15 month old not sleeping consistently..tips?

Melanie - posted on 05/03/2010

my son is 16 mths old and he has been quite sick for the past month as well and he was waking up every few hours. i also found that he was teething and getting all of his eye teeth at about the same time. he kept wanting to jump into my bed as well which didn't help i would give him a cuddle and hand him his sippy cup then he would go back to sleep again. once he started feeling better and the teething stopped he started to sleep through again. just be patient and he will start sleeping through again. i don't really think that he is waking because he is hungry so i wouldnt worry too much about filling him up right before he goes to bed.

Melanie - posted on 05/02/2010

oh one more thing i was reading some of the suggested below and seen were someone told you try putting the bed next to you...wrong idea dont do it you will regret it...then you will really have your hands full belive me i did and she weent from her bed to mine..and now just getting her use to her room..

Melanie - posted on 05/02/2010

my daughter is 19 months old and she sleeps restless alot some nights are good but some are bad..

Kristin - posted on 05/02/2010

Stick with a bedtime routine and keep putting him back to bed when he gets up. Do not let him turn on lights or start playing with anything terribly exciting.

Edna - posted on 02/13/2010

try warm milk at bedtime.

Amendeep - posted on 02/12/2010

hey my son started this on and off at around 13 months only lasted a month...the thing is you need to religiously put him down when you want him to go down and when he wakes put him back to sleep dont interact with or look at him it may take you around two weeks to make him understand if he wakes up you are not responding so he will have no choice but o learn to sleep and not wake up...ifthat makes sense!!! also why not try moving his cot next to you so in a way he is sleeping near you not with you, your not doing anything wrong so dont feel like you are...babies are just hrad work!! if you want anymore help or advice let me know.

Adrienne - posted on 02/11/2010

Thanks for all of your suggestions!
Kelley: When he wakes up I change his diaper, and sometimes that works and he falls back to sleep fairly quickly. Other times he says juice or cookie (his word for hungry) so I'll give him some milk or water and a cracker or some baby oatmeal. Usually he won't go back to sleep unless he's being held and/or rocked.
He gets a snack right before bedtime-I wait until he's tired enough to be crawling in my lap before I give him a snack so his tummy is completely full before sleep.
Amendeep: How long did your sons phase last? Mine had swine flu, then chronic colds/ear infections from 8-13 months, we've been having sleeping problems since the swine flu @ 8 months until now and he just turned 15 months.
Marlena: I do have a routine with him, and regardless of how late I try and keep him up, between 730-830 is the latest he is usually up.
Veronica: We are on a fairly tight schedule, except for eating, he eats whenever he is hungry. Meal times are fairly set, but whenever he is hungry in between them he can snack. And he is always moving throughout the day, the thing is nothing seems to be waking him up. He has quiet music playing in his room, its not too hot or too cool, he sucks his thumb so no lost passies...
I just don't know I am at a complete loss for what to do. I don't want to put him in bed with me, he usually isn't allowed in bed with us unless he is sick (He's up every 45 min then anyways so it just works better and he sleeps better when hes sick when hes with me). Any more tips? I will be trying some of the books and websites suggested. Thanks everybody!

Veronica - posted on 02/10/2010

Consistency... consistent bed time, routine, bath before bed to calm him down and get his mind ready for sleepy time. Consistent wake time too. Consistent nap time. Be a planning freak so he knows what to expect. Feed more often during the day especially if still breastfeeding - he could be getting hungry. Keep him super busy during the day and really active so he's exhausted at night.



Watch for clues to things that are waking him up: noise, cold, hot, hunger, aches (teeth?), lost passy, etc. and try to work it out.



There is also a sleep tracker on www.trixietracker.com that is free for two weeks (no upfront info...) so you can see at a glance what his sleep looks like and try to work on fixing it.

Marlena - posted on 02/10/2010

I had that problem when Xaniyah was younger so what I did was I would let her sleep however she wanted until around 7 then I would keep her awake until 10p and lay her down. She would get cranky around 9 so i'll give her a snack then prep her bath, Around 9:30 put her in the tub. Give her a good bath and rub her down in lotion and she goes to sleep. Wouldn't wake up until around 8:30 the next morning.

Amendeep - posted on 02/10/2010

i have heard that when they go through a big developmental change they do not sleep as good as usual...but its just a phase my 15 month old son did the same thing but it passes, you just have to work real hard getting his routine back...is he eating in the evening? is he prehaps teething?

Kelley - posted on 02/10/2010

What do you do when he wakes up??? I know when my daughter wakes up there she is normally looking for her suckies, or trying to turn her music on. If you give your son a bottle or something like that when he wakes up try just giving him water in it instead that way he is think it's not worth waking up for. Or give him a yogourt or some other small snack before he goes to bed that way he has a full belly and wont need to be topped up. I hope some of this helps.

Angie - posted on 02/10/2010

There is a book called "The Sleep Fairy". Get it and read it. I read it to my son and since then he hasn't been up at night, unless sick, or hasn't crawled into my bed since. The book helped me out alot!!