1 Year Old Waking up at Least 2 Times a Night

Can you put cereal in her milk before bed so she is full? It seems they want milk or something to sustain them. Just an observation from my experience.
C.

My son is 9 months old and wakes up 1 time every night, I am lucky with the fact that all he needs is a bottle and a diaper change and he goes right back to sleep. My best advice is to just wait a few mins. longer each time you go to her, or whatever advice you decide to take: keep it consistent! Do not vary from that routine. My hubby or I get home from work at midnight, and the other usually has to go in at 6:30, so we just immedeatly get up and handle it so we can get some sleep.

Hello my name is H. and i have a 29 mon old and a 31/2yr old. NEITHER OF THEM STILL SLEEP THRU THE NIGHT!! it isnt pleasent and they always come into bed with me now without me even knowing half the time until i am kickin or rolling on them and wake up with a stiff back and sore neck. I tried the cry it out with my son the youngest and it worked great, that is until he learned how to climb out of his crib it was all over after that:-) The best advice i can give is do what it takes for you to get your sleep even if she is with you, your sleep is just as important.

Hi Kathryne! I also have a 12 month old (Dec. 23) that still wakes up occasionally at night. I just rub her back, or rock her to get her back to sleep. Sometimes I put her in bed with me and nurse her. It drives me crazy that she does it, but I know eventually she wont. One thing that I have found that helps is making sure she takes a good nap, and put her to bed about 30 minutes later. It seems to help a lot.

Whatever you do- dont put cereal in her bottle. Not only is that gross, but it is very unhealthy for the baby!

Hang in there, she wont wake up for ever! While you are staying home try to take a little nap when she does to keep you going!

UNCA grad, eh? I am from Asheville, how did you like it? I miss it terribly. Anyways, onto subject at hand, my 22 month old daughter has only been sleeping consistently through the night for about a month. I thought I would die from sleep deprivation for the first 21 months lol. We tried a variety of solutions, from letting her sleep with us to the cry it out method. One thing that did help significantly, and this may sound obvious to som parents, but I had never thought about the age to do this, was getting her a pillow. After that We had to stand firm on not letting her in bed with us. For about a week I had to go to her room when she woke up and stay in her room every night until she went back to sleep. For some people cosleeping does work, we may have continued it except I am going to give birth to number 2 any minute now, and our queen size bed just isn't big enough for all 4 of us. You just have to decide which is the lesser of evils for you--letting her fuss it out, getting her a room of her own and getting up every night with her until she goes back to sleep, or just letting her sleep with you. Cosleeping is not the worst thing in the world, and in fact works for alot more familys than most people know, because society frowns upon it, so we don't talk about it. Good Luck, I know the frustrations well.

Hi K.!
I don't have any advice (since my 17 month old still wakes up once or twice during the night, depending on how he is feeling), but I thought I could offer some support. The "let 'em cry it out" method does not work for all babies...mine will cry and cry until he gets so worked up that he actually makes himself sick and then I am getting up and doing more work than I would have been if I had just gotten up to begin with.
Personally, I do something really bad but it really helps me get some much needed sleep...I put a bottle in his bed before I go to bed and when he wakes up during the night/early early morning, he finds it, drinks it, and goes back to sleep without waking me up (most times). I know that it is extremely bad to do this, but I am a firm believer in doing what works for you and your baby.
I have also found that when he is just being a fuss butt, rocking him in a rocking chair puts him (and me) right back to sleep...I have spent many nights asleep in the rocking chair.
I just thought you would like to know that you are not the only one without the perfect, sleep-through-the-night baby! Good luck!
N.
(PS...I also take naps during the afternoon while he is at daycare!)

First let me tell you that I am only pregnant and do not have any other children, so I am not an expert by any means, but I have friends who have children and I have observed. One of my friends kept her daughter in her room until she was quite over a year and she would do the same thing, wake up crying and she would finally relent and pick her up. Her daughter was basically testing her because she wanted to sleep in the bed with mommy and mommy would eventually let her because she didn't want to listen to her cry. She finally moved her into her own room and hasn't had any trouble with it since. I think she was able to ignore her daughter a little more since she wasn't in the room with her and had a little more control over the situation.
Like I said, I am not an expert, but it may help you and your baby if you are able to move her into a room of her own.

K.,
All children are different but this is not uncommon. All people have different sleeping patterns & habits. What does she want when she wakes up? I have a son that was still waking up until a year ago and he is 7. I find he takes after my husband while my daughter sleeps a solid 11 hours.I found by putting some light music on, this helps. Also maybe she is going to bed too early or taking too long a nap. I found the 2nd time around, I was less likely to jump (for my daughter) and she is a better sleeper.
Good luck in your future career. It is the best thing you did for your family.
K. M

Hey Katie~
I saw your request and just had to respond. I am sooo excited that you are back in Boone. Can't wait to get the babies/toddler together. Sorry that you are having a hard time with Stella. Is she still sleeping with you??? If not, I would try to put her back in bed with you. She probably just needs to know that you are still there. I hope that this helps. See you soon.

L.

What does she do when she wakes up? Is she still taking a bottle? My pediatrician had a fit when he found out my (then) 8 month old was still getting up in the night, and she was in my room. I moved her out into her own room (there comes a time when you simply have to do this). It has merely become a habit for her ... to wake up in the night ... and now it's become habit for you. Putting her in your bed would be a horrible mistake, trust me ... been there, done that! If you're sharing a room, she sees you there, and knows you'll get up to comfort her. I understand the closeness factor with your baby, especially being a single mom, been there too!, but you both need a full night sleep! I have a great tip is she's still taking a bottle in the night.

try earplugs with that pillow and be consistent. p.s. you didn't say if you feed her these times . if you do i would definetely discourage that as it encourages the waking problem. you also didn't say if she's maybe having nightmares. that's a little more difficult to solve. a night light might help so she can see you are close without waking you up.

Try No Cry Sleep Solution; my 11 month old goes down at 7pm, wakes up at 6am. Has since 5 months thanks to that book! The Cry it out method is not part of this books tecnique. I have recommended this to 4 of my friends, and their babies too are sleeping through the night after about 2-3 weeks of consistancy w/ this books suggestions.

Good luck, and hang in there!!!

i have a 14 months daughter but she does the samething i haven't asked her doctor about it yet but i work in the morning and get off in the evening too.

My Ped. told me this...take an egg timer and put it in her room and when she wakes, go in and lay her back down and set the timer for 1 or 2 minutes. Then when it dings, go back in and repeat laying her down (no talking to her though except a quick "night night time" or something like that) Set the timer for 3 or 4 minutes and continue this process until she falls asleep waiting for the ding. Be sure to get the timer out of her room if she falls asleep before it goes off.
However, this didn't work for us so I just gave my daughter some Benedryl for a few nights and when she woke up, she was so tired, it only took a few minutes of crying before she was fast asleep again. Either one you try, you have to make sure you don't get her up or take her out of the crib. Hope this helps.

Hi K.,

I have the same issue! I have an almost 12 month old who still wakes 1-2 times a night. I still nurse her one of those times, the other time I usually can go in and just lay her back down. I read the book you are reading and also read the baby whisperer. She talked about not letting them cry, but also not necessarily picking them up either. She said go to them and lay them back down, even if it is repeatedly (like 50 times the first night... just be sure to gently lay her down :) ) and eventually they will get it. This helped me a lot when my daughter was waking up more often. Obviously she doesn't sleep through the night either at this point though. So, do you live in Asheville? We use to live there, but are now in Mars Hill...

Good luck,
D.

My Sophie did the same thing at the same age. She was sleeping through the night, when all of a sudden, whammo, she was waking up again. Does your baby have a nightlight in her room? That helped Sophie. Also, I am NOT in the mind of letting them "cry it out" at one year old. At one year,I don't feel our babies are trying to manipulate us. She is crying at night for a reason, especially if she was previously sleeping through the night. Try not taking her out of her crib,,patting on the back, singing the same boring song over and over again (like the abc song) but never leave her bedroom for any reason WITH her at night. She has to learn that night time is for sleeping no matter who you are. You guys will work it out. I promise, you will. You are her Mommy, trust yourself to do the right thing :- )

My 21 month old still wakes up during the night most nights. He didn't make it through for the first time until he was 18 months. It's common for your daughter to not be able to sleep through the night at this age.

Some things that I did that seem to correlate to him sleeping longer:
Make the room as dark as possible. Put up curtains, take out night lights.
Make it quiet. No music going.
No footed pjs. My son hates having his feet covered. They get hot and wake him.
Letting him sleep in his own room. If he slept with me, he could smell me and wanted to nurse.

I also converted his crib to a toddler bed by 15 months. I figured that if he was going to wake up at night, at least he could come to me. So that's what he does. When we first did this, the average time of him coming to our bed was 2 am. Now it's about 4 or 5.

If your still breastfeeding the baby will continue to wake through the night until it's weaned. Otherwise try letting the baby sleep in your bed with you, we did both of our children this way and it worked wonderfully, rather your breastfeeding or not, theres nothing like snuggling with your baby. This is also a great bonding expierience for both.

P.S. If your looking for a playgroup I have one called the knee high gang.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/knee_high_gang/

I have a 5 and 2 year old so I've been there...twice. You learn A LOT with your first! I let Bekah sleep with me until she was 2; big mistake! It is so hard to get a child out of your bed!!! If your little one is like Bekah, the cry it out method will not work. I would put her to bed around 7 and she'd still be crying/whimpering at midnight!!! But the key, is consistancy! I slowly, very slowly weened Bekah out of my bed. To begin with, I would lay with her in her bed so she would get used to sleeping in her room. Once she adapted to that, I would lay with her until she got tired, then I would make an excuse to get up and do something, telling her I would be back. I would come back, but only to check to see if she was asleep. After a month or so, I would send her to bed and tell her I would be there after I finished laundry, etc... Total, it took about a year to get her to go to bed on her own in her own bed... But it took starting Kindergarden to get her on a schedule. Before starting school, she would be in her room @ 8, but would play in her bed till after 11... And my key was, even when she woke in the middle of the night, I wouldn't let her in my bed! If she wanted to be closer to me, I would fix her a spot on the couch, but never my bed. You really have to find a plan and stick with it. ...consistancy...

Now with Logan, I have never had a problem. Other than napping, or nursing when he was younger than 3 months, I haven't let him sleep in my bed. And it has been so wonderful! We snuggle @ bedtime, but he sleeps in his own bed without a fuss!