13 mnth waking within 1 hour of bedtime - any advice?

[Brennie]

Hi everyone, my lo has been doing this on and off for a good few months.  Bedtime is relatively easy and goes down pretty well but within an hour of her sleep, usually 30 to 45 mins, she wakes up crying.   We have on occasions left her to cry and will continue to cry btwn 1 min to 6 mins, on average she will cry for 4/5 mins.  On other occasions, we pick her up to console her she continues crying for a good minute or so before settling down again - we put her down and she goes back to sleep.  It seems like she keeps crying until she wakes herself up and then realises she is awake and then goes back to sleep.  I am not sure if this is a night terror or just a habit now.  Although we have just transitioned her from 2-1 nap I don't think this contributes to the early evening wakings. Her routine at the mo is:

wake btwn 6 - 7 am
lunch 11.30
nap 12.00 (for 1.5 hours at the mo)
tea 4.30
bedtime 7pm

LO is 13 months this week and not sure if anyone can recognise what this is and what I should do? 

[Harrisonsmummy]

It sounds like it could be night terrors - with only 1.5 hours nap and 5.5hrs between end of nap and bedtime, lo is probably overtired - and that just makes the transition between sleep cycles difficult. (I am sure you are aware - night terrors are nothing to do with dreaming etc, just transitional crying and thrashing around and going almost immediately back to sleep often wthout intervention, I just put a hand on H's back).

It may be worth either trying to make nap a little later until she lengthens it out, or bringing bedtime forward a bit. Ideally I would leave no longer than 5 hours from end of nap to sleep, and whilst naps are on the shortish side, I would err on the side of caution and go for 4 - 4.5 hours.

I often find with H, that he will settle v quickly when he is very tired - and then I know the chances are he will wake. he wakes at the end of the deep sleep phase approx 3 hours (or 3 cycles) after going down. So it seems to be they individually have their sticking points when overtired!

HTH

justine

[Brennie]

Thanks for that tip which I will try.  Although I am not sure if the transition (2-1 nap) has made the difference as she was still having early evening wakings prior to the transition.  Her routine prior to the transition:

wake 6-7 am
nap 10 am (1.5 - 2 hrs)
nap 3pm (45 mins)
bedtime 7pm.

Do you think it could be related to something else apart from overtireness?

[Florencia]

I wouldn't think that nap transition has to do much with the waking, more what Justine explained so well (about overtiredness and sleep cycles). Just try for an early bedtime and see if that does the trick.

Another possibility, given your dd's age is molars. They pop (or start to) around 12-14 months and the pain they cause, prevent lo's from deep sleep. Pain meds (prescribed by pediatrician) about 30 mins before bedtime should also help her to sleep deeper and better.

Let us know how it goes. Good luck!

[Gigismom]

you know, my dd did the same thing at about 10-12 months.  she would wake about 45 mins after being put down for bed and cry for up to an hour no matter what we did.  it eventually sorted itself out and she stopped the waking altogether.  looking back, i really do think it was from being overtired.  so maybe a bedtime a bit earlier would help?

[Arwyn's mom]

Hello,

My dd is 15 months and she has consistently done this for over 3 months now. She is about at a 50% success rate putting herself back to sleep. I don't know what it is but we usually wait for a difference in crying before going in to settle her. She is almost always sitting up at this point. I know that she is probably quite tired but we tried an earlier bedtime and it was worse so... it didn't work for us but it may work for you. I also know that she got her molars in the last month or so. If she just stayed laying down, she would be able to put herself back to sleep so I pick her up and lay her back down and this usually works. Other times, she will cry and I hold her until she is quiet (1 or 2 min) and then put her back down.

Our current routine...

6 am wake
11 am nap (1.5 - 2.5 hours)
7 pm bath/boob/book
8 pm bedtime

Good luck, Brennie!

[Harrisonsmummy]

Arwyn's Mum, when you mention an early bedtime didn't work - how early did you go? With your early nap at 11am, I would be looking at a bedtime for H (at 21 months) of 5 hours max after wake-up time! Even with a potential wake-up time of 1.30pm, 8pm is a long pm stretch for most lo's.

You may not have gone "early" enough to sort the problem. A few days of very early bedtimes may do the trick (often needs a couple of days to really kick in.

Sorry for barging in - just a thought that occurred!

justine x

[Brennie]

Hi everyone, thanks for all your feedback.

Still at my wits end and still not sure what to do..............starting to drain my energy!  I know that Annabel is teething and has a bad cold and cough at the mo so trying to comfort her but when she is better do you think that any of the wi/wo & pd methods would work.  I tried to remember when this all started and it must be at least 4 months now..........can anyone advise?

B

[Gigismom]

yeah i would agree with you to wait to try anything until she is better.  i would really think that it is just overtiredness, esp since she just switched from 2-1 nap.  (that is a HARD switch to make).

you could try wi/wo with her.  for us, that didn't ever work and would upset dd even more.  so we just would lay on her bedroom floor and 'shhh' her until she got sleepy and went back to sleep.  what works is different for every child, so just experiment on what seems to calm her the best.  i really think that it will sort out once she gets used to one nap a day.  i know you said it's been 4 months already, but it has been 4 months here too since 'the switch' and we're still dealing with problems! 

[imsmum]

I agree with Justine.  Does your lo "crash" at bedtime?  If mine does she will be up for sure anywhere from 1-3 hours after bedtime. 

Most sleep experts seem to recommend no more than 4.5 hours between nap wakeup and bedtime although I think most well rested lo's seem to fall asleep about 5 hours after nap wakeup with a longer period of awake time in the morning.  Looking at your schedule you probably need to try to push the nap back at bit--maybe about 1/2 hour but you probably need to deal with the night wakeup first by a few nights of a super early bedtime which is so important when they have only recently transitioned to one nap. 

[Brennie]

Hi - this is really an update and to help others. Its been a long time since the night terrors started - my lo was 6 months old when it all started.  She continued to have night terrors (mostly every night same time, same pattern) for another 6 months and I was concerned about the long term effects.  We changed her diet, sleeping patterns (longer naps) but no improvement.  I just want to tell anyone whose lo is suffering from long term night terrors to try out homeopathic remedies.  We have tried and the night terrors have eased off considerably and it has been such a blessing, although we do not take it for granted that she will not have a night terror but as I mentioned it has eased off and hopefully she will grow out of it.  Anyone who is worried about long term night terrors which happen regularly rather than due to lack of sleep or ad hoc occasions must consider using homeopathic remedies.  Please feel free to email me if you need more information.

[imsmum]

Brennie--Thanks for the update and tips.  I'm so glad things are going better for you!  There has been a bunch of research lately on sleep terrors; it seems to say that sleep terros are greatly improved by earlier bedtimes.  I know there is some discussion on this on Dr. Greene's website, so for anyone else with this problem there is another resource too.