Oh dear, sorry to hear your LO has been so poorly for these last few months
Good to hear she is on the mend and starting to eat again now though.
I would usually say a 13 month old isn't going to wake at night from hunger, and I am still tempted to say it as she has plenty of opportunity to eat in the day and at this age they just don't need night feeds. However, taking her illness into account it could be one of two things (or something else completely):
- she is making up for lost calories she didn't take when she was ill and actually does feel the hunger earlier on because she is on the mend. It could be a shortish phase of night feeds needed whilst she catches up on those calories
or
- her routine is less suitable for her now she is older and she is waking earlier due to that, but then feels hungry after waking.
Either way I would just try a feed at waking and see if she's happier. Mine had not had a night feed for many months when he became ill at 10.5 months old, after his illness he needed night feeds for a short while, it was the first time I ever remembered hearing a hunger cry, I didn't even know what a hunger cry sounded like as he'd been on EASY since 5wks old and E times had been so predictable he had no need to cry for food.
Routine wise
I would suggest she is ready for a slightly different routine as a step towards the 2-1 but not yet dropping to 1 nap.
First I would return to your previous routine of naps at 9am and 2pm as a starting point (start that today/tomorrow)
Then decide which nap you think is most suitable for you to keep as the long nap and which the shorter nap - you can decide based on your LOs preference if you know it, or decide based on when is most convenient to fit with toddler groups you like to attend and what time they are at.
Then reduce one nap in length (start the day after)
At the same time - and regardless of which nap you reduce in length you need to move the first nap later in the morning to discourage the earlier WU time. Instead of moving it earlier because she is tired from waking earlier you move it later and she is encouraged to stay asleep for the full night.
If you reduce the length of nap 1 - you start it later (eg 9.15) and end it at the same time as usual (wake at 10.30), do nap 2 at 2pm as usual for the normal length. if she appears very tired prior to nap 2 you bring it 15 min earlier, 1.45pm
If it is nap 2 you want to reduce you still start the morning nap later (eg 9.15) and she can sleep a full nap 1.5hr or 2hr. The second nap you will start at 2pm but wake her at 1hr 30 max, then reducing to 1hr 15.
To be clearer - I am suggesting tomorrow you put nap directly back to 9am. The next day move it to 9.15 regardless of which nap you intend to cap. After 2 or 3 days you will likely need to move nap 1 to 9.30 and then after another couple of days to 9.45am (this leaves a 45 CN if you are capping the first nap) and then see how she goes with the overall routine. You might need the first nap to move later still, we'll see. Okay?
She's actually still doing quite a good night length at 11hrs. Nights might shorten before you fully drop to one nap. This is because fitting two naps into the day and having a long enough A time between them might mean a longer overall day but that is normal for a while.
BT for now will be the usual 7pm as it was before her illness, and when you implement these nap changes you might also see BT needs to be a little later, maybe not yet though. Lets see how things go with the capped nap first.
WRT E. A lot of people continue the WU and BT milk feeds for a good while even though it is advised to drop bottles at 12 months. I would have done exactly as you have in your situation and continued the milk feeds through the illness and recovery. In a little while as eating improves I'd probably drop the mid morning and mid afternoon milk feeds and do just snack at that time with water.
I hope this helps.
