.

Maybe try giving your dd some massages at night and see if that helps. It is more likely the gas if she is passing it too but I just wanted to mention another alternative.

My family is huge and a lot of us have bizarre sleep problems..don't even get me started on the sleep walkers in the family!







:


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## mmgarda (Dec 30, 2002)

Although we never co-slept, DS went through a serious active sleeping phase around 16 mos. I never thought about teething, but that might have been part of it. He moaned and groaned, talked in his sleep, cried out, crashed into the sides of his bed and on and on. We don't co-sleep because a leaf falling outside wakes me up, so I remember this phase REALLY well. Unfortunately, DH is a sleep-talker and walker, so I fear DS might be too! Ah well, this too shall pass, right??










[Funny story about DH's sleep walking. Last night he sits bolt upright in the bed and starts fumbling around with the blankets at my feet. I freak out, wake up and say, "What are you doing??" and he continues to yank at the covers and grab a few items of clothing draped on the footboard of the bed, mumbling incoherently. So I tap his shoulder a few times and say, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He spins around at me and yells, "HEY!!" really angrily, then picks up his pillow and throws it at my feet, lays down and goes right back to sleep! Then this morning he was really mad at me for hitting him last night!







: ]


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## HonestMom (Aug 25, 2003)

So now that I've been up since 4 AM .....I may be a little out of it but again he was tossing and turning all night ! As a result he wound up having 3 bottles !

At 14 months he shouldn't be having 3 bottles at night....he eats PLENTY of food during the day ! I even made sure he ate a decent amout at 5 PM because I new he was going to fall asleep again by 6 PM.

I am at a total loss ! Is this just a nap transitioning period ? Every other day he takes 2 naps totalling 3 - 4 hours but on the days when he only gets 1 nap (2 hours) he goes to bed by 6 pm and has a very restless sleep.

I am trying to feed him more during the day so that he goes to bed with a full stomach and I am also trying to make sure he gets 1 very good (2 hour) nap or 2 naps....but I haven't been able to put him down for a 2nd nap...he won't go and nothing works.

I need some encouragement !

Stef


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## SueZVudu (Jul 6, 2002)

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. HonestMom, I've been trying to "nightwean" DD off of bottles, too. She'd have about four ounces every night, which she shouldn't be doing at her age; like your DS, she eats plenty during the day, and I give her a bottle before she goes to sleep. The past three nights, I've been giving her water in the bottle instead of formula, and it seems to be working. I think maybe her problem was that she was waking up expecting a bottle, and she won't wake up just for water. It's worth a shot, anyway.


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## mmgarda (Dec 30, 2002)

Since my DS weaned from BF at 11 mos (and had always had bottles of Bmilk during the day), we had to wean from bottles eventually. We definitely used the water in the bottle trick and that worked a lot. He seemed to understand that we were telling him he was only going to get water (and he certainly could taste the difference), so that helped.

HonestMom - I think you may be onto something with the fact that your DS is switching from 2 naps to 1. That's a major developmental change and he could be seeking the bottle for comfort, plus, his sleep schedule is obviously disrupted while the change is happening. I think if he's having a hard time going down for a 2nd nap, maybe just try to roll with it and let his body work out when and for how long his one nap will be. At 14 mos my DS had worked into one 2-3 hr. nap after lunch, so usually from about 12:30 to 2:30 or 3:00. We let him have a bottle before the nap and as part of our bedtime routine, so that seemed to help soothe. (BTW, didn't fully wean off the bottle until about 18 mos.)

Good luck!


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