My one-year-old has started waking multiple times a night and crying out. He usually goes back to sleep after about a minute of crying, but in the early morning (4 am), he does not. He often won't fall back to sleep even if I rock him, though sometimes if he comes into our bed, he will fall asleep again for 1-2 hours. No matter what, he gets very tired 2 hours after he wakes and needs a power nap in the morning (15-20 mins).
I put him to bed between 6:30 and 7:30 depending upon his day. He used to sleep until 5:30 or 6 consistently, but this has recently changed. He's never been a good napper (30-45 minutes every 3 hours or so).
He had 2 major surgeries at 5 and 7 months, and I know this can lead to night terrors in children. This might explain the middle of the night waking, but I am at a loss about what to do in the morning. I don't want to get him into the habit of coming into our bed every day, but waking up at 4 just isn't an option.
Has anyone had a similar experience?
Thanks to everyone for the advice. I have tried to give my little guy a bottle when he wakes, but he usually refuses it. I have been trying to create more ambient noise at night (to mirror the noisy hospital), and that seemed to work for a few nights, but we were slammed again last night with wakings at 1, 3, 4 and 5. I am starting to think this is just a phase, that he's teething, or getting ready to walk, and this will blow over. In the meantime, I am not going to beat myself up for taking him into our bed when he needs it, or rocking him back to sleep throughout the night. I'll have a lifetime to break bad habits, right? Thanks again, Mamas.
He probably has some teeth coming in even if he was okay w/ his other teeth molars are terrible for lots of kids.
Don't you just love 4 a.m.?? The worst! My youngest did this for MONTHS! The only thing that worked in the end was what I call a "mini Ferber" method we came up with. We would go in to her room and take her from her crib but hold her standing next to the crib for a minute or two. Then we'd put her back in and shush her, say "night night" etc. If that didn't work, one of us would go back in and rub her back, continuing to make the soothing shushing sounds (though it did get very tiring, believe me!!). My husband or I did this a few times the first few nights until she finally got it. It got to the point where we could stop holding her and just rub her back, and she knew it was sleep time and usually calmed down. It could definitely be teeth - sometimes we'd use teething gel just in case to rule that out. Other times we'd give her a little sippy with water if nothing else seemed to work. We just tried to make the last resort be taking her out of the crib, because it is honestly harder to break that habit, in my opinion. It really took my youngest until she was a solid 18 months old to REALLY get that sleep thing down - even then, she'd sometimes wake up and sit up and just cry and be out of sorts until one of us helped calm her down. It is draining and tiring but with practice he will get it! And you will find yourself missing those days...! Good luck!
Are his one year old molars coming in. I have a 13 month old and for each one that came in he had TERRIBLE nights of sleep (like waking every 1/2 hour- 1hour all night). His third just popped through last night which explains the last several nights being so bad. When I know that this is the issue I use teething tablets and sometimes tylenol during the night and that helps. Also, we co-sleep so even though I am woken up frequently I can usually get him back to sleep quickly.
Babies go through phases of restless sleep for lots of reasons and it is just exhausting for us moms. I know how you feel.
Hope that it is just a teething issue. Hang in there.
I agree with julie d. although she is somewhat harsh in her statement, I agree that the baby is hungry! and we should all listen to our babies more, and less of what others tell us to do.
J., your baby is the mirror image of my 10 1/2 month old! lately, she comes into my bed about 4:45 and will sleep until 6:30 whereas she used to just sleep until 6:30 in her own bed. she never has napped well and she goes to bed at the same time(6:30). my first daughter went to bed at the same time and still took 2 big naps during the day, so i don't think putting her to bed later matters. since i am going through it too, i don't really have great advice for you other than i hope it's a phase. since i have a 3 1/2 year old, i do remember going through these times and wondering what the hell was going on and when would it end...and it always does. so hang in there, and know that i am right there with you...blood shot eyes and all!!!!
HE IS SURELY HUNGRY!!!!! Feed him!!! Also read the Dr. Sears Nighttime parenting book! It just shocks me to hear so many mothers responding with similar stories and nobody has even thought of feeding the poor hungry babies? My almost one year old nurses throughout the night but most frequently at around 4am-6am.
My son has been in an out of the hospital for over a long period with multiple surgeries and after his return home we realized that he was not sleeping well at night. What we found is that he got so accustomed with sleeping with noise that he couldn't sleep when it was too quiet. Thus waking up at night and panicking and just coming to check on us. So he now sleeps with a small fan on and that seems to be just enough sound to keep him comforted if he does wake up.
L.
My 12 month old does something similar, but we have her going down at 8pm and she gets up by 6am (sometimes earlier, sometimes as late as 7). Any time she wakes up in the night even for 10-15 minutes she does go back to sleep. Our girl will wake up and cry for a bit around 6, but then plays for a while and that can go up to 45 min before we definitely have to scoop her up to give her food.
I've found that growth spurts and teething can also turn them into more difficult sleepers/wakers, but it goes in cycles.
Maybe try and keep him up a little bit later to see if that helps?
Hi J.,
We have nearly the same situation with our just-turned-one year old, although she is a better daytime napper. I wish I knew how to adjust her schedule but, as I learned with my first, there often isn't anything you can do. I think in our case it's teething and that she's getting ready to walk. Often little ones have all sorts of troubles sleeping when they are approaching a major milestone.
We went through the same thing with our older daughter. It does sound normal to me but, certainly, if you feel that it is affecting his health you should check in with your pediatrician. If it helps you get a little extra sleep I don't think it's so bad to have him in your bed in the mornings. We did that with our first and she is a great independent sleeper. Good luck! S.
