Sleep Advice Needed

HI J., when I put my son to bed at night, I usually have music playing in his room to drowned out some of the noise, this really helps a lot. I was also thinking could your son be teething? I know that my son has trouble sleeping at night when he is teething and if he hurts really bad I give him tylenol or Mortin and then he is out like a light. I was also going to tell you that I saw that the person under me wrote that children 1 and over don't sleep for more than and 8 hour period and that is not ture! My son is 2 and 1/2 and sleeps from 8 at night to about 7 or 8 in the moring. Sometimes he won't fall asleep until 9 and he still sleeps until 8 in the morning. Children usually sleep for 10-12 hours at night and then sleep anywhere from 1 1/2- 3 hours for their nap. I'm sure some of that changes when they hit 3 but even some children who are 3 still take naps. Your son is still little so he should be sleeping 12 hours at night. I hope this helps you and God Bless you and your family!

The month or so of sleeping could have been due to a growth spurt and/o his new waking due to hitting a milestone. Our son was a great sleeper until 1 year old. The, he boycotted naps and started waking all through the night and I wasn't weaning or anything. We did the Sleepyplanet routine (sleep easy solutions at Sleepyplanet.com) when he was 18 months old. It's been two weeks and he is now sleeping better and longer at night and taking a sound longer than ever nap! Worth a try if you are desperate. We were. Six months of no sleep was getting to us. It took about a week for him to start sleeping great but it was worth it. Good luck to you!

Babies are making huge developmental leaps and changes at age 1. They drop all but one nap, are learning to walk, are getting teeth, are becoming more independent as their mobility allows them to explore more easily, etc. As exciting as this time is for your son and for you, it's also going to rock his world and take some adjusting. Plus you say you are weaning him from the bottle. Another big life adjustment for him. In my experience, whenever there's something developmental going on, the first thing to be interrupted is their usual sleep pattern.

It sounds like you're doing everything right - predictable bedtime routine, putting him down drowsy but not asleep and spending quiet time with him before bed. (you might want to skip taking a walk - it seems to me that might be too much visual stimulation before bed). I'm sure this isn't what you want to hear, but my suggestion is to keep your routine and within a week or so he will probably get back into his groove.

Good luck, stay strong and start taking naps yourself until this phase passes. :-)

he's probably going thru a learning phase or teething...my son is 2.5 there are days he will not nap..and sometimes wake at night then he goes back to normal..right now we're having no naps for the past 2 days...you'll see that there will be phases..i would guess your son is teething or it could be the weaning...he'll be back sleeping well soon.

Dear J.

Well my boys are big now 16 & 14 but when they were little on of my russian friends mom told me since I had the same problem as you to give him 1 teaspoon of cereal with his milk bottle at night. Make sure you mix it well so that it desolves good. I would also put kid time stories at night or soft music.
Good Luck:)
D.

Is it just me or have we noticed many moms out there weaning the baby off the milk before the age of 12 months.. has the protocal change where it is reccomened to keep your babys on formula or breast feeding to at least 12 months or so. I am just asking, the baby could be starting to teeth, and its waking him up. Try a little juice & water mixture in a bottle see if he takes it and he is satisfied, he might be hungrey, what are you supplmenting his food need by taking the breast milk away, the breast milk is very filling keeps there belly's full, maybe he isnt getting enough to eat..

You know, just when I think my son is finally in a good sleeping pattern, something comes up and he likes to throw everything for a loop. I think some kids tend to be that way more than others.

The first thing you might want to look for is to see if there's anything going on healthwise that might be making it harder for him to sleep (teething, cold, ear infection, etc.). My son recently had a few nights when he tossed and turned and while he didn't fully awaken, he seemed miserable all night. Then I noticed he kept grabbing at his diaper during the day and pretty soon he started whining while he was doing it. Although I couldn't see anything wrong when I inspected him, the doctor took a look and found the tiniest traces of a yeast infection on his testicles that I would have never noticed. The poor guy was itchy!

The key is to just continue being consistent (while being flexible and watching your son to make sure you're doing what's best for him). My son was doing great going down at 8 for awhile (once the time changed, it was hard to get him to go down at 7 like he used to). A few months of that and all of a sudden he started sleeping less and having a harder time going down. I started putting him down earlier again and he's doing better again. He still wakes up earlier than he was for awhile, but I enjoy the early schedule much better (that means my husband and I get more time at night, I can often get in a de-stress run before it gets dark, and my son is awake in the morning before my husband leaves for work so he gets to wave bye-bye to Dada). Naps are always questionable with him (some days it's two hours, others it's 45 minutes), but as long as I'm being consistent, I know that there's not much else I can do to extend his ability to nap.

Good luck! You know your son best, just observe him and try different bed/nap times to see what works best for him.

Dear J.,

My gr grand daughter was like that when she was just before one year and a couple of months afterward. When I took care of her, I would lay down with her to sort of encourage her to let her body relax and drift off to sleep. It was quite a zoo for a bit, (at one point she would raise up and scream at me and then put her head down and go to sleep, I had to laugh, only very quietly) Of course, I am a gr grandma and needed to sleep or rest too. So no big deal.

When whoever was trying to get her to sleep, we would think that she was deep asleep we would get up, and she didn't stay down much longer when she raised up and saw that no one was there. So I took to just staying there until she looked for me a couple of times and then went into a deeper sleep. She doesn't live nearby any longer, but I understand that she 'puts herself to sleep' now by rumbling around the bed and finally getting herself comfortable and going to sleep. She is now 16 months old, and sleeps better. I always felt that her hearing was especially acute and that ANY type of sound that was interesting would awaken her. You know their brains are growing and maturing now, along with the rest of their bodies, and they are becoming interested in more of the world now and they are thinking more clearly. Oh, I don't know, just guessing.

Sleeping time is so important and it does take a bit of dectective work to figure out what your baby needs. Remember, your sleep is just as important too. Good Luck, C. N.

Hi J., It;s great that you rock hime to sleep at night, I always rocked mine to sleep as well. Even though you don't pick him up, just going in there will become habit forming if is hasn't already, and he will wake up evry night cause he knows you will go in there. There can be a number of reason that he is restles, he could be to warm, he could be over tired, I don't think it is anxiety, I know as moms it is hard for us to not go to our kids, trust me mine are grown and I still look in on my 19 year old daughter at night when i get up to go to the bathroom, you are going to need to be firm but loving, you can't allow your children to control your sleep, we all need sleep and rest, and they just can't be in chargwe of that. I put fish aquariums in my kids rooms with blue lights, movement of water and blue lights creates peace and calmness. J.

My son did this too. It could be that he's going to reach a new milestone or just that something has changed. Is he sleeping once or twice during the day? How are those naps? I know it's early but you may have to think about putting him down for only one. Plus, 15 hrs, at this point, is a lot to wish for. 12 hrs should be possible. Good luck! He'll get back on track eventually. It's just another one of those beautiful bumps in the road... again. Btw, my son is and has been back on his sleep schedule for a while now... except he decided 5am is an acceptable wake up time uggg. :)

Hi J.. Your sons sleep changes might be a combination of things. You mentioned weaning, which will sometimes contribute to a change in sleep habits, amongst other’s. And he is now approaching the toddler stage as well, which usually means less sleep on a daily basis. It sounds as if your son has had a very interesting sleep pattern from his birth; with no napping and solid sleeping for up to 15 hours at a time. On average, children that are 12 months and older will sleep between 12-16 hours a day. But it is pretty rare for them to sleep over 8 hours in one stretch at a time. Even if they wake, by that age they should be able to fall back to sleep on their own.
Your son may just be going through an adjustment period. I would not think that anxiety has anything to do with it. But if you are concerned about that being a factor, you might check with your pediatrician, for your own reassurance.
I would give it a little time. We have been up and down with sleep habits and changes with our children, which are sometimes completely out of the blue...and no two children are the same and have the same needs. It sounds like you are all about routine and schedule, and that is good. Stick to that! It might simply be a matter of slightly adjusting your routine, just to compliment and benefit your son and his growth patterns. I’m sure he will be back to his STTN in time. Hang in there! :) Take care and GL!

When my son was 13 months old and started to have some words, he sleep disturbances. when my son started to craw, same thing. Same thing when he started to walk. As children go through stages, they can and usually do interfere with their normal sleep routine (my son always slept 12 hours a note from 6 months on except for these disturbances). The good news is, they do go back to their routine as long as we continue to persevere with their normal routine through these trying (for parents) times.

Try changing his diet. Remove all dairy from his diet for 2 weeks and see if it helps. If that doesn't work, try wheat/gluten. You can start researching for yourself how diet affects behavior - both waking and sleeping. Good luck.