13 mo suddenly started waking up at nights

[rogrogit]

Hi,
My 13 m baby has a schedule since he was born. Stopped waking up for food when he was 2 m.
He goes to kinder garden and this is his schedule over there and at home:


6:30-wakes up. drinks milk (150cc). plays
7:30-goes to kinder garden. plays
9:00-eats breakfast (egg, bread, vegetables)
9:30-10:30-sleeps
10:30-12:00-plays
12:00/12:30-eats (meat/fish/pasta/vegetables)
13:00/13:30-15:00/15:30-sleeps
16:00-bottle 180cc
17:00-goes home. plays
18:00-eats (bread/fruit etc.)+bottle 180/240cc
19:00-sleep

He used to sleep til 6am, but about a month ago he started waking up at 23:00 and again at 2 or 3am. The awakening at 23:00 started, I guess, because this is when we go to sleep, and he probably hears us (the rooms are close and there aren't any other bedrooms to put him in). We're trying to do everything quietly, but it didn't help; even when we're not at home (and the babysitter isn't doing anything noisy), he wakes up at the same time. it became a routine. we give him water to calm him down. Sometimes it helps, sometimes he stands up, starts talking and actually wakes up totally.  We NEVER take him out of the room. Rarely even out of his bed. It takes about 5-15 mins. til he makes himself go back to sleep. What can we do to stop this awakenings???
The second awakening is in the middle of the night, which is worse: he cries really loudly, usually we need to give him the bottle of water at least 2-3 times, we need to take him out of bed and if nothing helps so we give him a bottle of milk, which he sometimes drinks it all and sometimes just a few sips.
I tried to add more food or milk to hid meals during the day, but it didn't work; he decides how much he eats. I thought about giving him the dream feed at 22:30, like when he was little, but it seems ridiculous for such a big boy. What can we do? We want our lives back!!!

[sianie]

Hi there...

It does sound like your Lo is going through the 2:1 nap transition (see below FYI):

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=41952.0

This transition can be tricky & generally LO's start NW'ing/EW'ing etc.

At around this age 1st year molars also come through, is this a possibility? If so then they do cause sleep disruption.

I certainly wouldn't start feeding him again at night, he shouldn't need it as his age as long as he is eating plenty of solids etc during the day. This will also create another habit that you will have to break!

Looking at your routine, he is sleeping around 4hrs a day is that right? That does seem to be on the high end of daytime sleep & this could be robbing from his night sleep hence the EW's. I would try capping the PM nap at 1.5hrs to start with, do this for a few days to see if this helps.

Hope this helps?

[rogrogit]

thank you very much, sianie

He's sleeping 2-3 hrs a day: 1 hour in the morning (in kindergarden sometimes less, if any) and 1.5-2 hrs in the afternoon.
and speaking of which- if he doesn't sleep in the morning, is it okay to let him sleep 3 hrs in the afternoon?

[sianie]

if he doesn't sleep in the morning, is it okay to let him sleep 3 hrs in the afternoon?

I think it depends on what time he goes down for his nap as a long nap too late can affect BT...

[rogrogit]

say 13:00-16:00 or 14:00-17:00?

[sianie]

I think if you are going to do a 1 nap day I would do an earlier nap at around 12pm, both the nap times you posted are really late in the day for your LO's age.

As an example, my DS is 18mths old & naps from around 12pm-2pm (from a 6.30am WU).