11 month old sleep questions

[sonimusical]

Hi Moms,

My son has barely ever slept through the night. For the longest time, he was up twice, then improved to one feed a night. Past few days it was back to twice and last night he slept for 10 hours straight. Thats a shocker to me ! He napped for just 1.5 hrs yesterday...30 mins the first nap and second nap in order to preserve bedtime, I woke him in 1 hr.

Have I been letting him sleep too much in the day time ? He usually naps for around 1.5 to 2 hr for first nap and then 30 mins for second I wake him up. He has 4 hrs of A between his naps and after his 30 min nap, we put him to bed no later than 3 hr of A time.

The night before, he woke up after 6 hrs of sleeping and was awake and alert for one hour and refused the bottle and was getting upset when I was trying to offer it to him. After one hour he slept and then slept until 6:30am, had milk and slept for two more hours. With the same routine during the day, the night differs a lot.

Today he's up at 7am ( 10 hours of sleep ), should I give him first nap of 30 mins and then after 3 hrs let him nap as long as he wants or cut it at 1 hr ? I have been letting him nap as long as he wants except for yesterday when I cut it and he did so much better at night that I'm wondering what I should do today.....

Any thoughts ?? Thanks for your help !!

[katie80]

Hi there, could you write out your routine in EAS format, so I can see it a little more clearly.  I'm unsure if he's UT or not by how you're describing it, especially with him going back to sleep for awhile in the morning.  Is he only getting 10hr of night sleep? I wouldn't think that would be quite enough even with 2.5hr day sleep.  Are you wanting to change the routine around to a short morning nap and long afternoon nap?

I think it would be best to keep the long nap at at least 1.5hr.  If you cut both naps, he's then not getting a full one and will likely get OT after a few days.  It might be worth letting him sleep only 1.5hr for the long nap, not 2, and see if that makes a difference.  The other thing to try would be to cut the short nap down to 20min, but soemtimes the A time after that need stove tweaked then too.

Any other reasons he might be waking in the night for awhile?  Teeth coming through, developmental milestones like pushing up to stand or taking some steps, separation anxiety?

[sonimusical]

Hello...Here was his routine yesterday and he slept 10 hours at night again..

7am - Awake
11pm-12:30pm - Nap - Woke himself at 1.5hr
4:30-5pm - Nap
8pm - BT

Up and awake at 6am - too awake to go back to sleep

This is his second night of sleeping through the night for 10 hours...10 hours seem less to me too esp after just 2 hrs of nap but he is not showing any signs of OT so I'm not sure.

Since he was up at 6am today, I am planning to nap him at 10am for 1.5 hr..I guess bedtime is 7pm today. Hopefully he won't be up for the day at 5am !!!! I'm assuming that since 5am will be dark, I should be able to give him a bottle and get him back to sleep....What do you think ?

[sonimusical]

Sorry another question..So if he is still sleeping at 1.5hr, I shouldn't wake him up ? I'm beginning to think that more than 2 hrs of sleep during the day is making him wake up at night... Any thoughts ?

[katie80]

Hmm, so the routine looks fine to me. 3hr is on the high side for that last A time at his age (since he's had so much A time in the day already).  Have you tried cutting back to 2.5hr to see if that makes a difference?  A 10hr night is often considered OT, especially if he's not getting too much day sleep.

I do think you should probably wake him after 1.5hr of sleep in the morning, as you have noticed that with more daytime sleep, he wakes more at night. If you have to catch him up from OT at some point, then you can let him sleep longer, but otherwise, I'd wake him and see if it doesn't start to make a difference after a week or so.

How did the last couple days go?

[sonimusical]

Hello,

I'm back and I need help again. I am desperate. I feel like crying. We had good thing going for a few days with sleeping 9-10 hr stretches and then a bottle and back down again. We are back in the rut of waking up every 4-5 hours. Sometimes the NWs are long, sometimes they are short. I know he is teething but this is just too much. When I pick him out of the crib, he does not seem uncomfortable/upset/in pain. So I dont think he's in any kind of pain. His fingers are in his mouth all the time while awake so I'm sure there's something going on in there.

What I am missing ??

Here's his routine:

Awake: 7:30am - 4 hour A time
Nap: 11:30-1pm ( If he doesnt wake up in 1.5hr, I wake him up )
2nd Nap- 5-5:30pm( Wake him up in 30 mins )
BT - 8:15-8:30pm ( We try for 8:15pm but he seems to fall asleep at 3 hrs )

If he sleeps more than 2 hrs during the day, his NWs are long. Is it time to move him to one nap ? If we increase his A Time, its very hard to fit in a second nap. I have tried first nap short and second nap long, it all ends up with same bedtime and no difference with the nights.

Please please help me fix this problem. He turns one this Thursday (27th ) and I havent slept for 5 hours quiet stretch since he was born !!!

[katie80]

Hi there, (((hugs))). Have you tried giving pain meds to see if that helps the NWs.  Even though he doesn't seem in pain, if you notice that he's actively teething during the day, he may be waking in discomfort that's enough to prevent him from going back to sleep. 

If he sleeps more than 2 hrs during the day, his NWs are long. Is it time to move him to one nap ? If we increase his A Time, its very hard to fit in a second nap. I have tried first nap short and second nap long, it all ends up with same bedtime and no difference with the nights.

You sure could start pushing him to 4.5hr A.  Then, you can either wake him after 1.5hr again and fit in a CN any way possible (he might still go down for 30min or so after 4hr A) or APOP a 15-20min CN in the car/stroller/carrier, OR you can let him sleep for as long as he likes (hopefully a good 2.5hr or so) and do another 4.5hr to bed.  Gradually, you will then push him to 5hr, so the nap is more in the middle of the day.

What do you think?

[sonimusical]

Thanks for your reply. Really appreciate your help !

We still had NWs last night and they started later in the night as opposed to after 4hrs..but I guess it will take a few days for the body to adjust. First NW was a quick/sleepy one. Second one was more awake/alert and lasted 45 mins.

Here was his day yesterday:

A: 7:30am
1st S: 12-1:30pm ( Woke him up )
2nd nap: 5:45pm-6:15pm ( Tried for 4hrs but he only went down at 4hr15mins )
BT: Thought after 15 mins nap, he'd be tired early. He still needed 3hrs15 mins and went down at 9:15pm !!!

That made his day super long. I tried for earlier bedtime(2hrs 30 mins onwards, he was in his room) but he would just not be ready for it yet.

After the 1hr total NWs last night, he still woke up at 7:15am ( Total 9hrs of sleep), will get him for his first nap at 4hrs instead of 4hrs30mins today. Unless he shows me sleepy signs before that.

He is turning one tomm !!!!

[katie80]

Hi, sorry for the delay in reply!

How have the last couple days gone?  What about letting him just sleep for the nap after 4.5hr and doing a one nap day?  If you feel like he's starting to get OT, you can always add in a CN here and there.  But, I think generally the day is too long with the CN and it's causing issues.  What do you think?

Happy Birthday to him!