13 month old has started night wakings - previously slept through

[teamholly]

Hi All,

Hope you can help us as we are exhausted.  Our 13 month ‘Angel’ daughter started night wakings around three weeks ago  She has been waking regularly around 1am and then 3am too and then last night she woke up at around 9pm, 11pm, 1am, 3.10am (at which point it then took until 4.26am to get her back to sleep).

Previously she had slept through the night since early January (with dream feed up until May) with the exception of a few days interrupted sleep here and there due to colds, teething etc. but she always went back to sleeping through.  So we can’t work out what is wrong now as she is well and nothing seems amiss.

She is very happy during the day and has a good routine.  She goes to sleep at night on her own without any problem.

When she wakes at night she cries and if she does not go back to sleep on her own after a few minutes one of us will go in.  She will usually be bouncing up and down or rocking on all fours.  We either give her cuddle or re-position her in the cot.  Occasionally she will go straight back to sleep but most times she tosses and turns, babbling, playing with her monkey toy etc.  She does not seem distressed.  Sometimes it can take us an hour and a half to get her back to sleep – one of us will sit by the cot in the dark, laying a soothing hand if necessary.

She started day care about six weeks ago and does not nap very well there – yesterday only one 25 minute nap the whole day – could this be a factor?  At home (Wednesdays and weekends) she will do one 1 ½  to 2 hour nap and another of 45 minutes.

Would be grateful for any help.

Thanks J&B

[imsmum]

I definitely think that the napping is the culprit.  Frequent night wakings is a sure  sign of overtiredness with my dd.  Is she only offerred one nap at daycare or will they give her two if she needs it?  If they won't do 2, I think that you'll just have to go with super early bedtimes until she can make up her sleep--I don't know how early she normally goes down but you may need a 6:30 naptime on those days that she has only one short nap at daycare.

[Florencia]

It sounds developmental related (the bouncing and jiggling with the monkey are proof of that). Also she might need some extra attention on day care to feel confident enough to nap ok there. She might feel umconfortable, hence the short nap there. If she's napping too little there, you're gonna face overtiredness at night just like you're doing. Talk to the caregivers and see how you can work things out... I'm a little suspicious they're not watching her sleep cues and just pop her in the crib/sleep place and she might be in need of a longer wind down routine to relax and sleep well.

HTH and keep us posted!

[teamholly]

Thanks both for your help and support.  At daycare (nursery) they do try to put her down for two naps but in the last few days she has started crying when they put her down.  Unfortunately our DD does not give too many sleep cues and it is mostly about timing.  She rarely yawns or rubs her eyes - about the only clue you might get is a slowing down in her play.  Also I agree the windown might be a problem as the ratio is 2 babies to one carer and so I guess it is not possible for them to give undivided attention.   One to follow up as you say...

She has now also been off her food for 36 hours, has had a runny bottom 3 times, has nappy rash and is getting another cold!  She spent the day at home yesterday and had one two hour nap in the early afternoon but last night she still woke nearly every 45 minutes (she goes down at 7pm) and had a cry.  Luckily she went back to sleep on her own most times after a couple of minutes or so but we had  get out of bed and calm her twice.   I was up from 2am to 3.33am and the only way I could get her to sleep was to cradle and rock her which is not something I want to get into after we have avoided accidental parenting for so long.

With all that is going on I'm starting to wonder whether teething could be a contributary factor.  She still only has three teeth and the second top front one will be the next although I can't see anything as yet.

Development wise, she started crawling about 6 weeks ago and is now in the early stages of trying to get up and stand on her own.

Finally one further thing - a question - and I appreciate it is a bit off topic for this board, but how typical is it for babies to get lots of colds and bugs in the first weeks and months after starting nursery/daycare. Our DD seems to have suffered from an endless number of colds and coughs (and a couple of tummy bugs) since starting a few weeks ago?

Thanks for all your help.

[imsmum]

I think for the first 6 months after first starting nursery/daycare kids have one continuous cold! Your lo may be transitioning to one nap as well if she is crying when they are putting her down or it could be an ear infection so you probably want to rule that out.  If she is going down to one nap maybe see if they could put her down around 11 or 11:30 or do they have set times for naps?  Go for a super early bedtime for now and when she wakes maybe try just to stand with a hand on her while she is still in the crib--easier to "withdraw" from that later. 

It sounds like she has a lot going on and it's a bit of a rough go right now.  Hang in--it will get better! 

[Florencia]

I know you have a lot on your plate right now to even consider this but I'm just gonna pop it as a random (well, not so random) thought. The colds, as Caroline (imsmum) said are pretty common for kids starting daycare AND/OR teething. Continuous pain lowens the defenses and the immune system is so tired of fighting against the pain that "allows" multiple bugs to come in. That also explains the runny diapers (teething) cause she's likely to produce more saliva, hence more intestinal activity and more (and lighter) poos. BUT the tummy bugs make me wonder how higienic the daycare is. And the fact that there's been two of them in such a short time makes me wonder again. Probably I'm over questioning the daycare but it wouldn't hurt to spy them a bit on their higienic and caring habits.The ratio of caregivers allows them to have full interaction with kids and to devote them a reasonable amount of time to sleep training.  It wouldn't hurt to ask what they do and how long they try for dd to eat and sleep. Just a thought, I don't want you to freak out, just to breath over their shoulders LOL.

Given that she's unwell, the nightwakings are something to be expected until she's healed totally. Just offer enough sleep oportunities, let her sleep whenever she feels tired and be sure to check on ears (prolongued colds often derive in ear infections which are main causes for night wakings)and give a decongestant to help her sleep. We'll deal with the nap transition when she's feeling better, right now many changes will be confusing for her and you.

Take care of yourself too and have dad to come on board to shift nights. HTH and hugs!

[teamholly]

Many thanks to you both again for your help and support.

It's been a interesting couple of days since the last update.  Here goes.

On Thursday the Nursery managed to get our DD to have two naps!  35 min in the morning and 1 hour 30 in thw afternoon.  No change in approach, it just seems she was more amenable to it.  Hey presto on Thursday night she slept through apart from about 45 minutes coughing (during which she was still asleep really - but it kept us awake!) and switching on the humidifier sorted that out after a while.

On Friday the same thing and DD slept through from 6.50pm to 6.15am without a sound.  The first night I have not had to get out of bed and spent a lot of time lying awake through stress for over two weeks!

Yesterday DD had a good day at home and two good naps.  The other top tooth has come through now so we have to think that some of the previous problems were linked.  She still has cold, cough and runny bottom though.  However, although yesterday followed the same pattern as the previous two she woke at 11.45pm (we managed to get her back to sleep quickly), and 4am.  At the 4 am waking it took us about an hour to get her back off with the aid of water, Mediced and sitting next to her cot laying soothing hand.  There was a totally new development, which was horrific teeth grinding, which she has never done before - I stuck my finger in her mouth to try to stop it and boy did that hurt!  Then she slept in (and so did we!) until 8.35am!!!  This was incredible as she always wakes between 6am and 7am and usually more towards 6am.

Anyway she is on fine cheeky form today despite runny nose and occaisional runny bottom!

We will see what the next few days bring...

XX

[Florencia]

well that is certainly great news. All this sleep disturbances seem health related so I hope she gets to catch up soon and you keep at the good job!! wishing you healthy and rested nights!