13 month old waking up from bedtime sleep after 45 min. Please Help!!

[a_astorga]

Hi,

My ds has been waking up since about 6 months 2-3 times within a 2-3 hour period right after he has been put to sleep.

So I put him down at 6:30- 7 pm (short bedtime routine, knows how to fall asleep on his own) then he will wake up over and over again during the first couple of hours of the night. And then in the middle of the night he will wake up again and let out a cry and usually falls back asleep on his own. So this has been happening for months and months. I am so tired, my dh and I cannot go anywhere cause no one can watch him at night since he wakes up so often.

So at first I linked the night wakings with teething, milestones, walking, seperation anx, etc. But why is it still happening. Now more than ever he will wake up at the 45 min. mark. He is put down awake but then starts crying again after 10 mins. He starts with a whimper then starts crying really loudly and takes a while to calm him down. When you get him, he will cry even louder. So after he is calmed he is put down awake again and he doesn't seem upset, you could hear him babble a little. Then after like 10 mins, he cries again. And this can continue for at least 2 times until the next wake up.

So the strangest part is, everytime we let him CIO (5-6 times) he had poo. So is he pooing from all the crying or is he really pooing??? The thing is he rarely poos at nite anymore.  It;s pretty freaky.

Anyway how can I fix this problem??

He still naps twice a day. 2.5.-3 hours

Nightsleep. An average of 11-11.5  hours on good nights, maybe 10.5 on bad ones.

Oops, he's crying again, after putting him down the 2 nd. time, gotta go.

Bye

[Katet]

2 things pring to mind, being over 1yo, I think it is less an overtired issue but more a not tired enough issue & maybe the start of the need to move to 1 nap or extend his awake time a bit longer... his awake times with 2 naps & that long sleep are possibly not long enough for him to be properly tired at night time.

Also the fact you have done CIO actually has probably caused him to have increased separation anxiety (manifest in different forms, such as night waking when it didn't happen before) so I strongly suggest NOT leaving him to cry alone & infact actually at this age many people I know (including myself) find it necessary to stay with them until they fall asleep... the reassurance seems to help them get through those later light sleep phases.

[a_astorga]

Thanks for your reply Katet.

Last night was specially bad. He woke up at 2 pm from his second nap (woke up really early, so the naps shifted to an earlier start). So I figured at the 4 hour mark he will sleep.

However, when I was feeding him supper like at 5 pm he started yawning and rubbing his eyes like he was ready to sleep. So I thought forget the Awake time and let's just go with his cues, cause sometimes he just doesn't seem tiread at all and his playing around everywhere. So not sure what to do here???

So then I started the bedtime routine at around 5:40 and put him down at 5:55. You did not hear a peep from him at all. 15 min. later the crying starts. Did he really sleep 15 min then wake up or was he just quiet 15 min. then decided to cry? I don't understand at all!!

So dh went upstairs calmed him down, put him down, same thing 10 mins. later, more crying. So he did this a couple of times and then when Georgie cried again we just couldn't do it anymore, we had a quick supper while he cried and cried, I just said to myself as soon as I'm done eating, I'll go upstairs. Well 15 mins. passed and he went down. We did not hear a peep from him anymore until 6:30ish am. By the way he ended up falling asleep like at 7:30 pm.

So now I am confused. The 15 min. CIO did work. We tried it once before and same results. but for some really strange reason every other time we tried it, he will poo. But then as soon as you cahnged him he went down no problem.

And with the awake time, his first A time is 2.5-3 hours, second A time, 3.5-4 hours, third A time 4 hours. So what would you suggest this could be? 

Thanks for reading
Amanda

[Katet]

OK I personally & Tracy Hogg (Originator of this site) think that CIO breaks trust & is exactly the same as ignoring someone calling for help... it does work because they collaps in exhaustion, but it isn't going to sleep in a peaceful way.

That said, if it is just a whingy/whiny cry rather than a full on scream/I need help cry, then it is probably your lo's settling cry.

I do think the fact it took him until 7.30 to go to sleep was he wasn't tired enough, the "tired signs"  at dinner time could in part have been due to low blood sugar...being awake longer for my ds#1, often means he wants dinner earlier even if he isn't tired... I find I need to give him a big snack after his nap.

I'm guessing here that the 15mins of quiet may relate to how long he is happy with his own company, so he plays for that long & then when he gets bored or a bit more tired, he calls for help.

it is often hard to work out what his going on when babies are at a "average time for nap changes" Part of me thinks he is ready to start moving to 1/nap a day... that transition took us about 2 months btw... part of me says that he just needs to be kept up longer as his awake time is longer, but not ready for 1 nap & onl;y needs 10-10.5 hours overnight... I found we had that for a while with ds#1 as he just couldn't do the 5-6 hours needed for 1/nap a day without impacting his night sleep

HTH