17 month old suddenly waking at night?? Help!

[MzJ731]

My 17 month old son has been a decent sleeper for the past few months. Most nights he goes straight through with no issues. If he does wake and cry a bit, he usually can put himself back down. Except for the last 5 nights. Putting him down at bedtime has become a nightmare with screaming and sobbing and clinging, and after he finally does go down, there is a period of waking and screaming and sobbing in the middle of the night with no relief. Holding him results in him falling asleep on the shoulder, but as soon as we move to put him back in the crib, he's wide awake screaming and crying again. This can go on for 2-3 hours a night. Maybe it's separation anxiety? He is at that age I guess....Should I let him cry it out? Last night , after holding him twice, only to have him wake again both times, it took him over 30 minutes to get himself down. It's horrible...and this kind of crying is not teething or gas. Its different.
When things are good, he usually wakes around 6:30 - 7:00am, has an 1 1/2 hr nap around 10am, then goes to bed around 7:30 - 8:00.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
                                                                                                                             Judy

[musicmama]

I would definately get him checked out for an ear infection.  I would probably also try giving him a nightlight, cutting his naptime down or letting him stay up later.  When my daughter did this, she came to my room (and still does on occasion) and cuddled with me.

Good luck and God bless.

[LRM1021]

Indeed sounds like separation anxiety-- he is at the perfect age, and nightime can start to be scary at this age, too. Its like the age of awakening.

Its probably best to take him to the dr for a quick checkup. The reason for this is that ear infections and/or enlarged adenoids and/or tonsils can cause children a LOT of pain and sleeplessness and when they are this age, and the children may not have ANY other symptoms.  The pain seems to be far worse at night, when the child lies down.

If all checks out, then your pediatrician should be able to reccommend a good path to getting him back to sleeping well through the night during this period.

I commend your efforts. My son was 2.5 before he slept through the night, and even now he usually wakes up at least once (he's older now, so if he wakes up, he does not cry or anything, just comes into my room and falls back asleep.)