Sleeping Problems with My 1Year Old

Ok, this is going to sound perhaps a bit strange but...I had this same problem with my little girl from newborn to about age 2 1/2. Do you know what made a difference for me? Just being much more "into" being a Mom. I wasn't really ready to be a Mom and felt tired, confused and generally overworked. I was a single Mom, who had a strained rela with her Dad and missed being able to do what I wanted when I wanted. Finally, after a lot of soul searching, I realized that my daughter really needed my true love for her. I released my resentment, embraced my love of and for her and for myself as a Mother AND a woman. THen, she began to sleep well.
Medically, I stopped giving her sugar ( the white, bleaced, bad for you table sugar), started giving her natural herbs from an accupuncturist, started her and I both on an organic/local diet and things really changed. This all happened over about a 2 year period. Now, she is 6 and is a terrific sleeper. Wow.
I hope this was helpful. I just wanted you to know that you are not alone, there are many things you can do and to be loving to yourself. You are a strong woman and this is a learning experience.

My daughter will be one next month and she had the same problem until about four months ago. i started just laying her down awake in her crib. she wasn't happy about it, but after the first fews days she would be calm and justbabble to me. Then I started putting her inside an indoor swing that attachs to the doorways (Johnny Jumpers)
I swing her a few times and after about 15 mins she's real drowsy and then I stick her in her crib.
About the naps, i am guilty in doing the *cry it out* idea. But it works very well. I started doing it only during the day for naps, then for her bedtime as well. She burns up any energy that she has stopping her from falling asleep and as soon as she is calm again, i go in there, talk quietly to her and she falls asleep.
But I haven't let her sleep in bed with me for about 4 months now because she's used to being in her crib now.
I hope this helped a little bit? :)

I know it is hard but let him cry it out. My sweet babies had to do this as they were not wanting to be regular sleepers. I also found that by putting a light source in their rooms they quit freaking out in the middle of the night. I made it a rule NOT to let them up after bedtime no matter what (ok except a house fire, but you know what I mean). After a few weeks they settled into a schedule. They are now 2 and 4 and sleep from 8 PM to 7:30 AM and take a two hour nap everyday with zero problems. People say it's bad to let them cry it out, but my peditrician said it's actually not bad for their lungs. It often helps clear lungs. Unless they are sick and then ditch the method until they are better. So I went with the doctor and stood outside their door while my mommy heart wanted to run to them. But in the long run it has become much better. My daughter will lay awake and just sing to herself till she passes out and my son passes right out.
If this isn't something you feel you can do then you will probably need to talk to your pedictrician. They can do a behavorial visit and help you with ideas. After all if sleep disorders develop they won't go away.
I hope you find something that works!

I have an identical baby! He's about to turn one and he would inevitably end up in my bed every night. Three days ago, I decided enough was enough. I had tried letting him CIO before, but couldn't stand it.

What I tried is putting him in his crib with his bottle when he's very tired. Then I pull up a chair next to him and let him try to put himself to sleep. He can put himself to sleep on the floor, couch, our bed, so I know he can do it. Yes, I let him CIO, but I sat next to him, sang, would lay him down occassionaly, would stroke his hair, etc. The first night he cried for over two hours (with periods of laying down and being quiet). The second night he cried for five minutes. The third night I just laid him down and he didn't even fight it, I stayed in his room and sang and patted his back occassionaly until he was asleep, but it worked!

The key is to remain calm while you're in there and the baby is crying. I read a book to help me not go crazy. Hope this is helpful ;)

We had exactly the same problem - all the folks putting him down for naps did it differently so he never could get the hang of it. We settled on letting him CIO - because he'd wind way up we ended up not letting him cry for more than 20 minutes before going in and calming him. Here's the routine that worked for us:

- Sing bedtime song 1 - 2 times (ant go marching 1 by 1 hurah hurah)
- Put baby in crib
- CIO 5 min
- Sing song once
- Baby in crib
- CIO 10 min

etc increasing by 5 minutes each time. 20 minutes max. It took about 4 days but he finally started getting it and a month later we have no problem getting him down. Still not sleeping through the night but following the same routine he's in his crib all night.

I just want to chime in and say with our first I was pro cry it out it worked so well with her and I swore by it. Our son our second child Cry it out did not work at all he would just escalate and get worse and worse. You really need to judge whether or not the CIO method will work with him. it really sounds like he is not getting enough sleep at all and is spending his days over tired. Have you tried music when you put him down and do you use consistent blankets or bears that he has wherever he sleeps? Both of our kids still go to sleep with a music CD or any music for that matter and have been since they were 1 week old.

I don't know if this is too late to respond to your sleep problem or not but I had a real tough time with my son sleeping sounded exactly what you were going through. As much as I despise when people tell me to get a book...i got a book called Good Night Sleep Tight and the great thing about the book is you don't have to read the whole thing (if you don't have the time)...just bits and pieces that reflect your main prob. Needless to say my son started sleeping through the night after using some of these strategies about 3 weeks afterwards....
Hope this helps...

Routine is key. At his age he needs about 10.5 hours of sleep at night, and 1.5 to 2.5 hours of daytime napping, no naps 3 hours before bedtime. A consistent 15 minute bedtime routine is key to get him geared for sleep. The whole sleep process is extremely scientific, the daytime naps are crucial for nighttime sleep, because it is a different sleep stage. He also needs a consistent wake up time. I highly recommend the book "Teach your Child to Sleep, written by the doctors at the Millpond Sleep Clinic". I found it at the library. It is a very comprehensive guide to teaching your child to sleep, and accounts for different personalities and already established(bad)sleeping habits. The book covers all methods from co-sleeping to gentle ways of crying it out. It also has cases studies for examples. I co-sleep with my daughter, it doesn't always mean she is ready to sleep when I am, this book helped me tremendously.(I still co-sleep with her)Good Luck!

Hi - Routine consistency is key as you are noticing. But I would also suggest that you read the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Weissbluth (they have it a the libraries). Lots of good research to give you an idea of what you can expect in terms of sleep patterns by age and different perspectives on ways you can address your issues (using also real family cases) - it provides a balanced view with options, not one prescription, which is what we found so valuable. Hope that will help you find the solution that suits you and him best.

HI T.,
I think it's something with turning one - my daughter turned one last week and went from a marginal sleeper to a terrible sleeper. CIO will not work with my girl either, she ends up choking.
I don't have anything but a hug for you. I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone has good tips. I"m chalking it up to some developmental phase. Typically sleep disruptions are caused by learning new things, growing, teething, etc. Physical growth spurts result in longer sleep, developmental ones, more disrupted sleep. Perhaps our little ones are just growing their brains bigtime?
Good luck.

Have you thought about just going back to co-sleeping?

I know that we went back and forth with my son for almost 3 years and he still ends up in our bed occasionally in the middle of the night (he's 5) *but* wow, it's nice to sleep through the night without having to be up down, up down.

The CIO (cry it out) method was hell for us too and I would never recommend it after our experience.