Author Topic: Frequent night wakings in 13 mo old  (Read 963 times)

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Offline Paulsmama

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Frequent night wakings in 13 mo old
« on: April 15, 2006, 17:59:20 pm »
Hi folks, I would really appreciate any advice/insight as to what has transformed my formerly good sleeper into something else.  From 7-11 mos he was sleeping through the night, then standing/illness led to some wakings, then he slept through again for a while, but lately for the past couple of weeks it has gotten worse, so that the past two nights he is waking 4+ times a night.  His day is generally 6:30/7 am to 8 pm (put in bed by 7:30 but takes a while to fall asleep) with naps at 9/9:30 for 45min-1hr and 2/2:30 for 1hr-1hr15min.  When I put him down he falls asleep in his crib and I'm sitting on the floor (he can't see me while he is lying down), when my mom who has been visiting puts him down for a nap she usually stands over him until he falls asleep.  When he wakes at night he is crying, sometimes standing up.  It is pitch black in his room so it is hard to tell if he is really awake or not.  Usually he settles very quickly but there is usually one waking between 3-5am where he is definitely awake and up for about 30 min.  Frankly, I'm stumped, here's what I've thought about, I could really use some help from folks with more experience!

1.  Overtired.  But, he doesn't act tired in the day, and is generally very happy, sometimes a bit fussy right before bedtime.  Goes down for am nap easily, pm nap is harder.  Takes about 20-25 min to fall asleep at night.  Usually first nightwaking not until 3 hrs after he falls asleep. 

2.  Not tired enough/transition to 1 nap.  We did have one 1-nap day where he woke at 7:30, wasn't taking a nap by 10:15 so we got him up, fed him lunch and he slept 11:30-1:45, asleep for the night at 7.  He only woke once that night, best in 2 weeks.  But, this was only possible because we drove around and took LONG stroller walks and had a houseful of folks to entertain him to keep him up and he was very, very tired at the end of the day.  When he wakes up before 7 he usually can't make it to 10 for his am nap.

3.  Teething.  He is cutting tooth #8 but never had nightwaking troubles with teething before.

4.  Separation anxiety.  He had some bad sep anxiety around his 1st birthday but it seems better now, he is usually fine when I leave him with my mom.

5.  Developmental.  He is cruising and really, really, wants to walk.  We give him lots of practice during the day.  When he is crying he is usually standing but as I said not always clear he's totally awake.  I used to sleepwalk as a young child.

6.  AP.  My mom has been getting him at night for the past two weeks.  This is a bit help to me because I am preg again and very tired.  The past week at the early morning waking she has been taking him to sleep with her on the daybed in his room so she can get some sleep too.  I hope this isn't the problem because she is doing me such a huge favor by visiting and taking him at night.

Any other ideas/suggestions?  Everyone has been so helpful in the past and I'd love to get this cracked soon!  Mom will be leaving and I'll be doing the nightwakings because DH wants to let DS CIO.
Cynthia

Paul--spirited/March 2005
Joseph--touchy-textbook??/Sept 2006

Offline Harrisonsmummy

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Re: Frequent night wakings in 13 mo old
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2006, 13:43:09 pm »
Hi, My DS did the same thing at this age for a couple of weeks just before he walked properly. I slept in the spare room with him once, and he literally sat straight up almost in his sleep and cried, he hadn't even woken up. So I assumed after that, the wakings were almost a reflex, practising walking while asleep and waking crying somewhat confused. I believe it is very common literally in the two weeks before they actually walk. As soon as DS was walking himself the wakings went away. Just get him practising like mad, but make sure of an extra long calm down before bedtime and maybe a leg massage to relax the muscles....

Justine

Offline Paulsmama

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Re: Frequent night wakings in 13 mo old
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2006, 17:14:03 pm »
Thank you so very much for the info, that makes me feel better.  The past couple of nights we've actually been back down to 2 nightwakings, which I can handle, and he's not being taken out of the crib.  Last night just 11:00 -- pat on the back and he laid back down -- and 4:15 (kept standing up for about 1/2 hr) -- then he slept in until 7:30 am!  Then this morning he actually took a step in between a chair and the coffee table.  I'm sure we're still in for some more rough nights but it really helps me soldier through knowing that there is a reason. 

Will also try the longer wind-down before bedtime.  I think his bath was also creeping up too much on bedtime.  He loves splashing around and it actually gets him a kind of worked up.  So we'll keep the bath shorter and read a few more books afterwards.
Cynthia

Paul--spirited/March 2005
Joseph--touchy-textbook??/Sept 2006