Too active to sleep (12mo)

[Alenka]

My DS is almost 12 mo and for the last couple of weeks we started having problems with all his sleeps (2 day naps and night sleep).

He used to be an angel – I put him in his crib, kiss him “sweet dreams”, leave the room and he put himself asleep on his own.

But now he became too active to fall asleep. As soon as I put him in his crib he needs to sit up or stand up (he recently learn to stand up and wants to practice it all the time). Even when he is already asleep he just suddenly sits up in the crib and wakes up because of it.

As a result we (me and my DH) started holding him in the hands so he can fall asleep. And he needs to be deep asleep when we put him back in the crib because, otherwise, if he is kind of asleep, he sits up as soon as we put him in the crib (even with his eyes closed!) . We rock him and hold him to sleep for both his naps and 1-3 times at night. I’m wondering here if there is anything we can do to fix it or at least for how long can it last? I’m kind of afraid if he will get used to falling asleep in our arms instead of his crib….

Now, ds has 2 good naps (1.5-2 hours each) and sleeps at night somewhere from 9pm till 8am. He still eats at night once or twice: around 3 am (not always) and around to 6-7 am.

[Layla]

Around this age they start making the transition towards 1 nap so my thoughts are that he doesn't need as much sleep as he used to. What time are the naps at the moment? I would try to put him down for a nap about 3.5hrs from the time he wakes in the morning & wake him up about 45mins later so that he is tired enough for an afternoon nap. The afternoon nap is generally longer, so about 1.5-2hrs long & then do bedtime about 3.5-4hrs from the time he wakes from the pm nap.

I would stop the rocking to be honest because it sounds like he's become dependant on that as well.

I would try the pd method or wi/wo - he's the link to sleep training methods for toddlers:-https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63896.0

So routine wise I would suggest something like this:
8am - wakes
11.30-12:15 - morning nap
3:30-5pm - afternoon nap
8.30/9pm - bedtime

Good luck & let me know if you have any questions:
Layla

[Alenka]

Thanks, Layla.

Our routine is kind of like you said. He is awake for 2-3 hours in the morning, then for about 4-5 hours afternoon and 2-3 hours at night. I didn't mean it to be like this, he chose it (I always let him lead and decide when he wants to sleep and when to play )

He doesn’t need to be trained to sleep independently, because this is what he learned to do from day 1. He always fell asleep on his own. It’s just recently he became more active during the day, and as a result, he is way to active at night… I guess, this is normal development stage and I’m mostly wondering for how long it usually goes. I saw some other similar topics with similar problems for babies around 11 mo, but couldn’t find anything about how long they have this period for…..

And also our strategy… We tried to ignore him and let him jump around the crib waiting until he fells asleep on his own but it didn’t comfort him, he just got even more excited…   But I know that he is tired and that he really wants to sleep… I prefer to do some AP and hold him in my arms rather than have overtired baby who wakes up every 40 min at night…. But I’m kind of wondering what other parents do in similar situation….

Sorry, my questions even not like questions… I don’t know… May be I’m mostly looking for some support… Sorry for such a chaotic post….

[Layla]

If he's sleeping 3hrs during the day (1.5-2hr naps) then its expected that he will stay awake for a few hours at night... he's probably sleeping too much during the day. I would suggest waking him up earlier from the morning nap so that those hours can add onto nightsleep. Sleep training - well depends what way you look at it. If you started rocking him & now he can only fall asleep when you rock him... then he probably does need to be sleep trained again . Its not uncommon for 100% independant sleepers to need training later on... there is always something that causes them to go off track.

I would look at why he is waking... if he's awake & quiet I would leave him to it. If he's awake for hours then look at how much he is sleeping during the day. It could be developmental... walking, language, etc... but still I would leave it to him. If he's crying then I would do pd or wi/wo (rather than rock him to sleep). It could be that he is now expecting to be rocked to sleep

You have my support ... I've just always had the theory that if they are happy to be up at night then let them be... I mean sometimes I can't sleep at night (especially when too much on my mind) so maybe my baby has some issues to deal with before she goes back to sleep (like wondering what she'll be fed the next day)

[momma_meg]

HI Alenka

My LO is going through similar wakings.  See my post re '12 month old throwing 'spack attack' in middle of the night'.  The gals gave me similar advice to you re cutting down the nap times --  this seems to be helping my LO.

I read to my baby until he is very, very drowsy and I give him some milk (need to change this to water - as now he has teeth) before I put him in the crib otherwise he does the whole jumping around game like your LO.  I also sing Twinkle Twinkle about 20 times  during a brief cuddle before I put him in his cot -- his eyes are usually shut but I know he's not fully asleep.

Hope this helps
meg

[elmarie]

I agree with pp that the naps may be too long.  And as Layla said if you have sorted out his nap times and he is still awake but happy-let him be.  My lo sometimes wake in the middle of the night having a little play and chat to herself but will fall asleep again-I don't go in as I learnt my lesson.  Once she knows I'm in the room it turns into a crying match.  If he does cry use wi/wo...