Question re sleep for all you GF and non GF fans out there..

[Tillysmummy]

DD is now 14 months old. She has been having 2 naps a day until now and I saw another thread about when to drop the morning nap. She's been having 9am - 9.45 or sometimes 10 and then she sleeps again somewhere between 1 and 3. I try to keep her sleeping till only 2 or 2.30 though and never let her go past 3.

A little while ago she was doing really well and sleeping till 7 or sometimes even 7.30. 6.30 used to be the norm and that is fine too. But recently she has been waking a lot in the night again, only for a few seconds, she cries out, and then waking at 5 and then being very unsettled till 6 when she gets up. Also the last few days she has been very difficult to go down at night which is very unlike her she normally makes no fuss. I know she's having bad teeth trouble and also has a cold so I think that is probably the reason she is difficult to go down and having restless nights but the early, early waking has been going on since just before the clocks went back.

I don't know whether it's because she's sleeping too much during the day (in total about 1.5 - 2 hours) or because it's just a phase. I have tried keeping her up till midday and then putting her down then but when she's woken at 6 she just is too tired and to be honest it's not a pleasant morning because she is grumpy and sleepy.

I am thinking it is probably just another phase / teeth etc, etc but any advice would be very welcome ?

Personnally I think it's a phase.... DD is 1 month older and is being far clingyer right now than she has ever been.....
Lots of cuddles and re-assurance and it should slowly settle - I think !

Is she still going to bed at her normal time - eg 7-7.30 and no earlier? Have you tried Calpol/baby Nurofen half an hour before bedtime to help her settle? Otherwise I don't know what to suggest. Sorry.I suspect it is a phase and if you keep the bedtime regular the it will probably settle, as Pupuce says. Do you ignore the night cries? My ds is the same age, sleeps as much during the day and sleeps 12 hours so I don't think it's too much sleep.

I don't think it sounds like too much daytime sleep. We have very similar nights (ds nearly 12 months) with several short crying episodes - goes through phases of more or less unsettled through the night - I ignore these as much as possible. I think teething could be the reason. Difficulty going down at night I don't know about - what sort of difficulty? DS always protests as we leave unless he is really zonked, maybe she is just becoming more assertive?!!
Early wakenings is a tricky one. Again we have had phases of waking about between 5 and 6 - I view it as a particular danger zone!! I try not to go in until 6.30, but in the past have tried a small bottle which often helps him back to sleep for another hour or more - I did this once only after the clocks went back and the next morning he slept throught to a normal time again.
Is there any reason why she might be gettting disturbed at that time - it is probably the coldest part of the night, could that be an issue? Or does the heating come on around then? Noisy milkman??

Good luck. These phases are sent to try us - and stop us getting too complacent!

Thanks ladies. To answer some of your questions. I am sure you are right and it is a phase. Aloha, I give her some Dozol which is paracetamol based but I am always afraid she has too much of it. I don't give her 2 spoons just the one and so she isn't having the full dose but she has had it the past 5 nights which makes me worry a bit.

I think she is a bit clingy at times but at the moment I do really think it's her teeth. She has been teething from 8 weeks and now has nearly all of them. At the moment she has 3 coming through, the 2 top canines and one bottom one with another on the way. Then just two more molars top and bottom and we're done. I can't wait for that.

Elliott, if I went and gave her a small bottle I am sure she'd still want to get up - once she sees me that's it. When she wakes in the night I just try and ignore it but often a gentle pat and I'm her darling normally sends her back in a few seconds whereas if we leave her too long she gets herself in a right state.

I think maybe it is the heating. Have to get dh to look into that. I don't know, maybe I was getting too complacent, 7 was just perfect

wow, that sounds really early for teeth! It will be great to have them done so soon. DS has 8, I'm wondering when the molars will start. But actually I haven't a clue about how to tell when he is teething. he dribbles all the time anyway. Just whenever he is unsettled at night, I think 'must be his teeth' and it makes me feel better about it! Those phases seem to go on for weeks though!
Hope you find a way of stopping the early waking.

My 16 month ds has all his first 16 teeth through, and the premolars came through at 14 months. It was a horrible time for him, as they are such big, flat teeth. The first pointy bits of them are bad enough, but then they have the flatter section to get through the gums, which caused ds a real problem. We had a few disturbed nights as a result of these teeth, and I am not ashamed to say that I am thoroughly glad that it is over for now.

Tillysmummy, it does sound like teeth to me. My ds usually has between 1.5 to 2 hours a day sleep, like your dd, so I don't think that is the problem. You don't seem to be giving her too much pain relief, so don't worry. I'm sure that one spoon a night won't hurt her, even for a few nights running.

I gather from my doctor that the dosages on the baby pain-relievers are very much on the cautious side so it's absolutely OK to give the max dose for as long as it takes to stop the pain. When my ds had a painful ear infection she wrote us a prescription for about a dozen bottles and just said give it to him until he's better.

In fact, there's no point in giving a half dose of a paracetamol-based medicine as it simply doesn't work at that low level. You need the full dose to gain any effect, so may as well give the appropriate amount.

Unless you're going for the placebo effect, of course, such as an old lady I know who swears that one panadol at night gives her an excellent sleep!!

Thanks ladies. Last night we had a better night. No wake ups and she woke at 6.20am. Yaay ! Nothing different other than cut down her morning sleep to just 15 minutes and then she had about an hour at lunch time. Probably nothing to do with her day sleep and just coincidence me thinks.