11 month old sleep

[Artechim]

I am having huge troubles with my DD's sleeping.

I have kept a sleep diary for the past week and in 7 days we have had:
-3 late nights (going to bed between 9.30pm-11pm)
-3 night time parties (wakes for 1.5-4 hours during the night to play)
-wakes around 5 times every night for resettling

So over the week we have had one normal night and 6 disasters.

Her day naps are terrible. She has one nap and will sleep for 40 minutes at the most and often less.

Generally she will wake at about 8am, I could wake her a bit earlier than that but then she would be wanting a nap when we are at kindy with DS. She sleeps in the sling so that would be fine, but that is it for the day and I really really need her to have a nap at home just so I can have a bit of a break from her - it is only half an hour but I need it.

She never seems particularly tired until just before she goes to bed. Is it possible that she just doesn't need much sleep? Can anyone suggest anything at all that will improve this situation? I am willing to try anything at this point.

I am so tired

[onthefly]

What happens in those evenings where she has late nights? I know DS gets overtired very quickly and switches to hyper-mode. Then we have to wait till the next 'lull' before he can relax to sleep - it was a lot worse when he was younger too as he slept so little he was permanently overtired really. Maybe try getting ready for bed earlier. I don't know about a bedtime routine (some might recommend) as that didn't work for us till DS' sleep setteld down of its own accord closer to 2.

Is she teething or anything else going on?

What are your sleeping arrangements and what do you do to resettle during the night?

She is quite young to be on one day nap, but she sounds like a pretty reluctant sleeper unfortunately. DS was nearly 2 before he stopped fighting it all the time.

[Taurean]

Art - big hugs. What a nightmare.

I will send you some notes that a friend of mine too after having a sleep specialist visit her and DD in their home. Her DD is the same age as A. There are actually a lot of notes but some of the info is really good. I was surprised that we were already using a lot if her tricks with our DD!

Off to hunt them down for you....

[Artechim]

Thanks for the reply.

When she has late nights, I offer her a feed at the normal time (she feeds to sleep) but she just drinks with her eyes open and then sits up. She doesn't seem hyper, just plays quietly for her toys for hours. We have a general night time routine but there isn't much room for movement because we have to deal with DS as well - it is hard to try to get her in bed earlier because she goes almost straight away after dinner and bath as it is.

She *may* be teething, she is 11.5 months and doesn't have any teeth yet so surely she is due to get one soon. The sleep problems have been going on for months now though.

She sleeps in a cot for the first few hours of the night, sometimes I do the first resettle in her room. Then I take her into our bed and co-sleep the rest of the night. To resettle I have to feed her. I have tried to rock/sing/pat/walk but she just cries until she is wide awake and then she won't go back to sleep for hours.

Her day sleeps have always been terrible. Since she was 3 months old she has had maybe 3-4 naps that were longer than an hour.

ETA, Taurean that would be great!

[onthefly]

Maybe she's transitioning out of feeding to sleep? DS was like that too when it stopped working all the time. It's hard, because it takes a lot of effort to get something else working in its place when they don't want to sleep.

I would keep feeding to sleep during the night for now, if that works best, but maybe start doing something else at bed time. That *might* be more successful and she *might* then get the hang of other things during the night. What time is dinner? We ended up doing dinner at 4pm to get him in bed by 7 (because it took 1-2 hours for him to unwind and relax enough to sleep).

I gave up on the cot at around 7-8 months and slept him on a mattress on the floor of his room (I slept there too most of the time). When feeding to sleep wouldn't work any more I started lying down with him, cuddling. Sometimes it worked, sometimes he just crawled all over me. He's a fan of singing too. It's a really hard time, because they soooo need to sleep, but just don't want to. And you end up spending a lot more time getting them to sleep than they actually sleep! Not worth it

Maybe try a teethign necklace in case of teeth...? Can't hurt anyway if you don't already have one.

DS was the same with day sleeps till 14-15 months I think, when he finally started sleeping more than an hour.

[Fig]

I am having very similar issues with my 11 month old (I feed/rock/sing to sleep, trying to wean out of co-sleep as well). I totally understand the frustration and complete exhustion!!! especially with those party times in the middle of the night. We had some absolute shocking nights last week, ended up giving DS nurofen and he slept for 3.5 hours in his cot. First time since he was 4 months old. So I think that teething was adding to his sleep problems.

I'm sorry can't be of more help, except to say you are not the only one out there. I am going to go to Ngala (sleep school in WA). They tell me over the phone they don't do CIO or CC anymore so interesing to see what strategies they use. I will keep you posted if any work...

[Taurean]

I am going to go to Ngala (sleep school in WA). They tell me over the phone they don't do CIO or CC anymore so interesing to see what strategies they use. I will keep you posted if any work...

Fig - I've been to Ngala twice with DD and it's been really helpful. Although she *beat* them on the day both times, their tips and encouragement really helped us with getting DD to finally sleep in her cot for day sleeps as we kept trying what they had taught us. It was just so nice to chat to experts who deal with sleep issues in babies all the time and get a confidence boost too. The staff were lovely. I hope you get something out of it too but don't be disheartened if it doesn't *work* on the day - keep trying