1 Year Old Won't Sleep

I highly recommend the book "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Richard Ferber. He is a sleep scientist that has written this very readable book. He explains how to teach a child to self-soothe so that they learn to go to sleep & stay asleep without your help. He also explains how to set a bedtime routine & schedule and how to tell how much sleep your child needs. It is a wonderful resource & has done really great things for my family!

Have you tried to let her cry a bit before getting her? I am NOT a fan of the full out cry it out method. However, they do form habits, and learn early on that when they cry and you come, they'll do it again. My son would be a great sleeper, then would get sick - and we'd be up with him. It would always take a few nights to get him back to his routine. We would wait 5-10 minutes (sometimes he'd stop crying) then go in and lay him down, rub his back, sing to him, but not take him out of the bed. Then say good night and leave, and repeat, trying to wait a little longer each time, saying less each time. I think it lets them know you are there, but also encourages them to learn to put themselves back to bed.

I have 4 kids and all of my kids have grown out of their morning nap around a year. They would wake around 8 have a nap around 12:30 and sleep for 2-3 hours and then go to bed for the night around 8-9 at night. Every child is different and requires a different amount of sleep but the average is 10-12 hours a night with a 2 hour nap at that age. Once they got rid of that second nap the days were soooo much better. We were able to do more things outside of the house because I didn't always feel like I was interfering with nap time. There also wasn't the constant battle of trying to get them to sleep because, they weren't ready to sleep. It sounds like she has changed her sleep pattern and you just need to go with it. She could be getting molars too, they are no fun at all and you don't notice them because they're at the back of her mouth and I doubt she will let you look. One day you will just notice that they are there. Try some baby motrin at night for a couple nights and see if that helps. A warm bath before bed and a good bedtime routine does wonders too. I usually start getting mine ready for bed about 45 minutes before they ever get into bed, we read stories, sing songs, they have a bath, a little snuggle and a tuck in and they are out like a light.

Good luck, it does get better. It has to or I would never have had 4...

S.

At one year old I would eliminate the morning nap all together and just do one nap after lunch. My daughter went through a spell like this where I ended up putting her in a big girl bed so i could lay with her. I know that could lead to some problems for some but it didn't with us she eventually stopped wanting to be awake all night (although everyonce in a while we will still have THAT night but it always seems to be around a huge growth spurt) I'm sure you will get plenty of repsonses but I say one nap a day so maybe she will be more tired at night.

She might be ready to have her naps consolidated. It will be a little trail and error at first - with my son we tried a few different times and occasionally he still needed a morning nap but then it fell into a rhythm of nap being right after an early lunch at 11:30 or so. At 2 he goes down for a nap between 1:30 and 2 and sleeps for about 2 hours and goes to bed around 8 or 8:30 and gets about 10 hours of night time sleep. He still wakes up in the middle of the night on occasion and comes in with us so it's not perfect, but we've had to do a lot of tweaking to get him to sleep through the night since he transitioned to a big boy bed about 6 months ago.

Good luck!

Hi A.,

I understand about no sleep!! I am sooooo sorry. If you haven't already tried or read this book, I HIGHLY recommend it. Honestly, it changed our family's life! It's called "Happy Child, Healthy sleep Habbits", by Marc Weisbluth. He has so many great solutions that really work. It doesn't just have to do with baby sleep habbits, it also talks about childhood up until 18 yrs old. Appearantly it is similar to Th Baby Whisperer? Anyway, I believe it is sold on Amazon for cheaper than at a book store. Usually around $15. It will be the best money spent, I promise. Good luck. I hope it makes a difference.