Author Topic: 15 month old - habit waking during nap?  (Read 2057 times)

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Offline sltpoppy

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15 month old - habit waking during nap?
« on: June 06, 2019, 12:07:49 pm »
Hi,
My 15 month old has been on 1 nap since 12 months. For about the last 8 weeks he has been habit waking at 1 hour 20 and won’t resettle. At first I thought it was teething as he has just cut his first molars and all his canine teeth but they are through now and he waking continues. I’ve tried different wake times but he still wakes at 1 hour 20, it’s driving me mad.
His day usually looks like this:
6:30-6:50 - up for the day
12:15/12:30 to ?? usually only 1 hour 20, sometimes up to 2 hours
7:15/7:30 bedtime
He always wakes crying from his nap so i know he is still tired. If I put him to bed earlier he just wakes up earlier the next day. He’s generally sleeping through the night but will have a couple of sleep cries where he resettles himself. Occasionally he will sleep all night without a sound, but rarely.
He is a very light sleeper so trying to rouse him to reset his sleep cycle always results in him waking up. I’ve tried leaving him and going in at intervals to say it’s still sleep time but he iust screams until I get him up.
I can’t really change his nap time as he’s starting daycare soon and they have set nap time of 12:15pm.
Any ideas on what is causing the wake would be appreciated!

Offline Katet

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Re: 15 month old - habit waking during nap?
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2019, 23:16:53 pm »
What sort of things do you do in the morning to fill his awake time. It could be that he needs a different form of stimulation/activities to make him tired both mentally or physically.
It could also be overtired as. It's almost 6 hours until his nap from wake up, so maybe see if a nap at about 11.30 helps... worry about the nap at daycare when he starts.... If he naps longer at 11.30 then you know it's overtired and can think about possibilities later.
dc1 July 03, dc2 May 05

Offline sltpoppy

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Re: 15 month old - habit waking during nap?
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2019, 12:42:31 pm »
Thanks so much for replying. He’s always been quite low sleep needs, he was doing 4.5 hour wake times at 9 months and dropped to one nap on his first birthday. He has gradually moved 15 mins longer awake before his nap each month since he dropped down to one nap, started at 5 hours awake and now at 6 hours (he’s almost 16 months now) so I don’t think he’s overtired. We often are doing chores at home in the morning or out doing shopping, I was wondering whether it’s too much sitting around for him and he’s not tired enough. He went to the playground with his Dad yesterday morning and we had to wake him up after 2hours 20 which is really unheard of for him. He often wakes up coughing and crying though, he’s always been refluxy but the doctor we see would never treat him. I do wonder whether sometimes it’s what he’s had for lunch that’s bothering his reflux.. He also has been a really bad separation anxiety sufferer since about 7 months so I’m wondering if we’re going through a patch of that as well as having gotten all his canines in the last month. He’s always been a very sensitive sleeper and teething, illness, noise, temperature, developmental leaps have always majorly disrupted his sleep. It’s tiring always trying to troubleshoot! Is there an age when they start to sleep more solidly and are less affected by all these things??
« Last Edit: June 11, 2019, 12:46:31 pm by sltpoppy »

Offline Katet

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Re: 15 month old - habit waking during nap?
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2019, 21:47:54 pm »
I hear you on the trouble shooting.
It does improve can't say a time, but by 4yo mine started telling me that they wanted sleep.
It does sound like he's understimulated.
Can he walk around when he's shopping and while it takes longer engage him a lot in chores as that is mental stimulation and actually fun for kids
dc1 July 03, dc2 May 05

Offline sltpoppy

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Re: 15 month old - habit waking during nap?
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2019, 11:46:40 am »
So I’ve tried to make our mornings more active the last couple of days and we’ve had longer naps with no wakes. He now won’t go to sleep at normal bedtime though.
First day was
6:30 wake
12:30-2:45 nap (we woke him up)
7:50 bedtime, cried and protested from 7:25 when we put him down

6:15 wake
12:20 - 2pm nap
7:30 bedtime

5:45 - woke chatting and dozed till 6am
12:30 - 2:15 nap
8:15 bedtime, cried and protested from 7:30 when we put him to bed

He’s needed about 12.5-13 hrs total sleep since about 12 months. Now seems to be down to about 12-12.5 hours. He’s definitely going through some developmental stuff, talking in 2 word sentences now and walking up and down stairs. I’m actually wondering if I should cap his nap back at 1hr 30 to get him sleeping a longer night again. Since he’s taken these longer naps he’s been really tired in the morning from the short night and full of energy at night time from the longer nap. Early wakes for us have always been undertired.

Offline sltpoppy

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Re: 15 month old - habit waking during nap?
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2019, 10:29:52 am »
So I've found his perfect morning awake time regardless of night length is 6 hours - we get a great settled nap with no waking. I think the 1 hour 20 wakes have been undertiredness. But he would happily nap forever now and any nap longer than 1.5 hours is resulting in massive bedtime resistance and unsettled, short nights.
The easiest bedtimes and nice settled nights of sleeping through with no wakes that we have had has been on a nap of 1hour 20-1 hour 30. I think I've answered my own question and will start waking him after a max of 1hour 30, he's always had much lower sleep needs than other babies his age.