11 Month Old Won't Sleep Through the Night

I had this same problem with my almost 3 yr old. At about the same age he woke up at 3am for no reason. I let him cry it out. It took a couple nights but he stopped. Sometimes I would here him moving around but then he would just go to sleep.

Might be a growth spurt and needs extra calcium...and milk will not give him as much as he might need. My kids take a liquid calcium (Blue Bonnett or Lifetime calcium - blueberry flavored) and they are out ALL night long. A teaspoon each night for about 2 weeks ought to do the trick.

Also, according to Chinese Medicine, different times of the day correspond to different organs in your body. From 1am to 3am is the time of the Liver (anger or frustration) and from 3 am to 5 am is the time of the Lung (grief). If you are waking between 1am and 3am, it is useful to look at either stress or anger in your daily life as these are attributed to the liver. If you are waking between 3am and 5am it is useful to look at grief in your daily life as this is the emotion of the lung. These emotions are not always the cause of disrupted sleep, but can sometimes be useful is diagnosing sleep problems.

Hi M.:
He's going through a growth spurt and is waking up hungry. I'd check the time you are feeding him his last meal,as it sounds like its not holding him over.He is probably teething right now also,which will keep him waking,because of the pain. I wish you and your darlin son the best.

Let him cry. Do not go in. It will be hard at first but 3-4 days from now you will have a sleeping baby. 11 months olds do not need to wake up. Being that you are going to have another baby very soon you will go totally crazy if you have to deal with a newborn waking up every 2-3 hours and then to have the 1 yr old waking him or her up again!

i did not read all the other suggestions not sure if anyone has suggested this but a mexican trick that my mom shared with me was to take them a bath with lettuce water. At first i was hesitant cause we joke with my mom about her being a yoodooo lady, but later i read it in a home remedy book. what you do is boil like 5-6 lettuce leaves, best to use the outside of a fresh lettuce. Let them boil and use this water for bath water add cold water until you reach the right temp. The first time i did this i got a full night sleep it was awesome.

Your son does not know how to soothe himself. He needs to learn- when you do it for him he doesn't have the chance to learn this important skill. Leave him in his crib. He is going to cry, but that is just his way of complaining about the change! Let him figure this out and discover how he can soothe himself. You will all be on your way to sleep recuperation and well-restedness in a few days or so- may take a little longer because he is older. What are his naps like? (http://www.lullabyluna.com/2008/12/happy-new-year.html)

C., mother of 3, sleep consultant, sleep blog writer

Gosh, well you were very lucky he slept through the night since 2 months old, until now.
Because that is not the usual.

Now, his waking at 3:00am, is typical.
He is approaching 1 year old... he is having a growth-spurt and/or teething. At this age, they change and have MEGA developmental changes and are typically hitting major "milestones"... ie: cognitively/motor skills/coordination/emotion development/communication changes/teething/differing manifestations of separation anxiety/even the beginning of "night-terrors." (which I would REALLY look up online... because "night terrors" does occur from about this age. It did for my kids).
Your son, may be having night-terrors. They wake up screaming, literally. It is developmental based. Research it.

So a baby at this age has MANY things happening to them at the SAME time. Lots for them to deal with and it tweaks them.

I would feed him if he needs it. And yes, even at 3:00am. And no, don't worry, it is not a 'bad' habit... it is what a growing baby needs. Both my kids did that too. It passes. When a baby or child goes through growth-spurts... they get mega hungry. Their body is growing/changing. My daughter is 6 years old for example, and even now since this summer, she has been growing TONS and has been SUPER hungry ALL THE TIME. She has been hungry, literally, every 2 hours... ALL day. My Doc says this is normal, in a growing child. If I don't feed my daughter, well any child/baby gets fussy/hungry and very not happy and can't sleep. Even an adult.

You are not doing anything "wrong." Your baby is normal. These sort of things happens ALL the time. Its normal biological and developmental based progress.

Each baby is different too. So, your next baby will not be like your current baby. So be prepared for that.

I HIGHLY recommend the book: "What To Expect The First Year" which you can get at any bookstore or online like at www.amazon.com , or the book "What To Expect: The Toddler Years."

When my daughter was about 3 years old, I was pregger's with my son. I was tired too. But well, that's how it goes. Rest when your son is napping. At this age, he should still be napping, and regularly, everyday. Main thing, is to have a DAILY ROUTINE with your son... so that later, once you have your 2nd baby.... your son will have HIS OWN routine, and be used to it. Daily. Keep to it even once the 2nd baby is born. He will need CONSISTENCY in his life, to adjust to the new baby. He will need in a sense, MORE care and upkeep, than the newborn. Don't put any pressure on him, to 'behave' or have perfect sleep habits, once the baby is born. They will rebel. He is only a baby himself. Having a 2nd baby means, "prepping" the existing child for a sibling. The child is having a baby too, not only Mommy.

Him waking only once, at 3:00am, is actually VERY good. Both my kids, at that age, were waking more. So... your son is pretty good. You are lucky. Kids don't go according to our schedule... so we just have to go with the flow. Mainly, he will go back to normalcy... just not right now. All kids do.

There is a difference between NORMAL developmental changes and needs in a child... VERSUS "behavioral" based "problems." What your son is experiencing is not a "problem" per say behaviorally... it is developmental based.

He is only merely 1 years old... lots more changes will occur, with sleep and otherwise.
Main thing is to keep parental "expectations" upon a child/baby "age-appropriate." I can't emphasize this enough. Otherwise, frustration will occur for the Parent... and then ripple onto the child.

Give him time.... at this age, they aren't even talking yet. Perhaps ALSO teach him baby sign language... so that he can communicate with you/Daddy. It helps very much. A child this age will not know how to express themselves, but sign-language helps even if they can't yet talk. It helped my kids a great deal. Teach him functional words like: hungry, more, please, sleep, drink, happy, sad... so that he can use useful words to tell you things.

All the best,
Susan

You poor thing...
So my first was an awful sleeper unitl about 2 years old... but I think since you had it good you can have it good again! Maybe he is scared or something... try nightlights in the room. Also I always play lullaby music in my son's room. When he would wake up in the night I would go in sooth him in his room and then replay the music. This trick usually worked. I found that bring my son into bed with us usually made the scenario worse... that is just my experience. Good luck. I know how you need your sleep now at 8 mos prego... I have baby number 2 now... 5 months old. Get that sleep while you can!
M.

Is he learning something new, like standing, cruising or walking? If so, he might be waking up to "practice." When my son was learning to crawl, he started waking up like 4 or 5 times a night. Yikes. But you have to admire the determination! If your boy is waking up to practice, you can expect this phase to subside soon.

Good luck with everything!

My 11 month old is similar, but he has been waking up at about 12 and 6 every morning for the last few nights. I've noticed that every week he changes, he sleeps really well for a while, and then he wakes up at a set time for a while. It's so frustrating, but just a phase. I would say teething, growth spurts, or learning new things. Sometimes when babies are getting something new down, crawling, walking, etc., they have sleep issues. Just know that it will pass, and then it will probably start over again later :)

With my son, I do feed him every time he wakes up (it helps keep up my milk supply, and he needs extra food, he's on the thin side), but you could try giving him water. Trying to get him back to sleep in his crib is probably best. I bring my son to sleep in the bed only if he just won't go back down in his crib, but I do worry about him wanting to sleep with us all of the time.

I am sorry to hear that your baby is not sleeping well, that you are tired due to not only this but also the advance pregnancy you are in, but do not despair, there is always hope in life.
Marriage and motherhood (and parenthood also) is an ever growing process for both partners, and just as you are seeking for advice through the internet services available (that are reputable) you can share and learn along with your husband. Please do so for the benefit of both.
The idea of bringing the crib into your bedroom is good only for some time, and when is directed to space it out gradually .And about the idea of bringing the baby into your bed? BAD, from not only the point of view of helping the child to a good night sleep, to growth, and to protecting your (both your husband's and yours) rest, not to mention the safety of the child from any of you rolling over him but also the child growing in your body.
This is an excellent opportunity for both of you to get down to grown-up business and learn as much as you both can about the cause of your child's crying and lack of sleep, and about how to handle it along with whatever else comes.
Open up to your husband and share with him your concerns about the baby and yourself, how tired this is making you, and the possibility of other solutions. Look at this, not as a problem but as an opportunity for growth and knowledge for both of you, which also will bring closeness.

M.,

I had the same thing happen with our son. We thought to ourselves, "Wow, we've really got this sleeping through the night thing down!" Then he started waking up! It's tough, but normal.

For our son it was growth spurts and teething that woke him up as he got older. He was eating a ton, so that wasn't it. We would just get up with him, rock him a bit, get a drink, and go back to bed. They grow out it.

Letting children "cry it out" breaks their trust in you as their mother and protector. Everyone sleeps differently as their lives change. Adults don't always sleep through the night, so why should we expect children to always do it?

Good luck with your growing family!
~A.

Hi, He could be teething, I have a fantastic sleeper, the only thing that would wake her was teething. It is so difficult to tell it's teething because you don't see the teeth breaking through until the pain is behind them. My daughter had many teeth come in between 10-15 months. It may last a week or two and if he has trouble falling back asleep, you may need to give him tylenol, if you are comfortable with it. I know it's hard to imagine, but it will most likely pass soon. That is my experience. Good Luck and Congratulations!

all babies are differeny. my son who is 18 months just started sleeping through the night

Go back to putting him in his crib. If you know he ate well throughout the day and he doesn't have a soiled diaper, then he's fine. Maybe teething? Go comfort him in the crib by patting him and then leave, if he continues crying, go back in about 5 min. and pat him again. If the crying continues, keep going in to pat him in longer intervals, wait 10 min. , wait 15 min. and eventually you'll win and he'll stop crying just from being tired of crying.

I read that once and it worked for me. Kids can sometime suddenly start waking up at night for no reason....but don't feel like you need to change their routine or sleeping arrangement. Stay on course do not change anything, and they'll get back on track.

I have 3 kids (7,4,2) and just found out I'm pregnant (surprise).