12 Month Old Sudden Change in Sleep Habits - HELP!

[Ewan's Mummy]

HELP! My 12 month old has always slept really well. Typical routine has for many months been
6am - get up & milk
7am - breakfast
9am - 10am Nap
10.30am - milk/snack
12noon - Lunch
1pm - 2pm - Nap
3pm - Milk/snack
5pm - Dinner
6.30pm - Milk & bed
He's always gone down in his cot wide awake and just gone to sleep - that was until about three weeks ago! Now I don't know if I'm coming or going.  He started resisting his morning nap and it got later and later. So he was going down at about 10.30 for about an hour.  Then he wouldn't go down for an afternoon nap and transformed from a baby I could just pop into his cot and he'd go to sleep to a baby who stood up clinging to the bars and screaming.  So I started putting him down for a nap around 11am which was fine, but he wouldn't take an afternoon nap and was too cranky to eat his dinner in the evening and generally miserable. Even though he is tired he's refusing to Nap he just will not lie down. Now things have gone from bad to worse and today he EVENTUALLY went down for a nap at 1.30pm but woke up at 1.50pm and refused to go back to sleep.  He was tired all day, but when I tried to put him to bed tonight (same routine as always) he just stood up and screamed in his cot - so I had to get him up again for a while and read him another story. He finally went to sleep at 8PM!!! He's never done that before EVER!  What is going on? Has anyone experienced this or can anyone offer any advice - I now feel like I have NO routine whatsoever and now dont even know when to attempt to put him down for his naps.

[Ewan's Mummy]

Thanks for the reply - things are going from  bad to worse.  Today I tried to put him down at 10am since he was rubbing his eyes and yawning - but no luck - just babbled in his cot for fifteen minutes and then started screaming (he's never cried in his cot before).  So eventually I got him up and popped out to the toy library - gave him a large snack there at about 11 and though I'd put him down at 12.  On the way back in the car he was constantly yawning and couldn't keep his eyes open.  It's now 12.30 and he's in his cot refusing to go to sleep. This is exhausting!   

[alyssa1]

I just wanted to let you know that I am going through the same thing with my 14 month old.  I don't have a solution for you because I haven't found one myself but I can totally sympathize with you.  I am trying to switch to the one nap around 11:30/12:00 (and hope for 1-2 hours) but it has been exhausting!!  A lot of the time it will only be 30-40 min. and he is still really tired but won't want to nap in the afternoon.  Maybe it's a process and we need to just see how it goes over a few weeks??  I know I am really trying to stick to it but when he is really tired in the morning and won't nap I don't know what to do?
Good luck and let me know if you come up with anything.

[Ewan's Mummy]

Well, Ewan's sleeping is just getting worse and worse!  Is it common to have periods like this when sleeping seems to become really difficult and stressful?  I have a few questions and would appreciate any advice anyone can offer..

I have always had the same pre-nap/sleep routine with Ewan - always into his sleeping bag, story, cuddle, cot, sleep.  Plus a bath before night sleep.  That's always wound him down fine and he's just drifted off.  Now, when I'm trying to read his story he's trying to crawl off, when I try and put his sleepbag on he wriggles and screams and tries to crawl off and when I put him in his cot he stands straight up and screams. If I try and lie him down he just jumps straight back up and if I keep lying him down he gets VERY upset and far too stressed to fall asleep.  If I left him standing in his cot he used to lie himself down and go  back to sleep eventually but he's stopped doing that now, he'll just stand there and scream and scream.  Can anyone suggest a way to get him to relax and go to sleep?  I know he's tired because he's yawning, rubbing his eyes, crying and pulling his ears.  This is so frustrating.

Next question - he's always slept around 12 hours at night, yet last night instead of going down at 6.30 it took until 8pm to get him to sleep - but he still awoke at 6am cranky and standing up and refused to go back to sleep.  Any ideas why he might be suddenly sleeping less at night when he seems so tired.

Also, just now I tried to put him down for his nap - had the usual crying, standing up etc then I picked him up, gave him a cuddle and he just literally conked out in my arms - so now he's asleep in his cot.  So how come he's suddenly stopped wanting to sleep in his cot when he's always been fine?  Sorry to waffle on with all these questions but this is really starting to wear me down!  I now have no idea what times to try and put him down for naps and bed as nothing seems to work - we've always had such a great routine so I'm finding this a bit mind blowing.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[rebecaq]

Hi there, 

First of all I want to send you {{{HUGS}}} it's not easy what you are going through.  I take care of my 24 month old niece and went through the same thing you are when she was that age.  And let me tell you, when they get overtired it's horrible. 

Babies make a big transtion at this age. And that transition revolves around sleep.  I swear it's like a timer goes off in their head and BOOM! all their sleep goes on a different schedule.

I think Ewan is getting WAY too much sleep for his age. And Stacy is right in saying that they need only one nap a day at this age.  The problem is that adjusting to it is tricky business. It's not as easy as saying "Oh, he dropped the morning nap, now he can go awake until 3 p.m." (Learnt that the hard way    )  Here's what I did with my niece.  I pushed lunch up until 11, and at around 12 she'd go down for a 2 - 3 hour nap, after about 2 weeks I would extend lunch to 11:15, then 11:30 and so on.  And then eventually he'll be having lunch at his regular time of 12 and taking the nap at around 1 or 2.

Also, the lovely days of having them sleep 12 hours a night don't last forever! I think a 6:30 p.m. bedtime is too early for a 12 month old. Try shooting for 7:30 or 8, he can handle it now.

I hope I was able to help, and believe it does get better, I was pulling my hair oout with my niece until I figured all this out.  Let me know how it goes, ok?? 

[Lana]

Okay I had to answer this cause I have a Ewan as well .

Does he have anything going on developmentally?  When Ewan was first starting to walk it really screwed up his sleep for a while.  Also when he go this first set of molars it was the same.

All we did was stay consistent with the routine and eventually it worked itself out.

{{{{HUGS}}}}

[Ewan's Mummy]

Hi there everyone.  Thanks so much for all the advice, it's good to feel like I have support out there!  Ewan is just mastering walking (he can walk on his own but is VERY unstable and would rather have his hands held!) - so could that be why he is struggling to nap?  Things are still bad at this end.  I've been trying him on one nap per day for the past few days, pushing the nap as late as possible - yesterday he had his nap at 10.45 and woke up at 12.15, but by tea-time he was beside himself and wouldn't eat his meal (that happened the day before as well) - even when he is this tired he will not lie down in his cot - he just keeps on standing up and standing up even though he's exhausted and then he just starts screaming.  If I pick him up he'll struggle against me and wriggle and scream for a few minutes then eventually relax enough to be drowsy and then I can put him down just before he nods off.  Anyway, after attempts at one nap for three days ending each time with him too tired and cranky to eat his meal, today I put him down at 9.30am as he was EXHAUSTED and rubbing his eyes etc.  Then  by 2.30 he was doing the same, but would not go down at all. So again by 4pm he was hysterical and rubbing his eyes and wouldn't eat.  I'm really not sure what to do now.  I'm sorry for this long waffly posting again but I have no idea now whether to go for two naps or one?  When he has one he really seems far too tired  by the evening and doesn't sleep so well at night, but I just can't get him to take the afternoon one!  Anyone got any other words of wisdom?  I tried putting him to bed later as rebecaq suggested but then he woke up even earlier (went down at 8 and woke up just before 6!) and then he was very tired all day and I just had to put him to bed earlier the next night - this feels like a real mess!

[rebecaq]

{{{HUGS}}} to you and it sounds like you have an overtired baby on your hands.

It's going to be hard for a while to make the transition, but I say stick to you guns and keep just one nap. Maybe trying to conquer one nao and a later bedtime at once is too much for him. It worked for my niece, but it doesn't make it the norm. 

Have you tried putting him back down when he wakes up? I know it sounds crazy, he already slept for 1.5 hours! But the transition to one nap is just that they sleep once in the day with the same amount of sleep time. So for example if he was sleeping 2.5 hours combined then shoot for about 2 hours, even if it means doinf PU/PD for the remaining time.

And you betcha that his walking is interrupting! I bet as soon as he gets the hang of it, or used to trying to master it things are going to improve!

[alyssa1]

I'm so sorry for your hard time.  I know the feeling    We have been going through it too.  I know that the 12 month mark is a big change and it seemed like everyday was different for my guy for a few months.  We are just starting to see things getting better now (14.5 months old).  I don't want to scare you, but I think it will take time to get to just one nap and sleeing well in the night too.  I found that it's a process not a week adjustment - for mine anyways.  I would try to get to one nap but you have to take each day at a time and know that they will be different for awhile.  2 naps some days are inevitable until he gets used to the one nap and then the increasing one nap.  My lo will struggle with me as well when I try to hold him to calm him down and I know it's really hard on me  .  Keep trying and it will get better but it may take some time.