Can someone look at schedule and advise on night wakings?

[mommy2chase]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone  could look at ds's schedule and let me know if there's anything I could do different to get him to sleep through the night.  He has done it in the past, but not for a really long time.  He wakes at least once if not 2-3 times during the night.  Most often he won't go back to sleep without nursing.  FYI, he goes down awesome for nighttime and for naps, I just lay him down awake and he goes to sleep on his own. 

Ok, here's the schedule (approximate) and TIA for any advice
7:30-8 wake up
8 nurse
8:30 breakfast
playtime
9:30/10 nap for 2 hours
12ish lunch
playtime, activities, etc
4ish, another 1.5-2hour nap
6 snack
7dinner
7:30/8 bath, massage, story, lullaby, then sleep by 8/8:30

Then he will wake lately around 3:30, 5:30, 6:30.

Thanks

[Katet]

How old is he? Sounds like he sleeps a lot during the day 3.5-4 hours & then 11+ at night,
I'm wondering if he isn't really tired enough to easily transition through the light sleep phases which are more frequent in the last 3-4 hours of sleep.
You might like to try cutting the morning nap back in length & delaying it a bit as he doesn't have much activity time before the first nap & I have read the am awake time has a correlation with the am/night sleep.

[mommy2chase]

HI, he's a year almost.  I've tried eliminating one of his naps, and it never made a difference at night wakings, but it did make him a crabby little boy during the day, lol.  So, unfortunately the nap thing won't make a diff.

Any other suggestions?

[Florencia]

I have to agree with Kate. Looks like a lot of daytime sleep for a young toddler! He might not be tired enough at night to go down and hence his wakings at early hours in the moring, when the sleep phases are lighter. I'd try and have him awake from the second nap no later than 5 pm for an 830 bedtime. At least 3.5 hour activity time should make him tired enough.

Then it's the breast prop. If he's waking in the middle of the night he should be able to go back to sleep with a sleep training techinque that doesn't involve your breast so he learns the skills by himself (look at the FAQ section of this board to find the method that suits you best).

It is hard to realize what's making him wake, cause 12-15 months seem to be a really tough age for toddlers, it's right when they transition from babyhood, learn lots of new skills, teethe their molars, and have huge developmental milestones that keep them wired and excited. But no matter what's making him wake (in the FAQ section there's also a thread about sleep busters, check that one out and see if something rings the bell for you) he should be able to put himself back to sleep.

To eliminate the feeds, just do your chosen sleep training method each time he wakes. Try to settle him back to sleep with that instead of your breast and he might stop waking cause he'll know there will be no bf in the mix.

A last note would be to check on him for reflux if he was a refluxer as a baby. Most toddlers need an extra dosage of meds for reflux once they reach 12 months until they're 18 mo. Since the worst episodes of reflux have gone (they seem tob e worse when they're tiny babies) we sometimes not think about it. It happened to me... i was doing all sorts of sleep training and once i got the right dosage of meds i got a sleeper back. Check that out and good luck!

[Katet]

HI, he's a year almost.  I've tried eliminating one of his naps, and it never made a difference at night wakings, but it did make him a crabby little boy during the day, lol.  So, unfortunately the nap thing won't make a diff.

Any other suggestions?

Eliminating a nap will just make him very overtired & most babies don't cope well with 1 nap at 1yo... but reducing the nap lengths can make a difference... I know with both my boys it helped considerably to limit to 3 hours day time.

[mommy2chase]

Thanks you guys.  I've tried altering his naps from 2 to 1, from one long one and one short one, but that has never made even a little difference.  He's not waking up wanting to play, he just wants to bf and goes right back to sleep.

Thanks, i'll check out the faq's.

[Katet]

If you alternate too much it you probably won't see results... it can take a week or even 3 to see some changes from things like early wakings, so I don't imagin you will see a change in a few days.

Also if he is only looking for a bf, then part is "learned" hunger... his body expects a feed at that time. So you will also need to address that.

[imsmum]

It looks like the late nap may be the culprit but I agree that the wakings since they are at a consistent time are probably habitual by this point.  I agree with Florencia that you should check the FAQ section on alternative ways of dealing with the waking but I suspect once that is done you may still have  to tweak the napping.  The afternoon nap is very late in the day for it to be lasting for so long and is probably interfering with your lo's ability to get to sleep early which is probably contributing to the night wakings as well.

[Coopersmom]

We were running into the same situation with our ds at almost the same time.  I ended up stretching the morning out longer and switching to one nap at 12:30 and got him up by 2:30 or 3.  Eventually we got to the point where he goes down at 1 or 1:30 and sleeps for 2 hours then is up.  He goes to bed for the night by 8.  Maybe you lo is ready for one nap?  I know you have tried things and one nap may seem to early for his age but you never know?  hth