My 15 month old has started waking at 4 a.m. and won't go back to sleep until 5:30 or those are rough times but he is up for almost 2 hours! He goes to bed about 7:30 -8p.m. on his own so I know he can do it. Why is he waking up? He has been walking since he was 11 months old so I know its nothing like discovering a new skill like that. We try everything-we've changed him, fed him, rocked him, but nothing-let him cry-ugh sometimes he just talks and carries on and other time he cries-sometimes he goes back to sleep on his own eventually after 2 hours or after 2 hours of trying everything I finally go in at 5:30 and hold him and he finallyh passes back out until 7-8a.m. I just don't know what is going on?
Thank you everyone for your advice and support. It is nice to know I am not the only one going through this. We ended up putting a heater in his room and that has seemed to help-last night he slept from 8p.m. to 6a.m. (well really 5a.m. with the time change) so we were really happy about that. The night before he woke up at 3a.m. and we changed his diaper and gave him some milk and he passed right back out after about 3 mins of cuddling. Maybe that is not ideal but its better then it had been. So maybe he's just been cold or has teeth coming in? I hope this will continue and I hope we can get re-adjusted to this time change now-ah if its not one thing it's another right? Thank you everyone! I'll let ya know if this sleep bliss continues!
I have a 21 month old and she has been doing the same thing for a very long time. All I can say is "good luck"... we haven't found an answer. We are lucky if she sleeps until 6 am after going to bed at 8 pm. Perhaps a shorter nap?
It probably is a new skill. As they get older it takes longer for these things to emerge. Often language and social skills and math and colors and EVERYTHING they are taking in during the day comes back while they sleep. They are creating numerous new pathways in their brains ALL the time, but do a lot of this work while they sleep. Sometimes it's stimulating and can wake them up. Your son may grow out of being woken up by this, but these really intense brain growth spurts continue till about three.
It's best not to actually speak and engage. Just go in or return him to bed, sooth with touch or soothing sound and tuck in. keep doing this until he gets the idea that you are not there to play or talk to. It probably will take a while to clarify this in his head.
Good Luck, I feel your sleepy pain!!
Hi K.,
I have 2 boys, 18 months and 2 3/4 and am also 31 and work from home mom. My younger son does the same thing as yours now and then for the past few months. He has always (with few exceptions) been a great sleeper, but some nights he will wake up in the middle of the night and won't go back to sleep for a couple of hours. And if I go in there and try to cuddle he just wants to play and stay up longer. I will usually go in, change diaper, give him a bottle, etc. and if he won't go back to sleep I just go back to my room and let him play or whatever and he will eventually go back to sleep. He is getting all 4 of his eye teeth (your son is about that age too probably) and a few nights they were bothering him. I'm sure he will grow out of it. Since you are a stay at home mom just be glad that he will probably take a longer nap!
Good luck,
Celena
My 14-month-old is doing the same thing. He has done it in the past for up to a few weeks at a time. In our case, it does seem like it's related to a growth in development (language, crawling, walking).
We haven't been able to stop it, but have learned to deal with it. We know we're going to be up for two hours no matter what we do to get him to bed, so we let him play in his crib with some books or toys (and try to sleep with the monitor on) or rock him and sing (if he doesn't protest). And, we make ourselves as comfortable as possible (if possible, I surf the web while he's on my lap and my husband plays a game on his PS2). After almost exactly two hours, he gets tired and goes back to sleep easily.
Things that have helped him get back to sleeping through the night (these could be just coincidental): put him in warmer clothes so he doesn't get cold, change our patterns when he does wake (dad goes in to soothe instead of mom), put him to bed earlier or later.
I don't know if this is helpful, but I wanted to let you know that you're not the only one in the middle of the night wishing your baby would go back to sleep. Good luck!
I know what you are going through. My son is almost 15 months old and has recently been doing something similar. He is normally a really good sleeper. He goes to bed around 6:30pm and generally sleeps until around 6:30 to 7am. However, recently he started waking up around 4am and just making noise, slight fussing or talking in his crib. He didn't really ever cry, but I could tell (through the monitor that he just couldn't settle down. Through some trial and error we decided the problem was that he was too cold. Body temperatures drop in the early morning hours which coincided with when he was waking up. We tried putting a blanket on him when he woke up, but this only worked if he was slightly fussing but still mostly asleep. If he was actually awake, the blanket would fall off him pretty quickly because he moves around his crib a lot. In the end, we invested in a space heater from Costco (that has a lot of safety mechanisms such as an instant turn-off if it tips or moves at all). It workes off a thermostat so we can set it and it to whatever temperature we want. This has seemed to make a huge difference to him, along with dressing him a bit warmer. For the most part he has stopped waking up at 4am and is now sleeping all the way through the night again and getting up around 7am.
Good luck!
Wow, I think all kids go through something like this! It is so hard on moms (and dads) too because they obviously want their kid happy but also need sleep, it's important to do both! I have 3 kids and all of them responded well to a baby monitor that also plays music and projects an image over their crib for them to look at. Mine's from Fisher Price and I got it for $30, there are lots of varieties and different prices. When my babie each took their turns at trying out insomnia, I would always go into their room, change them and give them a bottle/sippy cup of milk, then switch on the timer on the projector for 30 minutes and then quietly leave. It didn't work every night as nothing is perfect, but I sure got more sleep than I was before I found this handy device. The images are a rotating cartoon ocean with fish, interesting enough to keep them focused but not too crazy to keep them up. Also make sure they are getting enough food before bed like bread or healthy crackers so their tummies are nice and full and ready to rest. I wish you the best of luck and the sweetest of dreams!
my daughter wakes up early and usually won't go back to sleep. we've tried many things. Our latest solution-m huggies overnight diapers (most absorbent we've tried) and a warmer sleeper. The warm sleeper obviously wasn't helpful in the summer, but it is now. She sleeps more consistently to 6. i know it is still early, but consistency is nice and it is better than 5.
Two things came to mind: Depending on how long it's been going on- Is he going through a growth spurt? Or is there a new stress in your/his life ( daycare, arguing, starting to get a cold,teeth?.) I know w/ my 11 mo old these are things that wake him at nite. It may be different w/ that age
Just a thought
Lynelle
