My 14 month old will not sleep through

[Isabelle's Mum]

My 14 month old daughter has slept through perfectly until a month ago. She now wakes in the night and will not go back to sleep. Last night she woke at midnight and I didn't get her back to sleep until 4:15, she then woke again half an hour later and I managed to get her to sleep in my bed.
Should we be leaving her to cry (I find this very hard), last night I tried this for about half an hour but she got worse. My husband and I don't know what to do, please help!

[jessica and emilys mummy]

Hi.I'm sorry you're going through this.
I would not leave her to cry as this doesn't really do much,apart from making the scream more high pitched (as you probably know)
The thing that worked for me was to go in the room when she was crying,lay her down,go out of the room and count to 10.Go in,lay her down,go out,count to 10,repeat this until she finally goes to sleep.
I will warn you.It takes a while,the first time I did it,it took about an hour,(which was actually quite good considering it was taking 3-4 hours)It took a good couple of weeks to get into,but the time it took got less and less,by the third night we were down to 25 mins.


I have see others on this site saying about having the chair by the cot and gradually edge towards the door over a few nights/weeks.There have been good feedback on that as well,I haven't tried it myself.

Let us know what you choose and how it goes. :wink:

[GraceKellysmom]

We have had a rough time with Max over the last month or so and he is finally sleeping through again. He's just a bit older than yours.

I remember my ped with Grace told me that around this age a lot of things are going on. First, they start getting dreams/nightmares. If Max was crying, I would sit with him for sometimes 20 min until he was calm and almost back to sleep. Second, there is a lot of things developmentally going on, like a language leap about to happen, walking/running. Their brains and bodies have a hard time relaxing and shutting down. Third, always think of teeth and possible illness.

Things that I did that worked with mine. I wear them out during the day, helping them to be very active. I limit tv time. I make sure they get plenty to eat and drink during the day. We have a set bedtime (which Max's just got pushed back to 7:30pm) and a good winddown routine which includes books, bath, cuddle time.

This really will pass. It is so hard to be up with them at this age, especially when they are older and talking and throwing tantrums in their cribs at night. This will pass.

[Isabelle's Mum]

Thank you so much for your replies, it makes me feel like it isn't only us going through this. I will try the counting to ten method tonight, and see how we get on. The only trouble is she has now got a cold! Things can only get better!
Kate