sleepness nights

Laura - posted on 10/13/2010

My daughter is 16 months and used to be a very good sleeper. We recently sold our house and are living in an apartment while our new house is being built. Our daughter has only slept through the night once since we moved. We know she's not sleeping well because she wakes up several times during the night. We've tried to let her soothe herself and cry it out, but I can't bear to hear her so upset when I know she is beyond tired. Lately, we've been bringing her to bed when she wakes up in the middle of the night. It's the only way she will fall asleep and sleep the rest of the night. We're trying everything we can to make her new bedroom comfortable for her, but without much luck. I just want her to get her sleep, even if that means we are going against what her pediatrician is recommending we do for her.

Gloria - posted on 09/30/2010

megan, i was told that too. now, my question is, what is normal and for how long?

Megan - posted on 09/30/2010

My son is the same way. I have talked to the pediatrician and she said it's normal when they are adjusting to new foods and drinks.

Gloria - posted on 09/27/2010

marsha,
dinner time is usually no later than 7:30 and i wait at least 30-45 min before taking him into the room for bedtime. he's not big on whole milk right now so i usually give him water before bedtime.
the other night when he sttn if actually feel asleep until almost 10 pm and woke up at 8 am. i'm not sure what happened. i'm one walking zombie momma right now. :)

Marsha - posted on 09/27/2010

...oh yea, I read a few posts, and making sure he does need a nap in the day is key I think. Some children grow out of needing naps sooner than others. My daughter still needs naps, and will still go to sleep around 8pm. My oldest, doesn't need naps (altho she is 4) but when she naps at school (cause they have those nap/quiet times) it can mess her up and she wont' sleep till 10pm or later!!!
Figuring that out may help.
And maybe he does have indigestion? Do you feed him before bed? And if so, what is it? Dairy can be hard to digest so may cause issues.

Marsha - posted on 09/27/2010

I think, that once they start something, they get into a habit really easy. For example, my youngest daughter had been sleeping thru the nights when we moved into our new home after 2 days of me not going to her when she woke. But she developed a cold, and therefore sleeping was difficult with the coughing and runny nose, so she would wake and I would get her - of course - she was sick.
Now that she is better, she seems to wake up in the night again, because she got used to doing it while sick.
So once again we have to teach her how to go to sleep on her own when she wakes, which is usually done by my husband going in and soothing her in her crib, rather than me.

Gloria - posted on 09/27/2010

we had on good night on sat. this weekend he had only 1 nap, but last night he woke up every 2 hrs. he's was super and i thought for sure he was going to sttn. i guess i will just keep trying until i find a solution.

Mireille - posted on 09/26/2010

I have a 16 month old who sleeps in the crib alone and I put her to bed at about 8:30 every nigt, she still gets up ad tosses and turns at about 12-1 every night for about 30 min. Then falls back a sleep on her own. I usually go check in her give her paci turn the music back on and she goes right back to sleep till about 8 am. I found that if she naps she does this, but if she doesn't nap during the day, she's sleep all night.

Rebecca - posted on 09/24/2010

This may sound counter intuitive, but we had similar problems with my daughter's nighttime sleep- we slowly adjusted nap time to where she was only taking one nap a day, and suddenly she was sleeping 11 hours a night with one wakeup instead of waking every two hours

Jessica - posted on 09/24/2010

My son was doing the same thing and I found out he was lactose intolerant. We switched to Lactaid whole milk and he has slept through the night ever since!

Gloria - posted on 09/24/2010

thanks ladies for the great advice. i will definitely look into that book Rebekah. He has never STTN, but since then he kind went back to "normal" sleeping
patterns. he's waking up 2 times now, but i really
want him to get a good nights rest.
amanda, he takes a very long morning nap and a short afternoon nap, but he's always trying to cat nap on the way home from daycare. i think maybe an early bedtime will hopefully help thanks.

Amanda - posted on 09/24/2010

I would say I definitly agree with Vicky and Rebekah. It sounds like he isn't getting enough sleep and that actually makes it harder for our LO to fall asleep and stay asleep. I'm pretty sure toddlers need 12-14 hours of sleep per day. During growth spurts my daughter sleeps more because she needs it. Our schedule usually runs like this:

5:45-6:30 am wake up
8:30-9:30 am nap for 2-3 hours
2-4 pm nap for 1 hour
7-8 pm sleep for the night

Some days she will only take a 3 hour nap starting anytime between 11 and 1. I try to let her decide if she needs 1 nap or 2 because she has been pretty good about let me know.
Natalie has always had her own bassinet/crib and I have always laid her down when awake so she would learn to put herself back to sleep. In my house bed time is bed time and even my 5 year old knows that at 8 o'clock its time to get ready for bed and by 8:30 he is usually asleep too.

I have noticed that if she naps past 4 then she won't go to sleep until after 8, so I just make sure she naps earlier or I wake her before too long. I also always wake her from her afternoon nap (she wakes up dry and I take her potty before she wets that way) instead of letting her sleep until she naturally wakes up. Also, I have noticed she has been waking up and playing and singing in the middle of the night for a little while when I let her sleep too much.

I would check with your daycare provider and ask what type of schedule he is on during the day if you don't SAH. Also this time of year allergies could be bothering him and he might be having a harder time breathing. If he has other allergy symptoms (dark circles under the eyes, sneezing, congestion, trouble hearing, rashes, itching, etc) then that may be why he was rubbing his chest.

Sorry this was SO long!!!!

Vicky - posted on 09/24/2010

we have experienced many different sleep stages in our household & they can hang around for a few days or last a few tiring weeks depending on how you tackle the problem.,
the best thing to do is to try to move bedtime earlier (the best sleep children & adults get is before midnight!!!) so every few days move his bedtime earlier gradually by 30 mins each time & follow the same routine prior to bedtime, this will help in him getting a good restful night sleep & also take note of how he is sleeping during the day to promote better sleeping patterns. its also a good idea to research a bit into childrens sleeping patterns to get it back on track so everyone in the house can get a good night sleep! happy happy :-)
i dont co-sleep so i dont know if that is a cause for his restlessness as he is growing bigger but i aways felt that if the sleeplessness was a problem & during the day they were a bit out of character i would see a doctor for a quick check-up just for piece of mind..best of luck to you for a great nights sleep!

Rebekah - posted on 09/15/2010

Sounds like he's overly-tired and thus not getting enough sleep. Overly-tired child will have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep (more interrupted sleep). Check out the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" its a great resource for how much sleep children need and at what ages. I'm not sure how it works with co-sleeping, but why not give him the opportunity to sleep 12 hours!? If you have to wake him at 7am I would certainly put him to bed at 7pm... to make sure he's getting all the sleep he needs. If he's still waking in the night I'm willing to bet he's overly-tired and not getting enough good quality sleep...

It's hard for me to tell from your question if this just started or if he's never slept all night. So, if he's just started waking in the night, I'd take him to the doctor and have his ears checked.

Gloria - posted on 09/15/2010

hello karen,

thank you for responding. i'm glad i have other moms going through the same with their little ones. my son usually wakes up 2-4 times at night, but falls fast asleep once i nurse him. we co-sleep and i was thinking maybe that could be the issue, not enough room or something. last night was better, only woke up once and tossed and turned for maybe a little more than 1/2 hr before falling back asleep.

Karen - posted on 09/15/2010

Hi Gloria,
My son Henry does this every night, and has since about 4 months. We are co sleeping and I'm a SAHM, so I just nurse him back to sleep, many times each night and we each end up spending about 10 hours in bed to get a good nights sleep. I think he started doing this when he became more active and not as interested in nursing during the day, so he's hungry at night. Force feeding him is impossible, so I'm glad he's been eating more food at dinner time recently and I hope that helps! I don't have much advise for you, but I just wanted to let you know you're not alone!