u/Nerdieboo

My son is almost 15 months old and has been on one nap since 12 months. Until now, he has generally been a decent independent sleeper in his own room.

This week, he has suddenly had three prolonged night wakings:

• Night ending 11 August: awake approximately 23:30–02:00
• Night ending 13 August: awake approximately 00:30–02:50
• Night ending 14 August: awake approximately 01:56–03:58

He initially wakes crying very intensely and will not settle unless we touch him or take him out of the cot. However, once we bring him into our bed, he becomes completely calm. He does not cry or appear uncomfortable at all. He simply lies beside us, fully awake, for more than two hours before eventually falling asleep.

There are no obvious signs of illness or pain during the day.

His nap normally starts around 11:30–12:00 and is usually around 1h45–2h. His average 1st WW is approximately 5 hours and the 2nd WW 6h15 . Bedtime is normally around 19:30–20:00.

I know its usually undertiredness that causes split nights, however given his schedule, I do not feel this is the case.

I would especially like to know:

• Did it disappear on its own or require a schedule or response change?
• How long did the phase actually last?
• Was it related to separation anxiety, nap capping, undertiredness or overtiredness?
• Did bringing your child into bed prolong the wakefulness or help resolve the phase?

I know the difficult cases are more likely to be posted about, so I would also really appreciate hearing from parents whose child had several split nights and then returned to normal quickly.

I'm curious how people here would think about this.

For years, dogs appeared in an overwhelming number of my dreams. Not the same dog, not the same dream, but dogs as a recurring symbol. If I had to estimate, they showed up somewhere in perhaps 8 out of 10 dreams. At one point, my unconscious seemed ready to start a kennel. 😂

Then my dog was diagnosed with cancer.

And not long afterward, I noticed that dogs appeared MUCH less frequently in my dreams.

What's interesting to me is not the symbol itself, but the disappearance of the symbol.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

A recurring dream symbol that became noticeably less frequent after a major life event?