why oh why is this happening

[luchi]

dd is 14.5 months old and we've had A LOT of sleep issues, but it seemed we were on the right track.  Our routine was something like this:  
wake: between 6-7
breakfast:  8 am
lunch: usually before nap,around 11:30
nap: betweein 12 and 12:30 (for about 1.5 hours)
dinner: 5:00
bed:  between 6:30 and 7

She gets a bottle when she wakes up, before her nap, and before bed.  She always goes into her crib awake.

She would wake up around 5, we'd give her a bottle, she'd finish it all and usually go back to sleep.  We took a trip to Toronto for a week, and we had a few bad days, but she was sleeping at around 7 and waking up at 6 with an hour and 45 minute nap mid day.  The day we left Toronto was bad as she woke up earlier than normal as we had an early flight, didn't nap at all on the plane or in the airport, our flight was delayed, so we landed a lot later than expected and she ended up falling asleep out of sheer exhaustion.  Ever since then, her sleep has been bad.  She goes to bed around 7 and will wake up at two am and say awake until 4.  She wakes up talking and laughing and will do that for an hour and then cry.  We'll go in, settle her down and put her back. She'll talk some more and then cry again.  Last night she woke up at midnight and stayed awake until 3am.  I don't know what to do.  On Friday night she didn't sleep until 9 pm as she'd done a poo and we didn't know.   That night she woke up at 5 for a bottle and then at 7:30am, but no extended wakings.  Does this mean she needs less night sleep now?   I really don't know what's going on and I am going back to work in a month.  These extended night wakings are going to kill me!

[MyBella]

I wish I knew what goes on in their little heads.  I was just getting ready to do a similar posting about my dd who just turned 2 but has an identical schedule as your dd and the identical problem with nightwakings of several hours where she first wakes up and chats up a storm and then gets upset, starts crying, wants to be held, doesn't want to go back to bed. 

One thing I wondered with yours is whether giving her milk during the nightwakings creates a prop issue.  My dd typically will ask for a bottle in these nightwakings and i have resisted giving it to her and eventually she'll fall back asleep.  Even when she was the age of your daughter she would go months long stretches of really good nighttime sleep so when she went through a bad sleep phase I just resisted giving her the bottle because it seemed like she was asking for it for comfort rather than hunger.  I feel mean doing so, because now that she can talk she'll say "more milk please" in the sweetest pleading voice and it's so HARD to say no to that.

Back in october my dd was sick for about 3 weeks and then her nighttime sleep was completely messed up.  Finally one night I did walk in walk out.  It was three hours of crying, and about 45 times of wi/wo, but it worked and we were blessed with about 2 months of good sleep.  Now she's been sick again and we're back to interrrupted sleep.  One of these I'm going to have to do wi/wo out again.  I just have to brace for the crying.

[brightside]

I do think you might have a prop issue with the bottle so I would try gently weaning her off that by diluting it every couple of nights by an oz or so.

The main problem though is overtiredness. When they get sick or thrown off routine they get overtired very quickly and you get in to  horrible cycle of not sleeping properly. It will rectify itself in a few days. Just be really on the ball with noticing tired signals and try to extend naps if she is waking after just 40 mins or 1h15. Keep going with an early bedtime until she starts to sleep better and gets out of the cycle. I would try 6pm for a few nights. Just bear in mind that when they are overtired, their A time decreases and they can often look fine but actually be tired.

I know exactly how you feel. DS does this to me on a regular basis!

[mari]

So sorry to see that the nightwakings haven't stopped luchi.

I would definitely not give a bottle at all in her cot.  I still give alex a bottle, but she has it when we read a story downstairs, that way, she doesn't associate a bottle with waking, it's part of her wind down routine. 
I can't remember if you did any sleep training and what method you used.
When she wakes, does she cry?  If she is happy, don't go in, leave her.  If she cries, go in, check that she is ok, no poos etc, then go out, and do wiwo until she falls asleep or until she has to get up, then start her day.  If she has been awake from a particularly early time, don't give her an earlier nap, try to get her back on track by sticking to her normal nap time.

If you think that she might be thirsty during the night, give her a sippy cup of water and show her where it is and she can get it herself during the night when she wakes.

HTH

[luchi]

Hi Mari,
The night wakings had stopped for a while--I sort of did gradual withdrawal by sitting a in the chair in her room until she was asleep for a few days, and then I didn't have to anymore.  She was sleeping from about 7 until five thirty in the morning, taking one bottle and back to sleep until about six thirty or seven, and one nap for an hour and twenty minutes.  But since our trip, that has changed things.  She does wake up happy, talks for an hour to herself and laughs hysterically (I'm not sure at what!) and then will cry.  The past few days, we'll put her in her crib at night and she'll go in no problems, we'll leave, and fifteen minutes later she'll start whining and crying.  I'll go in and sit in the chair and she'll toss and turn, and it will tsake about 30-40 minutes to fall asleep.  It seems she's tired, and wants to sleep, but can't.  She'll toss and turn, and whine, but she can't fall asleep.  Naps are no trouble though, I suspect she's really tired. 

[mari]

OK, perhaps a slightly earlier nap if she wakes at 6am, no later than 11.30am, and then if she hopefully sleeps until 1pm bedtime at 6pm.  Maybe she is overtired for nap and bedtime due to the early wakings, but I certainly would not give her a bottle until she is up and ready to start the day as the waking could be due to her wanting a bottle as she knows that there is a chance she will get one.  I used to do it with Alex and it got earlier and earlier until I was giving her a bottle at 3am.