Author Topic: 11 Month Old Waking and SCREAMING  (Read 1282 times)

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Offline jennbull

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11 Month Old Waking and SCREAMING
« on: January 18, 2006, 14:18:07 pm »
My son is 11 months old and has started this horrible scream at night and nap times.  He used to take 2 great naps, 2 hours in morning and 1 hour in the afternoon.  Now he is only wanting to sleep maybe 30 minutes and then wakes up screaming.  At night he was sleeping all night for months.  Now he will wake up in the middle of the night and screaming like he is dieing.  He will not let up for hours.  I go in for reassurance but I do not want to become a prop or pick him up because he will then expect it every time he wakes.  He is also waking at like 5:30???  Could this be separation anxiety?  I don't know what to do.  Here was he schedule for the past 4 or so months.  Now the schedule seems very off and not working so I am trying to fix it. 

Wake 6:30 or 7:00  (now it is 5:30 or so)
Bottle 7:30
Breakfast 8:15
Nap 8:30 or 9:00  (usually 2 hours)
Bottle  11:30
Lunch 12:15
Nap 2:00  (usually 1 hour)
Bottle 3:30
Dinner  5:30
Bath  7:30
Bottle and Bed 7:30


This schedule was working perfectly for months.  Now it is not working.  I have increased his awake time in the morning to 3 hours bc he never seems ready for a nap.  He is waking up so early????  and acting hungry all day.  I am so lost as to how to fix this schedule.  Also, How do I keep him awake for three hours before first nap and him not be hungry too early?  It makes it a 5 hour schedule.

Is 4 bottles too many?  I am about to switch to milk in a cup and really don't know how to do that???

Thanks :lol:

Offline Florencia

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11 Month Old Waking and SCREAMING
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2006, 18:03:08 pm »
Hi,

It seems to me that your baby is about to go through a lot of changes, i.e: 3 bottles a day, 2 to 1 nap, walking, teething, etc.

For us, that age was the mark when the toddlerhood nightmare started. The first thing we had to adjust was from2 naps to one. But by looking at your schedule, it seems to me that you might want to try increasing awake time first. By that age my ds (and almost all the kids i know his age) were holding as of 3.5 to 4 hours for the first nap. Whenever ds wanted to adjust his awake time i knew it because it was arow of wakings with screaming from hell.

Whenever he wakes happy, i know it's the right schedule for a while.

Also you don't mention about teething. You say that he acts hungry, could it be he has itchy gums? why don't you try some oraljel and tylenol before each nap or bedtime?

The early wakings might be caused because he's overtired and is not getting deep sleep cycles do to exhausting days of screaming and not napping. So let's focus first on fixing his naps and then cross fingers for him to fix the early waking... if not, we'll think of something.

Have you noticed any developmental changes? like is he standing in the crib? is he walking or trying to? many babies at that age learn how to stand and do that while sleeping. THen they wake and have no idea how did they get there, freak out and hence the screaming. So putting him down after the waking with some shs and reassurance (but being really boring, you know, no eye contact or talking) might help you to extend the nap or getting him back to sleep.

So i guess the advice will go with many changes: increase awake time for morning nap, preventive meds for pain and pd and shsing for extending nap and getting himback to sleep at nights.

I really hope you find some of this helpful. We're here for you.

Welcome to toddlerhood!
Mom to Manolo, spirited monkey and Jose Miguel, an angel cupcake

Offline jennbull

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11 Month Old Waking and SCREAMING
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2006, 03:34:27 am »
Hi,

Thank you so much for responding.  I am just now having a chance to write back. 

As far as switching to one nap – I am hesitant to do this bc we just went to two naps like a month ago so it seems too early to go to one.

I have tried keeping him up anywhere from 2.5 hours to 3.5 hours and nothing seems to work.  I can’t find that window.  Also, if you keep them up like 3.5 to 4 hours how do you do a 4 hour EASY?

He has never been one to wake happy no matter what, but he has never done this intense screaming thing.  Could it be night terrors? 

I gave him Tylenol tonight so hopefully it will help.  I will work on the naps and see if it helps the night sleep.

Thanks again for all you help!!!

Offline Florencia

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11 Month Old Waking and SCREAMING
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2006, 17:53:39 pm »
First off, you dont have anything to thank, that's why we're here for :wink:

Then, i'm going to take a guess and bet on developmental. When my ds started acting weird it was very clear (of course after a long while on trying everything) that he was changing from baby to toddler. Much like you describe.

I agree that if it's not long before you switched to 2 naps, maybe changing to 1 is a huge change. But I guess it's worth a shot of 3.5 hours of awake time.

4 hour EASY might be switched to 4.5 or 5 hours between bottles if you start offering solid snacks before naps to make sure he wont wake hungry. As your baby grows into todderhood he'll be adapting his timings by himself.

You didn't mention about physical changes he might be showing like standing or trying to walk. Those are major steps that might be causing his restleness.

A snack you might offer before naps can be crackers with cheese, fruit, cereal. That should keep his tummy full before next bottle.

I hope this helps you and things start getting better for you.
Mom to Manolo, spirited monkey and Jose Miguel, an angel cupcake