Sorry this is a long post………
I’m really in need of some expert advice and I hope someone can help me. My lo is 11 months old are we are struggling with severe night wakings. I am 90% sure that these night wakings are due to her being overtired. We have a lot going on at the moment, new found mobility in her cot, starting nursery (and not sleeping there) and the start of the 2 to 1 transition.
If my lo has a bad nap in the afternoon then we always have night wakings. She wakes at about 2-3 am and then she thinks its play time in her cot and I can hear her laughing and giggling away. The problem is she will do this for hours – If I leave her she has stayed awake till 6am before and then just puts herself to sleep. But then we have to wake her at 6.30 to start the day and get ready for work, child care etc. She is so grumpy then and screaming and wont drink her milk etc etc. Starting the day when she’s that overtired does not work.
So now when she wakes I leave her to play for a while – I left her 1 hour today. Then try to go in and settle her, tell her its sleep time, shh her pat her – but she’s so excited to see us there is no way she will go to sleep. So then I resort to putting her in the sling or bringing her into our bed – and with lots of cuddles she is normally back asleep within 10 mins!!!
So what should I do? If I leave her she stays awake and starts the day overtired……
If I go to her I end up having to cuddle her to sleep……….
I’m shattered! It’s started to get light in the early morning in our bedroom so I can’t bring her into our bed because she will wake up with the light. Last night I ended up sleeping on her bedroom floor cuddling her!
I know the solution is to cure the overtiredness but I can’t seem to do that either. Obviously when she’s at nursery she’s not sleeping well (I have another post about that saga!) But she’s all over the place at the moment and I don’t really know what to do. Here is the last EASY that was working (I’m trying fixed naps times) …..
6-6.30 Wake
E - 6.30 6oz milk
7.30 Breakfast
A – 3 – 3.5 hours
S – 9.30 – wake after 1 hour 10.30
E – 11.30 Lunch
A – 3h15 – 3h30
S – 1.45 – 2.00 for 1.5 hours
E – 3.30 Milk offer 6 oz
5.00 Dinner
A 3h15
S – 6.45 bed time
I had started waking her after 1 hour of her morning nap to help with the afternoon nap – which was working – But if you’ve had night wakings do you just let them sleep in the morning & risk ruining the afternoon nap?
Recently the morning nap is a mess – always wakes at 30 mins but can SS back to sleep & there is so much resistance to the afternoon nap. Today she did 30 mins sleep till 10.00. I tried to put her down at 1.15pm and it took over a hour to get her to sleep – she eventually slept for 1.5 hours!
I guess maybe I should post my routine problems on the 2 to 1 board?
Can anyone please offer any advice about how to mange to night wakings?
Thank you
