Author Topic: Early crying wakings with 13 month old!  (Read 1561 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Han12345

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 45
  • Location:
Early crying wakings with 13 month old!
« on: January 12, 2017, 07:24:35 am »
Hello!

Our little girl used to be a pretty good sleeper but for the last two weeks she's been waking at 5.30 in tears and will not stop till we get her. This morning it was 5am and I'm now starting to get lost as to what I can do.

Having done some more research I'm in two minds whether she needs to transition to 2:1 or whether she's over tired. The crying when she wakes makes me think it's OT.

She got ill in November which took 3 rounds of antibiotics to shift. Then sickness bug, teething, and upset tummy she hasn't eaten right until last weekend when I started to give her some probiotic which finally settled her poorly tummy. So because of all this I am also wondering if she is waking up hungry??

Before all of this her routine would look like this:

Wake: 6.30/7
E: 7am -  Bottle - 7oz
E: 8am - breakfast
S: 9am (usually 1.15hr)
E: 10.30 - snack
E: 11 - bottle - 4oz
E: 12.30 - lunch
E: 2pm - bottle - 4oz
S: 2pm (usually between 1.5-2hrs)
E: 4.30/5 - dinner
BBB: 6pm - bottle 8oz, bath, bottle bed (we have always split fed this bottle since she was little so just routine now)
6.45/7 - usually asleep.

I know there looks like a lot of eating there! I'm slowly trying to wean her off the milk and get her onto cows milk but with all the illness it was the only thing she would have! One step at a time I think.

I've tried a couple of different ways with her routine now she is waking so early. One is to stick to her usual nap times 9am and 2pm. (This was sort of just habit for me). Then after research and deciding she was over tired this is more what her routine looks like:

Wake: 5.30am (try leave in the cot as long as I can before she gets too worked up)
E: 6.30 - breakfast (trying to switch to breakfast before bottle)
E: 7am - 7oz bottle (she will have all this even if she's had a lot of breakfast - is she waking hungry?!)
S: 8/8.30 (has only around 30mins here)
E: 10am - snack
E: 10.30 - bottle
S: 11.30 (about an hour)
E: 1pm - lunch
E: 2.30 - bottle
S:3 (might get 30mins)
E: 5pm
BBB: 6pm
Asleep by 6.30

Still woke at 5.30 the next day but not crying quite as much.

Yesterday she slept at 8.30 for 1.5hrs then at 1.30pm for 1.5hrs! I thought this was so much better and she might sleep better but she woke screaming at 5am?!

So now what do I do?

She started walking in November and will not sit still!!! She looks tired so I'm just not convinced 2:1 is the way we should go? But I would really appreciate any advice/ help?!

Thank you.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2017, 07:27:03 am by Hb5000 »

Offline creations

  • Feeding Solid Food & EASY
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 496
  • Posts: 21993
  • Location: UK
Re: Early crying wakings with 13 month old!
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2017, 12:12:40 pm »
Oh dear, sorry to hear your LO has been so poorly for these last few months :(
Good to hear she is on the mend and starting to eat again now though.

I would usually say a 13 month old isn't going to wake at night from hunger, and I am still tempted to say it as she has plenty of opportunity to eat in the day and at this age they just don't need night feeds. However, taking her illness into account it could be one of two things (or something else completely):
- she is making up for lost calories she didn't take when she was ill and actually does feel the hunger earlier on because she is on the mend. It could be a shortish phase of night feeds needed whilst she catches up on those calories
or
- her routine is less suitable for her now she is older and she is waking earlier due to that, but then feels hungry after waking.
Either way I would just try a feed at waking and see if she's happier.  Mine had not had a night feed for many months when he became ill at 10.5 months old, after his illness he needed night feeds for a short while, it was the first time I ever remembered hearing a hunger cry, I didn't even know what a hunger cry sounded like as he'd been on EASY since 5wks old and E times had been so predictable he had no need to cry for food.

Routine wise
I would suggest she is ready for a slightly different routine as a step towards the 2-1 but not yet dropping to 1 nap.
First I would return to your previous routine of naps at 9am and 2pm as a starting point (start that today/tomorrow)
Then decide which nap you think is most suitable for you to keep as the long nap and which the shorter nap - you can decide based on your LOs preference if you know it, or decide based on when is most convenient to fit with toddler groups you like to attend and what time they are at.
Then reduce one nap in length (start the day after)
At the same time - and regardless of which nap you reduce in length you need to move the first nap later in the morning to discourage the earlier WU time.  Instead of moving it earlier because she is tired from waking earlier you move it later and she is encouraged to stay asleep for the full night.
If you reduce the length of nap 1 - you start it later (eg 9.15) and end it at the same time as usual (wake at 10.30), do nap 2 at 2pm as usual for the normal length.  if she appears very tired prior to nap 2 you bring it 15 min earlier, 1.45pm
If it is nap 2 you want to reduce you still start the morning nap later (eg 9.15) and she can sleep a full nap 1.5hr or 2hr. The second nap you will start at 2pm but wake her at 1hr 30 max, then reducing to 1hr 15.
To be clearer - I am suggesting tomorrow you put nap directly back to 9am. The next day move it to 9.15 regardless of which nap you intend to cap.  After 2 or 3 days you will likely need to move nap 1 to 9.30 and then after another couple of days to 9.45am (this leaves a 45 CN if you are capping the first nap) and then see how she goes with the overall routine.  You might need the first nap to move later still, we'll see.  Okay?

She's actually still doing quite a good night length at 11hrs.  Nights might shorten before you fully drop to one nap.  This is because fitting two naps into the day and having a long enough A time between them might mean a longer overall day but that is normal for a while.
BT for now will be the usual 7pm as it was before her illness, and when you implement these nap changes you might also see BT needs to be a little later, maybe not yet though.  Lets see how things go with the capped nap first.

WRT E.  A lot of people continue the WU and BT milk feeds for a good while even though it is advised to drop bottles at 12 months.  I would have done exactly as you have in your situation and continued the milk feeds through the illness and recovery.  In a little while as eating improves I'd probably drop the mid morning and mid afternoon milk feeds and do just snack at that time with water.

I hope this helps.


Offline Han12345

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 45
  • Location:
Re: Early crying wakings with 13 month old!
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2017, 22:16:40 pm »
Thank you so much for your response creations. That's all making a lot of sense

I think you are actually correct about her being hungry and I've decided to up her milk at bed time. On Thursday night after I read your reply I also decided to do a dream feed. She woke around 6am which certainly was progress but unfortunately woke with the brightest red cheeks and runny nose so I think teething woke her up.

Saturday night she was at her grandma's (OH's mum). I just let her do the usual routine rather than waking her in the night and she woke at 5am again.

Tonight I've just tried giving her a night feed but she was snoring her head off when I tried to wake. She managed 2.5 oz but that's it. I'll see how she does tomorrow. If she wakes at 5, I might see if she will have a bottle and go back to sleep.

Will give it a couple more days and also have a look at changing her sleep a little too.

Thank you so much for the clear explanation on how to go about changing her routine. I really appreciate all the advice. I think definitely a step toward 2:1 is the right way for us to go but at the moment she still need the 2 naps.

Thank you again. Hopefully we have a happily waking baby again soon! Xx

Offline creations

  • Feeding Solid Food & EASY
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 496
  • Posts: 21993
  • Location: UK
Re: Early crying wakings with 13 month old!
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2017, 09:15:46 am »
Glad to be of some help.
Do feel free to post again with a routine in a few days or so and through the nap capping routine change.
and I hope her teeth come easily!


Offline Han12345

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 45
  • Location:
Re: Early crying wakings with 13 month old!
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2017, 12:43:49 pm »
Hello,

My LO is getting a little better with her sleep now after trying a few different things but now  after every sleep she is waking up crying! It's taking me a good while to settle her down. What can I do to stop this? I'm presuming it's because she's still tired but I know 2 naps wasn't working for her?

This is how her routine is now looking;

Wake: 6:15/6:30 - getting better now with 1 nap.
Nap: 12-2pm - waking up still tired and crying.
Bed: 6.45/7pm

It's not nice for any of us that she's waking crying. She used to wake happily in her cot at around 6.30 and I could leave her till 7 to get her up for the day.

Thank you.

Offline Han12345

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 45
  • Location:
Re: Early crying wakings with 13 month old!
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2017, 12:48:16 pm »
I meant to add that I'm having to push her through till 12. She's seems to spend most her days tired and with her thumb in but I know the 1 sleep is better for her and stopping the EW.

She would happily go for a nap around 9ish and I've tried doing this and waking her after 30mins but she didn't cope with this well. She would be upset when I woke her and then would struggle to get to sleep to nap later in the day. So I found she was having worse sleep.

This seems to be working ok if I keep her busy in the morning. It's just the waking crying. Thanks.

Offline creations

  • Feeding Solid Food & EASY
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 496
  • Posts: 21993
  • Location: UK
Re: Early crying wakings with 13 month old!
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2017, 16:09:11 pm »
Have you tried the one nap slightly earlier?
Your morning A time is around 5hr 30 to 5hr 45 where as the afternoon A time is 4hr 45 to 5hr.  if she will go down for a nap at say 11.30 she might get a 2 hr sleep and wake happier.  it really depends if she will go down at that time and still get a 2hr nap.  Obviously it's pointless putting her nap earlier if it leads to a short UT nap, yk?
Otherwise, although she is moody and tired, there is not much option other than to just plod on and she will grow into the routine and gradually handle it better.  Depending how long you've been doing just the one nap you might want to consider throwing in just one day where there are 2 naps, even if it means a later BT on that day, it could help her have a catch up from the accumulated OT.