13 Month Old with Sleep Problems

I agree, that this is most likely a milestone thing. 13 months is a prime time to start walking, and there are always sleep issuesduring those times. It sounds like you are okay with letting her cry it out, and if you can stand to do that for 3-4 days, she should go back to normal (that is what my son has done during his milestones).

You also mentioned that she wakes up crying in the morning and gets a total of about 2 hours of naps during the day? You may want to look at that too. I have been told that you know your child got enough sleep if they wake up happy. My son usually wakes up talking and babbling to himself, and after awhile, may get upset that I am trying to sleep a little longer, but it is usually a happy wake up. You may want to try putting her to bed earlier, depending on when she wakes up. Also, I have read that naps should be at least 1.5 hours and no more than 3 hours so that they can get the full cycle of sleep in. You may want to try combining her naps? Are you waking her up, or does she only sleep for an hour? Is she waking up crying from those? You can also move those earlier if necessary. My son is 16 months, and he usually gets about 13.5 - 14.5 hours of sleep a day. I don't know if this is truly an issue or not, so sorry for offering unsolicited advice, but my ears always perk up when I hear that kids wake up crying.

Just to look at a different perspective, are you sure she's not getting sick or cutting some teeth? This doesn't seem like normal milestone development to me. If she is waking up so much she probably is in some sort of pain. Have you tried giving her something before bed for teething pain? The pain is worse at night because that is when the growth hormone kicks in. Also, I wouldn't do the wait two hour thing. It 's obvious she needs help. She's not old enough to be manipulative--her brain development simply isn't that advanced at her age. You can always re-sleep train her. But I would look for an issue with pain first. Most obviously teething. If that's not it there are some other things that could be causing this, but try that first. If it doesn't work I have more ideas for you.
Good luck!
J.

If she has recently begun doing more as in possibly starting to walk, she may be excited to try those skills at night :) The more milestones that my daughter hit especially around that age caused her to lose a little sleep at night. If I were you I would switch to one nap a day, even if its a little longer than an hour. I would make sure that she has a nice full meal within an hour or two of bedtime, that always helped my daughter to sleep better. Many people swear by not letting their baby have a nap later than 2:00pm for this reason.
Is she teething? That can also cause her to be restless at night. At 11 mos my daugter went through a phase where she HATED her crib but it passed rather quickly. You are doing the right thing by comforting her and not giving in by giving her a bottle or anything at night and comforting her in her crib, thats good for the long run, so good job :) Hang in there, if shes not teething then its just a phase. Try to let her fall asleep on her own without you being there, she may become dependent on you being there for her to fall asleep, just go in and comfort her and then leave, go back again if she needs you but it shouldn't take too long until she learns to self soothe again. Good luck!

As kids hit developmental milestones, especially brain development & growth, they can have sleep issues come up again, even after they've been great sleepers.

I would suggest deciding whether you want to go in to her right away or let her cry until she falls asleep/morning. By letting her cry a while and then go into her, you're kind of teaching her to cry longer because she knows eventually you'll go in to her. So go in right away and help her settle down, or don't go at all.
My personal opinion would be to go in right away. A few months my daughter hit this point I actually started letting her sleep with me when she woke up. That way we both got a full night's sleep (I was pregnant so I really needed it!) After the new baby came we started moving her back into her bed once she was asleep and it was a fairly easy transition (she was 2 1/2 by then). I also had my boys sleep with me, and began transitioning them out around 3 years old. They are all amazing sleepers now, going to their own beds at night at rarely coming in during the night (when they do, it's easy enough to send them back to their beds). They are 11, 8, and 6 now, btw.

Good luck! Remember that she is only a baby for a short time. You don't need to make her grow up too fast!

I agree with Jodi P...

Sounds like there is more then milestones going on her life....two hours of crying is saying that. I would hate to find out that she is in pain, whether it's from teething, ear ache, or even growing pain's, and know that I didn't comfort her. I would start giving some tylenol/ibuprophen and maybe some Hylands teething tablets right before bed and see if that helps any. She may just need her mom at night, and she herself may not even understand why. Taking the time to confort her now will not hurt in the long run, once you are sure she is over the hump you can always try again.