Baby waking between 1am and 3am. Any ideas?

[PasstheStarmix]

Hi 10 month old ds is waking between 1 and 3am every day. He starts with short bursts of a wingey cry that if left develops into a slightly longer cry and gets worse the longer left. Settling him in his room has never worked and just makes him more worked up. I bring him in mine and dh's bed and he instantly settles and pats my arm and after alittle awake time (anywhere from 10mins-1 hour) he goes to sleep. He always starts his sleep in our bed or beside me on sofa downstairs then I put him in his cot whilst asleep; he goes to bed at 7.45-8am. I've always done this and he has previously slept through. He's been though his regression and developmental leap where he woke multiple times so it's not that. He only wakes once in the night and it's so odd as he's obviously settling himself at all other times in the night.

Can anybody help?

It's frustrating when things stop working! My thinking is sleep tends to get lighter as the night goes on, so when he stirs from lighter sleep, he then starts realising things are different to how he fell asleep and he wants you back. It has probably become more of an issue as he has got older and has a better sense of object permanence. If you want him in his cot all night, you probably need to work on him falling asleep there, possibly through a form of gradual retreat.

Thanks for your response, I will try putting him in his cot when he's starting to get sleepy and see if that makes a difference. I have learnt just as you're starting to get used to things it all changes up on you again.

It makes a lot of sense that his sleep is getting lighter as night goes on; I had never looked at it that way before. Thanks again.

They do like to keep you on your toes! Good luck tonight.