Um, where to start. When Ava was like 8-9 months she slept right through the night. Since then she has slept from 6pm woke up at 10.30 we give her a bottle and she goes back to sleep till 6am. No hassle really considering we're still up at 10.30. BUT past like 2 or 3 months she still wakes up at 10.30 but then she's awake at like 1 or 2am. Dp will usually get up to her cause I am so exhausted I barely can keep my eyes open long enough to get up to her. And if he can't settle her after the first go, he just brings her to bed. So now I am not sure whether there is genuinely something wrong with her, or whether she just knows that she can sleep in our bed if she kicks up enough fuss. Cause if we don't bring her into bed with us and try and just put the dummy in etc she goes nuts thrashes around and just really starts getting wound up. I just don't know what to do anymore, I am sooooo tired she is NOT an easy baby to sleep with. She'll wake up randomly when she's in bed with us and she'll sit up and start singing her abc's or twinkle twinkle and start pulling our eyelids open *sigh* I just dont' know how to stop this! I just want her to sleep. I need sleep
So shes getting 12 hrs sleep at night..(approx)...how much sleep in the day ??? If shes getting more than 2hrs...thats 14 h rs sleep in a 24hr period...some babies (like mine !!!) dont need that much.....Look at how much sleep she is getting in a 24 hr period.....i think it maybe time to either put her to bed a little later - 7pm ???
At 14 mths my DD#3 was having 1x day sleep - 1.5hrs....and going to bed 730pm...waking at 7am.....
Sorry, but thats cute Pulling your eyelids open & singing to you!
OK, Jesse was always having trouble sleeping, & was waking up for feeds through the night, but here we've worked out that he wasn't eating enough through the day. He used to just have dinner then off to bed when he was tired, now he has dinner, then a yoghurt or something after to fill him up more.
Not sure if that'll help, but she might just be getting hungrier.
If not, I hope its just a phase & she stops for you soon.
Oh no - we had same issues with DD1. Even down to the eyelids and twinkle twinkle....amazing. Perhaps it is a 'special' developmental stage, lol. But sooooo not cute at that hour after a few nights.
Similiar to the great advice you have already received we tried to keep day nap to 2 hours max, then tried to stretch out bedtime until 7pm. Also with a bit more structure with meals - she was used to grazing and would often not eat dinner, so I tried to make a gap between afternoon tea (kept to fruit) and then a bit more dinner at an earlier time so she wasn't overtired.
I also had returned to work at this stage and she was self weaning as well as getting her first lot of teeth which complicated matters. In the end we settled on putting her back in her cot with some music on (low level and calming) and she seemed quite happy to yodel along to it. If she got upset I would go and lie down in her room. It took some time to pass but did eventually. This worked better for us as she seemed to just want to play when in our bed - as lovely as it was to be needed, DH and I were exhausted.
It is so hard when you get run down - I remember feeling like such a failure when she didn't sleep but it was just a phase and about her needs, not what I was doing wrong.
Take care of yourselves - ignore the jobs to be done and try and catch up on some sleep whenever you can. Good Luck
It seems to me as though she's getting too much sleep if she's going to bed at 6 and waking at 10 for a bottle. Maybe give her a bottle put her to bed at 730 to cut out the 1030 waking time, she should then sleep straight through until 7am ish.
My ds 12mths does that ... but we are lucky enough that a quick cuddle from both me and dh is enough and ds can go back to his cot and fall asleep... we tell him that it is night time and time to sleep not play...kiss him goodnight and leave the room 9/10 times it works! Ds goes to daycare and when he comes home he is so tired he just crashes in cot with a bottle and doesnt move til 1030 /11pm and either has a bottle and goes back to sleep or the above happens. Hoever if he wakes at 2-3-4am i just leave him talking away and eventually he falls back to sleep.... (obviously if he is getting upset and the talking changes to 'i want you mum NOW' cry obviously i go check him .....
I would suggest if you can leave her in her cot and if she has a tanty well she has a tanty hey she will learn (i dare say the hard way) that night time is for sleep not playing with mum and dad eyelids lol....
Is she cold ? That could be another reason she wakes up .... We have a oil heater thing in the room and it is beauitiful .... not to warm but not too cool either.
All great suggestions. Agree she might be hungry - if you find it too hard to give her more food, then you can always boost the calorie count by adding more energy dense foods to what she is having regularly...stuff like adding grated cheese to her dinner, for eg.
Also agree bedtime may be too early. Try stretching her a bit later every few nights and see if that helps.
Also - check how much light is coming into the room. Nightlights are very convenient but they can disrupt sleep in some light-sensitive individuals. We ditched the night light so if my DD wakes up she knows it's still sleeping time, kwim?
Reply With Quotewe are having the same issues here, hope she sleeps again really soon for you
Oh please someone have the answers!
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Pulling your eyelids open & singing to you!
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