Wakes an hour after bedtime every single night

[Lottiebugz22]

No matter how many naps my 16 month old has. I tried to cut one nap out. Still she woke an hour after bedtime. She has 2 naps an hour each and she still wakes after 1 hour. I have timed the awake time between naps and bedtime. Still wakes up after 1 hour. I really don't know what the issue is! It's like she's just having a nap at bedtime. Does anyone else's toddler do this?!

What does she do when she wakes up after an hour?

She just wakes as she would after a nice nap. Shouts mama and is generally bouncy.

What time are the naps/ bedtime ?

I think this a sign of being overtired and going into a really deep sleep straight away at bedtime, then waking up after one sleep cycle.

I would try for two hours nap in the afternoon. A short nap in the morning then a nap from after lunch until about 2.30pm.

I had one who did this. It was a killer. Couldn’t get a babysitter or settle down to watch a film for months. He woke screaming rather than happy.

If I remember correctly (which is unlikely given the sleep deprivation) I used to set an alarm for 50 minutes then go back in and hold him / shhh so he was ready to go straight back to sleep.

The other thing I think I tried was a bit counter intuitive, but stirring him at 45 minutes then resettling worked (I think). It interrupted his sleep pattern so he lost his routine.

Otherwise I used to repeat “it’s only a phase” and have a gin. This one definitely helped!

10.30-11.30am first nap
2.30pm-3.30pm second nap
Bedtime - 7pm-7.30pm

I've also tried cutting the morning nap before and doing one nap of 11.30-1pm or 12.00pm to 1.30pm and earlier bedtime 4-4.5 hours after.

She will only sleep 1.5 hours when napping at the most. Has never slept 2 hours straight when napping since becoming a toddler.

I was going to suggest one longer nap, Damn. What time is she awake- have you tried moving both naps earlier- so the second is straight after lunch?

Generally she wakes at 7am-7.30am. Yeah I've filled her up with lunch and then tried to put her down very shortly after but she's never ready. I might try waking her up after a 45 minute nap in the morning tomorrow and then seeing if she has a longer nap in the afternoon MayFayner suggested. I hate to wake her but maybe it might be a solution.

dc was the same.
always stirred an hour after going to sleep at night and if disturbed during this lighter sleep window would wake up.
white noise seemed to help.

dc is a teenager now but still a terrible sleeper.

My baby boy usually wakes up at 4am after 7 hours or so, he is just 5 months old. Should 5 month old's be sleeping more?

Both my kids did this
My son only stopped when I completely weaned him (he was bf) at 2.5
It Was really really hard

Little girl does the same but I've just accepted it and hopefully it will stop once she's weaned like her brother!!!
No advice but you're not alone

Thank you. She only started having unsettled sleep around 10 months old. She was a great sleeper from 8 weeks old up until then. Not sure what happened!

What happens if you just leave her to go back to sleep? What started as a few days of random wakes could have evolved in to a routine depending on how you respond. DD occasionally wakes up in the 7-12 window but we just leave her and eventually she settles down and goes back. She’s not upset, just chats to her stuffed bunny so we leave her to it.

@ozziex99 I think that depends on what their overall sleep is? But yes, I think by 5 months baby is both capable of sleeping a longer stretch and should have 4-5 hours more of “night time” sleep, even if it is interrupted with a short wake for feeding etc.

She starts crying and banging if I don't go up shortly after she wakes.

Just let her bang and cry for a minute or two , don't race in......see if she self settles

Definitely would try and consolidate the nap into one longer one, an hour and a half to 2 hours is ok at this age.

My 15 month old only stopped waking up after 45 mins on the night when she learned to fall asleep on her own rather than on me and then transfer. I don't know why but that cracked it. Perhaps because she was falling asleep when she was ready to rather than being coaxed into it. It took a few days of cuddle for a few mins then pop into cot and then waiting, she never cried or was left to cry, but she would grumble and jabber. After a few mins I would go back in, cuddle for a few mins and then pop back in her cot, she would then go to sleep herself.

DS always does this.

Just thought I'd share an update with everyone.

I let her have her morning nap as usual and she slept for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
She also had an afternoon nap but I woke her up after 40 minutes. So in total she had 2 hours day sleep.

I put her to bed at 8pm this evening as that was 4 hours awake time after her second nap and she stayed put!

I know you're meant to shorten the morning nap according to allot of sleep advice but shortening her afternoon nap helped in this instance.

I know this post was a while ago but I'm currently going through the same with my 15 month old little girl.
I'm going to try this today fingers crossed X