Ugh, More Sleep Issues. When Will It End?

Call Dr Weissbluth and make an appointment -- ###-###-####. If you do what he says, it will work!!!!!!

At 10 1/2 months she definitely isn't hungry in the middle of the night. I would read Dr. Weisblut's Healthy Sleep Habits, healthy baby. Then when she wakes at 5-5.30 - leave her be. first night leave her for 20 mins, then 40 until you get to the time you want her to wake up at. Yes she will cry a bit. I agree that going in will likely get her more mad. so don't. It takes a little bit of time but in a week or so, she will have learnt how to sleep till later or wake up and go back to sleep. Sleep is important for everyone and so even though she fusses and maybe cries for a few nights, in the long run it will be much better for her and for you. Also, my little one goes to bed at 8pm (sleeps till about 6.45am) and I often go to bed around 8.30pm. On weekends when she naps, I sometimes nap as well. this helps avoid any sleep deprivation.

I HIGHLY suggest reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Beacause of this book, my 4 month old twins are on the same schedule, sleep 12-13 hours per night and take two 2 hour naps. Now maybe the naps would be less at your child's age, but she should be sleeping through the night. In the beginning I could not go in and soothe one, she get more mad and scream longer and harder. We did the "cry it out" method and within 3 days there is no longer any crying for bed time or naps and if there is, that tells me something is wrong (fever, sick, hot, etc).

I had similar problems with my kids..I learned to ignore the middle of the night of the night crying. They really aren't hungry if they are eating enough during the day, they just wake up and think that they should be crying for mommy. It probably took about a week for them to stop waking up and crying for me. It was a very hard week listening to that crying. I also put some toys in the crib, pacifiers, anything that I could think of to help them in case they were just bored when they woke up. I think for one of them I left a bottle of water in her bed in case she just wanted to suck on something to go back to sleep. My littlest will still get up somewhat early, but she just talks to herself and keeps herself occupied with whatever is in the crib and doesn't cry.
I also got rid of the two nap thing when they weren't really sleeping for much time. My oldest "outgrew" naps altogether by the time she was 8 months old. I stopped forcing the issue, I'd rather get a good night's sleep. My middle and littlest were down to 1 nap around your child's age. Everyone is different and you just have to keep experimenting with times and tricks to make things the best for your child and for your sanity.
I also agree with making sure she is really getting tired out during the day.. if she's walking already, go to the park and let her run around in the grass with a ball. If she's only crawling, same thing but crawl with a ball. Outside air in the summer always tires them out. If she isn't doing either yet, you can exercise her legs and arms yourself - there are little baby exercises to do that you can find on the web somewhere. I'd try it after the late nap.
If all else fails, go to sleep whenever you put your child to sleep. If it's 7, go to sleep at 7. Whatever you wanted to get done after that can wait. My house isn't ever the cleanest, there is always laundry to be done, dishes, etc. but at least I'm wide awake for the next day!

both my boys were early risers- and they would wake up at night to nurse. my first son continued until over a year old and I didnt let my 2nd son get away with that so he was about 10 months old. as long as i continued to feed him in the middle of the night he would get up. after 3 nights they adjusted to not getting up in the middle of the night so I adjusted to getting up between 5 and 6 am. its not to bad as long as my sleep did not get disturbed in the middle of the night.

My now almost 9 month old has been doing the same thing for the past month - all of a sudden wakeing mid-night for a feeding (nothing else has worked and she will scream for 2 hours until I nurse her). I have started to give her a "4th meal" :) That is, a second dinner before bathtime (unless she ate exceptionally well at dinner), give her a bottle (she won't always take it) before I nurse her to sleep at bedtime. It has been working more often than not...at least she makes it to about 4-5am those nights, which is better than 2 or 3 (I too cannot believe I just said that). We also give Motrin before bed for the teeth (she is teething). GOOD LUCK!

Another vote for "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. Buy it, read it, implement the techniques and be patient for a few days up to a week, and the whole family will be happier.

I feel your pain L.! Both of my kids were early risers, I tried everything as well, and I do recommend reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Children for advice. I hate to tell you this but your daughter might not outgrow her early wake up time for a couple more years. My son started sleeping until 7:00 a.m. a little after he turned 3, before that he was getting up before 6:00 a.m. every day. I think it was about the same for my daughter. And then you have to hear about everyone else's kids sleeping in until after 8:00 a.m from birth. Hang in there!

L., I'm wondering what would happen if you took away the 1/2 hour nap? As soon as my children started sleeping less during their first nap, I did away with it. Then I would get them to sleep from 1 ish to 3 ish in the afternoon, some days even longer. Then I would check into starting the evening routine a little later. Just a half an hour may help. All kids are different in the amount of sleep that they need. My oldest took great naps until she was about 4 and a half. My third child stopped napping entirely, by the time she was two years old. You need to nip the waking up in the middle of the night thing in the bud. The whole cry it out for gradually longer periods of time will work, but it's very hard to listen to. Good luck to you.

My daugther is almost 17 months and she still does that. Not all the time though. There are nights where she will sleep through the night. I've noticed that the nights she sleeps are the ones when we have had a very active day out and about (park, friend's, store, etc.) and when she actually eats a decent dinner. The nursing is so sporadic. Sometimes she is up 2 or 3 times a night still to nurse. She is getting her molars so I just chalk it up to that. It drives me crazy sometimes, so I know how you feel. I just figure that I'll enjoy spending the time with her because someday she'll be a teen and won't want me around as much. Haha.

sounds familiar... might be ready for whole milk and one nap... worked for us!

try infant motrin! my son started sleeping a lot better when we switched from tylenol to motrin. he has been teething since he was 2 mos. and at 7.5 mos. he has 8 teeth! your daughter may be teething - with my son each tooth seems to bother him for over a month. it sucks! also, i put a pillow in his bed and he's slept better since that addition too. good luck!

try skipping one of the naps. it won't work at first but in a couple of days. my son was about the same age when he decided himself to go down to 1 nap.

My ped told me at my 9 month check, that at 9 months of age my boys should be able to sleep a whole night through without nursing. I stopped going in to nurse them back to sleep at midnight & 4 am after I talked with her. My ped was right, they just wanted to see mom & be comforted. I love the book, Healthy Sleep Habits by Dr. Weisbluth. He's on target with sleep patterns in babies. Maybe she needs a longer 1st nap. You mentioned her 1st nap is only 1/2 hour long so it's possible that she is actually overtired, thus attributing to her night-time waking. I'm not sure if you go to her right away when she wakes up from naptime, but if you are, try waiting about 10 minutes, sometimes they will fall asleep again on their own. Every baby is different & I'm sure you'll get a lot of different advice, but I would spend a little time reading about baby sleep patterns in this book. It even offers some reasons to things like why babies wake at night.

I feel for you... My daughter was just the same way. SHe still doesn't sleep and she has one daughter that does the same thing.
As far as I could figure out, there are some kids that just don't sleep that much. Enjoy the times that your baby does sleep.
The only time my daughter slept longer was when she was sick.
I don't get the part of putting her to bed earlier because they are going to wake up just that much earlier.
Or so my daughter did. If she took a nap then I just knew she wouldn't sleep much at all during the night.
Take care now and let me know what happens with her.

L.
In order to have your daughter sleep later in the am, you might try making her 2nd nap of the day later. IE: move it from 1pm to 2pm. For some reason this seems to work. I agree with additing additional nutrition to her diet during the day, especially before bed. Try cereal or something a bit more solid if she is on food. Good luck.

I have a daughter who is nearly 10 months and a son who is 5.5 years. Also, I have my master's degree in infant development and have nearly 10 years of experience working as a developmental specialist. First of all, my daughter sleeps nearly the exact same hours as your daughter...although she goes to bed around 9pm and wakes around 8am, then she catnaps twice a day for about 20 minutes (those people who have kids that nap for hours make me a bit jealous!!!) Anyway, developmentally babies usually begin waking during the night at this age for two main reasons; 1)Seperation anxiety in starting and they want to make sure you are there 2)They 'practice' their new motor skills in their bed during the night and often need a little reassurance as to how to handle this 'freedom'. Both of my kids slept through the night by 4 weeks of age and then started waking again between 9 and 10months. My son nearly drove me NUTS around a year with all of his waking! So far my daughter wakes but goes back to sleep very easily, I'm hoping that will stay this easy because I REALLY like my sleep!!! I am one of those people who really NEED 9 hours of sleep in order to function! The good news is that if you handle the waking well now, it will be short lived and she will not have significant sleep issues in the future! We taught my son from a very young age that if he wakes in the night he just needs to come straight to our bed in order to 'get cuddles', thus from the time he was about 20 months old he would just stir in his crib and not make a peep, then join us for cuddles and then we all felt like we got a full night's sleep! This method isn't for everyone, many people feel that children should never be allowed in a parent's bed, however research has shown that children who sleep in their parent's bed end up with even stronger social-emotional skills than those that are not given that level of reassurance. (I personally don't co-sleep but certainly don't look down on those that do, for us it works better for our kids to have their own beds but come to us if they feel they need the support during the night)
Good luck! Remember, these are all just phases and as long as you don't reinforce undesirable behaviors it will move along. Sounds like you are doing the right thing by what you wrote, I personally think giving the child a bit of nurturing is all that is needed at this age!
S.

I opened your message because I was betting myself, "7 or 8 months old?" But your post didn't say. Was I right? I remember having that "will it never end" thought with both my kids at about that age, because they both went from sleeping pretty well to night wakings. I'm not sure if it's developmental, or what, but I remember it lasting long enough to make me slightly insane, so maybe a month. If that is the age, the lightbulb that went off for me was to avoid nursing/bottles in the middle of the night (at that age, not for tiny infants, of course). It helps at first because they go back to sleep, but then their tummies start expecting it and it wakes them up.

Good luck!

Could your baby be scared of the dark? I'm not sure if that is too young but you might try a night light. I can't help on the sleeping later My 9 year old still gets up way too early!