Mum says it's been a year of overnight wake ups for her toddler. She still has no answers.

“I feel like he never gets a good night’s rest."

For the last year, Dana’s two-year-old son has jolted awake, sat bolt upright then flopped straight back to sleep like nothing happened. 

It’s like a glitch in the matrix.

And despite watching it unfold, Dana is no closer to understanding why it’s happening.

Dana says her toddler has been sitting up in his sleep for the last year. Image: TikTok/ xoxdaynuhxox

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“I feel like he never gets a good night’s rest. He’s always been a terrible sleeper, but he’s been doing this in particular for about a year now,” Dana told Kidspot.  

“He does it pretty often. At least once a week and multiple times a night.”

Taking to TikTok she showed a concerning clip from her son’s baby monitor. 

“Can someone explain this,” she wrote. 

“My two year old does this multiple times a night and then will fall straight asleep… My poor baby can’t ever seem to relax his body.”  

In the caption of the post she shed some more light on her experience. 

“His sleep is constantly disrupted, he’s always over stimulated and has never slept through a night in all of his almost three years of life. I feel like I’m still in the newborn stage as he wakes up about every 2-3 hours,” she explained. 

Sleep consultant, Taylor, from sleepysquishco, has  says the phenomenon is called a confusional arousal. 

“There are lots of external things that can be impacting these such as confusional arousals, this is common especially between 2-5 years of age,” she told Kidspot

“What happens is they partially wake from a deep sleep, they sit up, look around confused, may call out but often they are still “sleepy” and don’t require much. There are big developmental changes going on at two years of age so it could be disrupting the sleep pattern.”  

She says that there’s a number of contributing factors that can lead to confusional arousals, such as overtiredness, illness or discomfort, too much screen time, overstimulation, genetics (if sleep disturbances run in the family), breathing/airway issues, nutrient deficiencies. 

“The list goes on and on as to what could be the key cause of this,” Taylor said. 

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The comment section of Dana’s video proves one key thing. She’s not alone. 

“My daughter did this and has iron deficiency and extremely low ferritin. They said it can cause restless limb, muscle aches, and in turn night terror and sleep disturbances,” one mother shared. 

Another suggested: “Restless leg syndrome?” 

“My son does this too and moves around so much in his sleep but I’ve never thought anything of it,” a third revealed. 

Of course being the internet, many people chimed in with useful suggestions about cosleeping and the room orientation. 

But Taylor says there’s more active steps a parent experiencing this with their little one can take. 

“I would be looking at establishing a good bedtime routine, involving sensory activities, that can help calm the body, consistent routine (checking right amount of day sleep and bedtime), comfortable sleep environment, limit screen time and sugary foods especially in the afternoon and leading up to bedtime,” she advised. 

“Also looking into diet, nutrition and ruling out anything external that may be impacting.” 

Dana is now looking into participating in a sleep study, hopeful for answers so that her household can finally get a good night’s rest! 

Originally published as Mum says it's been a year of overnight wake ups for her toddler. She still has no answers.