Overtired Wakings

[M and N's Mom]

My DS, who is almost 9 months old, still has wakings before midnight if he is overtired at bedtime.  If we miss his bedtime window, by even a few minutes, he requires more help to get to sleep, and wakes crying, up to 3 times before midnight.  Shh/pat will help him back to sleep. 

What I'm wondering is, will he outgrow this eventually or is it something that we will likely be dealing with for a long time?  With my DD, if she was overtired at bedtime she would be cranky and harder to put down, but then once she was sleeping, she stayed sleeping.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[**Clare**]

I have this with my 17 month old son, its a nightmare to get him to sleep somenights and when we do he continuously wakes until around midnight then he will sleep through.  Its only happened a few times and it took me a while to click that he was over tired! Sometimes if were out he'll go to bed at say 10 and be fine, but other days, usually when hes had less than an hours sleep in the day he can be horrendous!!

[chell]

Bumping this one up

[KathrynK]

Hi M and N's mum
what is your usual routine?
kathryn x

[M and N's Mom]

Hi Kathrynk,

We aim for:

7:30 BF
8:30 Solids
10:30-11:30/45 Nap #1
11:45 BF
1:30 Solids
2:45-4:00 Nap #2
4:00 BF
5:30 Solids
6:30 BF
7:00 Bed

The overtired wakings are not every night...just when we have been a bit late with bedtime (even by a few minutes), or he has been overstimulated.  I'm just wondering if this is something he will grow out of, or if we are stuck with them indefinitely?

[KathrynK]

just a thought as I am no expert! but it's only recently that my dd has been able to last 3 hours from last nap until bedtime and she 10.5 months now. Her longest awake time is between her 2 naps and her shortest awake time tends to be after nap 2 before bedtime as she is tired at the end of the day. Perhaps this is the case with your lo? Perhaps try to get him in bed say 2.75 hours after waking from nap 2, every day for a week and see if the night wakings improve?

[M and N's Mom]

That's actually what we have been doing the past couple of days and I do think it is helping with the overtired wakings.  Unfortunately, the past few nights have been awful with 2-3 hours of being awake in the middle of the night   I don't think that one is overtired though...I don't know what it is!!!    What a mystery!

[KathrynK]

could he be teething?

[M and N's Mom]

I have thought he was teething for the past 6-8 weeks.  He has bumps, but they don't seem to be changing much.  He is really cranky during the day right now (not his usual happy self).  The only thing is, he doesn't appear to be in pain when he's up during the night...just like he can't get back to sleep and wants us there the whole time.  I have wondered about Separation Anxiety too, but I'm not sure.  All I know for sure is I'd like a full night's sleep and my happy baby back 

[binxyboo]

I think your nap times are late...Could you have naps at 9 ish and 2 ish? Waking up at 4pm sems late to me

[M and N's Mom]

I think your nap times are late...Could you have naps at 9 ish and 2 ish? Waking up at 4pm sems late to me

The thing is, he can only handle a maximum of 3 hours awake time and I don't want him to go to bed earlier than 7pm.

[samijoe]

My dd is almost the same age M&N's mom....your schedule looks fabulous.

I think he is overtired.  Here is our routine for you to look at...then ill make a suggestion for you.

7-wake
730-bottle
900-solids
1030-1130 nap1
1145-bottle
130-solids
300-430 nap2
445-bottle
515-solids
630- bath etc
7-bottle
730-bed

We are in the process of dropping a bottle....i let my dd sleep for a total of 2.5 hrs during the day.  I have to wake from first nap of one hour, but the second nap she sleeps till 430 and has no trouble going to bed at 730.  I think your lo needs 15minutes more day sleep!

I think you could safely let your lo's second nap go from 245-415, and try to put to bed at 730.  730-7am is perfectly adequate nightsleep for our lo's at this age.

Hope this helps!

[M and N's Mom]

Thanks!  I would happily let him sleep a bit more during the day, but I don't usually wake him...those are his times.  I can rarely get more than 1-1.25 hour naps.

As long as I don't go over 3 hours A time he is usually ok.  What I'm just wondering though, is, is this something he is likely to outgrow?

[binxyboo]

I have read and firmly believe that naps that happen outside of biological naps times are not as restorative and impact night sleep in general. An earlier bedtime can also improve sleep in general, you could test this..