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Behaviour/development

12 mo old. Sleep problem

8 replies

GingerDoodle · 11/10/2013 02:53

If anyone can help us I would be ridiculously grateful. My Dd is almost 12 1/2 mo. She has slept through since 10 weeks only waking if hungry or list dummy.

A little over a week ago she stirred at around 10pm and my dh moved her in her cot - cue screaming meltdown. I tried CIO but after an hour I gave in: wasn't fussed about milk. Gave calpol but not convinced she needed it. Took 2 hours to get her back to sleep. Since the when she wakes up from naps in her cot or sleep we have the screaming. Ive tried milk, food, calpol nothing makes much difference. She has a dummy but if she wakes up screaming she generally hands it to me!

I can just about cope during the day but despite short naps and late bedtime to make her tires she was up at 2.10am. Same pattern. She's tired as she's currently laying on me awake but sleepy but cot or even laying in our bed cues screaming. She's not slept on me or even been very cuddly since she was teeny tiny.

Any ideas? Anyone else had the same???

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Daoist24 · 12/10/2013 01:40

We don't all need to sleep for 8 hours a night. The body likes to move more than laying still. If your child wants to be awake than you can sit with them and give the child company.
This is not a problem as the child is free to rest any time its tired so when they want to wake or move we need to let them.
Try giving the child a massage and a short play time with some movement it helps the body grow.
Hope this helps.

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GingerDoodle · 13/10/2013 14:14

Thanks for your input but its not that she's awake and happy about it!

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IDontBowlOnShabbos · 13/10/2013 14:24

My dd is a bit like this at the moment (13 months). It think it's just a phase they go through as they become more independent. I'm hoping it doesn't last long!

I've just put dd down for a nap and although she was obviously tired she was still fighting going down. In the end I put her in my bed (with pillows stacked up around her so she couldn't fall out), turned all the lights out, lyed down with her and pretended to go to sleep! This seems to be the only thing that works for us at the moment unfortunately.

At night time I usually just go in and try to calm her down by reading/speaking softly/offering a bottle, then, when she seems a bit calmer I'll leave her to try and settle herself. I usually have to do this at least twice a night at the moment so feel your pain!

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MamaM76 · 13/10/2013 15:51

Cutting the day time sleep and pushing the bed time later to make the child sleep longer in the night seems obvious, but more often, it backfires and has a complete opposite effect. They sleep exhausted and gets into a deep sleep as soon as they are put in bed, but is not restful type of sleep. Ideally you want them to drift off gently into sleep.
Also it might be a good idea to train her to sleep in the cot when she falls asleeps so she is not surprised when she wakes up in a different place.

As they learn new skills like walking and using their brain, they get a lot more tired and need more rest.

How about putting her to bed around 6pm (if the usual bed time is 7, and waking time 7am). During the day, try putting her down for a nap every 3 hours, after she had a good breakfast and lunch.

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libbyrapple · 14/10/2013 10:17

HI, I've got a 12 month old and we are in week 4 of very disturbed sleep at night pattern. This is after a period of about 6 months when he dropped his night feeds and started sleeping through. I don't know what's causing it. He wakes crying two or three times in the night and is hard to settle. At first I thought it was teething and so gave calpol but I'm starting to think it's more developmental reading some of the posts on here.

The thing that's throwing me slightly here is that I'm asking myself if he's hungry. He's a big boy and eats well in the day and has two 7oz bottles first thing and last thing. I'm going to try giving him some water tonight to see if he's thirsty. I certainly don't want to reintroduce night feeding!

So hard to know what to do. I don't want to give him painkillers if he's not in pain, nor leave him to cry if he's in pain. I'm reluctant to go down the CIO path...although admittedly I have tried to leave him a few times and sometimes he does settle himself, other times not.

It feels good to share, I'm shattered!

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MamaM76 · 14/10/2013 10:53

Libbyrapple,
I think the min amount of milk is 12oz per day including milk used in cooking, and food. I just thought, perhaps increase the amount of solid during the day? Also they start to move to 1 nap a day between 12-18months. Worth a try cutting back to max 2.5h sleep during the day see if it works? Inevitably this will make them quite tired so bring the bed time forward a bit?

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libbyrapple · 14/10/2013 13:36

Thanks MamaM76 I think you're totally right about naps. He's refused his morning nap today so I think starting to cut back a bit is a good idea. It's all change isn't it? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised we're moving from one phase to another....!

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GingerDoodle · 14/10/2013 20:35

Previous to this nightmare starting she had 30min ish at the morning around 9.30 and 2 - 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon at 1 - 2ish.

This last week naps have been ridiculously up in the air. Yesterday she had 30 minutes ta 3.30 went to bed at 8 and slept till 6.

Today she had 2 x 1 hour ish naps which has resulted in her, for the first time ever, refusing to go to bed. DH went and got her after 15 minutes of screaming blue murder at 7.30 and she's currently down stairs with us. I truly don't think she would have CIO - she was ringing with sweat and very much awake. :(