Author Topic: 1 yo night waking originally a post in: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?  (Read 1002 times)

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Offline MyBella

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Not to hijack the thread but I'm having a similar problem since my lo turned 1 year old.  Her bedtime had always been super early like 6:00pm, but wasn't a problem since she would sleep 12-14 hrs at night (with only about 1 hr total during the day made up of two half hour naps).  Then almost overnight, night time went down to 11.5 then 11 hours and all of a sudden she's up at 5:00am and still not napping very much during the day, may be at most 1.5hrs total.  So I've been trying to postpone her bedtime so she wakes up at a more reasonable hour, 5:00 am is definitely not OK on the weekends.  First we pushed it to 6:30pm and with the time change that became 7:30pm, but now we have night wakings.  Grrr... Is this developmental or am I doing something wrong?
Beril
(Mom to Isabella Bilgi born on 2/24/2005 - Textbook/Spirited)

Offline Florencia

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Hello Beril (MyBella), of course you were not hijacking but i beleive yours is a different case from Allysa, therefore, you deserve personalized advice and that's why i splitted the post.

Overall, i beleive that 12.5 hours in a 24 hour period is a very decent/average sleep time for a 1 year old. I think 11 straight hours at night should be enough for your lo to wake up rested and have full sleep cycles. I wouldn't be concerned unless she's waking upset, crying for long periods and is hard to console.

Night wakings might be due to teething, 12 months is the top mark for molars and eyeteeth to start popping in. These ones are extremely painful and prevent lo's to have deep sleep cycles. I'd try some preventive meds (tylenol or motril if your ped ok's them) and see what happens during that night. If she doesn't wake you might be positive that she's teething hence the waking.

Another thing that might be causing night wakings is your lo going to bed overtired. Could you post what her usual day looks like so we can come up with suggestions for a schedule that allows her to go to bed without overtiredness? How long are her nightwakings lasting and how do you work them out?

Hang in there, we'll come up with something ;)

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

Offline imsmum

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Pushing back the bedtime may be countter productive--it usually doesn't shift wake up times except earlier because they're overtired when they go to sleep!  My lo always wakes in the night if she is overtired going to bed--I bet if you move the bedtime back to where it was it will at least get rid of the nightwaking although you'll still likely be left withthe early wakeups.  When night sleep starts shortening it can be a sign that they need to drop a nap.  although a bit early that may the case for your lo (although come to think of it my older dd went down to 1 nap at 11 months).  How long have the naps been 1/2 hour?  Is your lo harder to get down?

Offline MyBella

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Thank you both for your replies!  This week we've had three what I would call unusual and bad nights.  First two nights there were 2 wakings, one at 10pm and one at 2:30am both of which required intervention.  10pm ones were relatively easy to get through, the 2:30am ones lasted 2.5-3 hrs during which dd cried hard, did not want to be held, did not want to be put down.  I just didn't know what to do.  Last night she woke up and cried 4 times, 9pm, 10pm, 1am, and 3am.  I had to go in at 10pm and 1am, both times she started pushing me away as soon as I got near the crib so I just put her face down on the mattress (her preferred sleep position) and started rubbing her back and that seemed to do the trick.  Prior to being sick the week prior, and this past week, we've probably gone 4-5 months straight where we never needed to go in because even if she woke she would mantra cry, play or coo and put herself back to sleep. 

Our regular schedule is as follows:
5:30-6:00am Awake
6:45am Breakfast solids + milk
9:00am 1st nap (w/ mom & dad on weekends typically 30-45 minutes, during the week with nanny 75 min - go figure)
10:00-10:30ish Snack
12:00pm Lunch solids + milk
1:30pm 2nd nap ((w/ mom & dad on weekends typically 30-45 minutes, during the week with nanny 75 min)
2:30-3:00ish Snack
5:15pm Dinner solids
5:45pm Bath
6:00pm Bottle
6:30pm Asleep

And a clarification on the naps.  They have always been short, started with the 20 min naps when she was 3 weeks old, went through a few weeks of lengthened naps, but reverted back to 45min naps, kind of hung in there with the various methods of trying to extend naps until 6 months old, and finally decided at that point that was it, and gave into the 30 min naps.  Around 9 months, grandma came to stay with us and miraculously naps started lengthening, but remained 30-45 min on the weekends or on any day that I'm home (I'm wondering if grandma can't tell when she's really asleep).  Night sleep has always been better for lo.

Any insight and advice is apprecited!  Thanks!
« Last Edit: April 05, 2006, 02:19:06 am by MyBella »
Beril
(Mom to Isabella Bilgi born on 2/24/2005 - Textbook/Spirited)

Offline Florencia

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LOL i've also found that ds sleeps better when in nanny's custody. AGG i used to tell people that i was paying the woman to watch my child sleep  ;)... I think it has to do with the excitement of mom and dad being around and that usually off days are very busy days for working parents and kids tend to get excited/overtired around the turmoil. Not to worry, she just wants your company.

For what you describe in the night wakings sounds like teething to me. I could've wrote your post when ds was that age and i also have seen lots of posters/friends describe their children the same way: can't recognize him, s/he used to be comforted by this, won't settle, hates to be held.... you name it. Also, a long night waking that comes out of nothing is pretty indicative of teething pain. Again, your day routine sounds perfect to me (especially on weekdays when your dd gets to be much more rested) and i don't think she's going to bed overtired.

You might want to try the pain aid before bed (tylenol or motrin) if your ped ok's them. On particularly tough days (when teeth are about to break the gums) you might have to add an extra dose in the middle of the night because both meds last up to 6 hours. Remember that molars and eyeteeth can take up to one month of bugging before showing up, so it's a tricky phase. Everyone used to tell me it was the molars and i couldn't beleive it cause i wasn't seeing them. I thought my ds had forgotten how to sleep ::) then after a month of sleepless nights and trying a variety of methods with no much luck, i tried the pain aid and things started to go smoother for me. By then, ds was also used to wake at determined hours so i also had to try the wake to sleep method to disrupt that bad habit. In your case, i don't think is necesary yet since your dd is waking at different hours.

Good luck and i hope this helps!
Mom to Manolo, spirited monkey and Jose Miguel, an angel cupcake