15 month old - night wakenings

[ErinE]

Hi all,

My lo has never slept through the night - accidental parenting.  Had colic as a baby and was rocked to sleep, plus plugged in with dummy during night for a long time.

I've followed EASY routine and she is now going to sleep awake with no problems but I need a bit of advice please.  Summary of her routine-

Awake between 7-8 am (usually)
Breakfast
Lunch 12 noon
Nap of 1-2 hours
Dinner at 5
Bath at 6.30
Bed 7.30 pm

On a good night, goes to sleep awake with comforters/dummies - no problems, wakes up once during night, reassured and back to sleep, then between 5-7 am - wakens and comes into bed with us for either continual sleep or just comfort (accidental parenting).

How can I get her to sleep straight through without taking her into bed with us??  We're finding we're awake at 5 now most mornings.  She also now knows if she continues crying, I'll take her through for comfort.

Any suggestions on which method I should use?

Sending out lots of hugs to all Mums.

Julie
x

[Layla]

Hi Julie,

If you don't want her coming in bed with you in the early hours of the morning, you will simply have to stop bringing her in. I would do wi/wo until whatever time you want her to be up in the morning (like 6.30 or 7am?). She might cry because its something new and she is not used to but eventually she'll understand that she is to sleep in her cot until you come to get her to start the day. It can take up to 2 weeks but you do need to be consistent. Also if you give her a bottle in the morning (not sure if you?) I would stop that as well because you are then setting her stomach for the wake-up mode.

Here's a link to the 'sleep training methods for toddler: - https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63896.0

Also what time does she take her nap?

Layla

[imsmum]

I agree with pp.  I also think that a slightly earlier bedtime would help--aim for no longer than 5 hours after nap wakeup.  You may need to push her nap back a little to help with this--you don't say what time you put her down but it should be at least 5.5 hours after she wakes. Sometimes the early wakeup occurs because of a bit of overtiredness at bedtime, although I think habit is also coming into play. so I would combine the two, especially since the first couple of ddays she is sure to get less sleep and it will help for her to get a bit more at the "front end"

[ErinE]

Thanks for that.

Just to clarify - I don't give her a bottle when she gets up.  She gets warm water (has been lactose intolerant and soya milk is very sweet so I'm told!) Her nap at the moment is after her lunch/activity - around 1-3 pm and I've found if I let her sleep after 3pm, then she's not so tired at 7.30 pm for the time she goes to bed. 

There is definately habit forming with her/us because it's been a few months since I went into her room to get her up for the day, she's been in our bed for the last hour or so of her 12 hour sleep (sometimes she doesn't sleep - just plays or cuddles in for comfort).

Will try the wi/wo method.

Thanks,

Jx

[mari]

Just be cautious of taking her into your bed at anytime.  I took Alex into bed the other morning on a weekend hoping to catch a few extra z's but she just played, but the following morning she woke at 6am and I went in and she said 'mum's bed' straight away.  After one morning, she was hooked!!

WIWO worked with her, she was so bad that she was up during the night for up to 4 hours, but now she sleeps independantly, goes off on her own, wakes during the night and settles herself back.  Good luck if you are consistent and keep at it, you will have your rest.

Mari

[Gippie]

Erin,

I also have a (few days shy of) a 15 month old and we had the EXACT SAME PROBLEM (and so do a TON of other moms on this site) - so I conclude that it is VERY developmental as they are getting used to the idea of being a very capable toddler who needs to learn how to get back to sleep with all of their newfound abilities.

With that said, I am going to step out on a limb and say that your schedule looks good.  You have about 12 hours from AM to PM and a nap of _________ (how long?).    Anyway - I don't think the schedule is as much of a problem as the OTHER stuff.

Are you, have you been doing ANY AP to get LO back to sleep since they started this?
Definitly stop with the bringing her to bed - that will not help her (helps you though)
I would use Gradual Withdrawl to wean her from the YOU that has become the AM comfort and then make a decision on how you will address letting her kow that hse needs to get back to bed.

I posted a long but detailed explanation of the past 2 months with this SAME EXACT PROBLEM at the SAME age!!!!!!!!!     I personally do not think this is anything that any of us will "fix" with a schedule tweak.  Again, I firmly believe(after living through it - stress living) that it is developmental and the key factor is that we have to teach a TODDLER to resettle themselves in those wee hours when the morning IS so close that they wake and have no idea how to get back to sleep.....it took us 2 months, read my story at the link below.   

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=86026.0

Stacey

[ErinE]

Thanks for the advice girls.

Just wanted to say to Layla that after re-reading the posts, it sounded as though I said my lo doesn't get milk at all.  She does have a bottle of soya milk before bed but we're slowly introducing her to whole milk.

To confirm her nap times - she has anything from 1/2 hour to 2 hours.  If after 1/2 hour she wakes up, I encourage her to sleep for longer.  If she's had over an hour, I feel happier about that.

Stacey - what does AP mean?  Sorry, I've not been on the site long enough to understand all the abbreviations.

Julie

[Layla]

Julie - AP is accidental parenting  .

What I meant to ask you what time the nap starts, if its anything later than 12.30, I would bring lunch & nap forward (to 12.30 latest) because sometimes when they are overtired, it can have an effect on the quality of nap length, nightwakings and waking up early in the morning. I've posted you a link on toddler sleep training. Pick the the one you are most comfortable with & try be consistent. In your case, I do think its the coming into bed in the morning that she is waking for and as I've mentioned before, I would stop re-enforcing that. The milk before bed imo is ok, as long as she is not falling asleep at the bottle.


Good luck Julie & let us know how you go
Layla