WI/WO help for 18 months old….

[LucK]

I would appreciate any advice on how to change or adjust our WI/WO technique with our 18 month old. 

She goes to sleep okay on her own for naps and bedtime most of the time and has been sleeping through the night up to 14 months when illness/teething/travel started to cause some problems.  At first WI/WO worked great to get her sleeping through the night. 

For the last two months she has been waking up 2 to 4 times a night.  Part of the problems again is teething and illness when we would bring her to our bed.  We have started doing the WI/WO again for the past week and it is getting better as she will settle herself after we go in once or just a few times (the first two nights it took over an hour for her to go back to sleep).

My main question is that she always stands up and starts crying. So either myself or my DH walk in, lay her down, say good night and walk out.  Now she usually goes to sleep right away.  When she wakes later after 4am then it may take us going in several times, we wait 15 to 30 seconds after she starts crying before going in.  She usually stops crying immediately as we walk in and usually doesn’t cry until 1 or 5 minutes after we leave her room.

Should we lay her down or leave her standing?  I think she may just be used to us coming in now and that has become a habit? Any ideas?

Thanks.

[Crispy Chick]

Hi

Not got any great advice, but i have been using WI/WO for ages now.  My LO is 16 months and is always standing at the end of the cot when he cries.  we go in and lay him down, similar to what you do.  I know what you mean about getting used to it, so i am starting to leave him a few minutes now before going in.  Have been doing this for the last few days and i think he is getting the message.  I know he can lie back down in his sleeping bag, so i am just letting him get on with it.  Depends what sort of cry it is, but i am now finding he cries for a min or two and then stops and starts, therefore he cannot really need us that much.

Probably not much help, but thought i would post.

[LucK]

Hi, I was thinking about waiting a bit before responding as well and to see if she would respond but am afraid that may upset her even more and then she will not settle as easy.

Do yours wake every night as well?

[LucK]

Actually last night I didn't respond as quickly as normally when my LO woke up and it worked 2 out of 3 times. 

When she woke at 10:30, she sat up and whimpered for less then a minute and then on her own laid down and went to sleep.  At 2:50am she actually stood up and whimpered this time a bit longer but soon after sat down and then laid down and went to sleep. 

At 3:40am she cried a bit louder but I thought I would wait for couple of minutes to see what she would do.  Actually she laid down but a minute later she stood up again and cried even louder so I went to her room laid her down myself and left.  She slept to 6:45am, the longest this week. I will continue this for a few days and see if it will stop her waking up so frequently at night.

[Kathie11]

I had similar issues with my daughter. What worked for us is only going into her room if she started crying. If we heard whimpering she would be able to settle down on her own. Also another trick that worked for us was leaving her door open.

Good Luck

[LucK]

Please, I need more help.....
 
I've been doing the WI/WO technique for over two weeks and although there is improvement with night waking my LO is still up at least once or twice every night.  I don't respond to her immediately but wait until she is truly crying before I respond and I think it helped a bit but.....
 
For the last few days, she has been waking up around 4 am every night.  She also wakes at other times like 11pm, 2pm and 6am but the 4am wake up is pretty much the same.  My DH and I alternate nights to go to my LO when she wakes.  However, it usually takes much longer for her to settle when my DH is on duty and she usually will wake more frequently and may take an hour for her to go to sleep.  My DH and I do the same thing when we respond to her but I guess she either wants me or my DH is not firm enough?   So I started to respond to her at night that's why I think perhaps she is only waking that one time now.  I do not respond immediately but wait until she starts to cry then I go in, lay her down, cover her and say good night and leave - try to be very brief.  Usually that's all I have to do and she goes to sleep, once in a while she will stand up again not immediately but after several minutes and starts to cry and I repeat the process.  Also I heard her cry out in her sleep a few times over the past two days but she continues to sleep, could this be pain related (her fourth molar may be cutting through)?
 
She goes to sleep on her own in the evening and for naps at home and daycare, at home she will cry once in a while when we leave her room at bed time but we need to do the WI/WO only once and she goes to sleep fine.  There are no sleep issues at daycare. This is her routine:
 
6-7am - awake, lately it's been around 6:45 and I BF (she used to cry when she woke but last few days she plays and waits for us to get her)
8:30am - breakfast (if she is tired at daycare she gets a catnap for about 15 min. between 9 to 10am; she won't sleep at home but she does doze of at times when we go for a walk or shopping around 10 to 11am but we wake her after 15 min or sooner depending how close it is to her nap time)
11:45am - lunch
12:30 to 3:00pm - nap (she usually has a good nap and if she wakes earlier will play quietly)
3pm - snack
5pm - dinner
6:30 - 6:45 - BF, bath, read a book
7 - 7:30 - bed

Please let me know, if there is something else I should try….

Thanks.

[Kathie11]

Could your daughter be hungry?

I think 12 hours between breastfeedings and 15.5 hours between meals is a long time. When my daughter was about 18 months she would have another snack about 30 min before bed, such as toast or cereal. Now she usually just has some fruit (she's 2.5 years now).

[LucK]

I don’t think she is hungry or thirsty as she knows how to ask for food or water.  She seems to be hungrier in the afternoon and she used to ask for dinner, that’s when we started having dinner at 5pm instead of 5:30pm.  Since then she seems to be happy with the meal times.