Nearly 1 year old awake for an hour every night at 4am!!

[lenalove]

My baby girl is nearly one and has never been the best sleeper, but definitely isn't the worst. She naps well during the day (twice, in her cot or pram, for 2-2.5 hours total) and goes to bed between 7-7.30 with no fuss. We usually then don't hear from her (unless unwell) until 4/4.30 at which point she is wide awake!? It starts off as general babble, flinging comforter around etc so we leave her to it. After about 30 mins of this it starts to escalate to crying and so we go in and try to resettle her. She stops crying as soon as we pick her up but just won't go back to sleep for about an hour - fidgeting about! She usually eventually falls back asleep around 5/5.30 until she gets up at 6.30am for the day. It's just so odd! Has been going on a month now and we are getting tired out has anyone experienced similar? Is it just a weird phase we need to ride out? Thanks!

Could she be hungry @lenalove?

Might be time to transition to one nap a day.

Sounds normal! Just a phase..

@BunnyRuddington hmm I don't think so, she gave up night feeds on her own a few months ago and eats solids well during the day...

I agree with this. Hope it settles soon for you!

@Lovegame I was wondering that too but she's ready for a nap after only 3 hours in the morning currently and she'd would need to make it to 5 hours to do one nap

It can be a bit difficult to judge, I know it was with mine. It might be worth adding in an extra snack in the day to see if that helps?

If it's at the same time every night and consistent. Try a reset, you need to get to her 20 mins before she starts to stir, very gently disturb her sleep. Not enough to fully wake but enough to start a new sleep cycle. Break the habit of habitual awake windows. It takes about 3 days to create a new sleep habit.

@WhereAreMyKids interesting idea - annoyingly it can vary by half an hour either way but I could give it a go!

I imagine she needs to drop one of those naps! That’s what I would do to see if it helps.

My youngest was still waking up most nights until she was about 2. She wasn’t even interested in milk or anything she was just upset and wouldn’t settle. Sometimes she wld just cry for an hour on and off for no reason even if I took her downstairs and cuddled her in. Eventually it just became less nights until finally it stopped. Although when she transitioned to a bed she just started letting herself in my bed during the night! She still sleeps in my bed now and she’s nearly 6 🙈 I need to sort that out asap she’s way too big now and disturbing our sleep.

Is she cold? That’s probably the coldest bit of the night, or is something waking her up like pipes creaking if your heating is still on, or the birds starting to chirp. I would try either a warmer sleepbag/another layer or some kind of white noise