My son has always been a great sleeper. He typically sleeps from 7-7 with out waking during the night. On the rare occasion he does wake up in the middle of the night he actually soothes himself back to sleep. Until the last few weeks.
We have been transitioning him to just one nap a day. He had been sleeping in the morning 10-11:30 and in the afternoon 3-4:30. He was starting to phase out the afternoon nap so I now am having him do one big one, 12:30-3 or so. The strange thing is he now has been waking up very upset during the night a couple of times a week and will not go back to sleep. He calls for us to go get him which he never did before and wants to sleep in bed with us- which we have never done unless he was VERY sick. We do not rush in to get him, we usually lay there and listen to him for about a half hour or so or until he gets pretty upset. We know once he sets eyes on one of us he will be with us for the night. Is he overtired? (I know he usually doesn't sleep well when he is overtired) Is he having separation anxiety? Has anyone else experienced this? The only thing that has changed in his life is his nap schedule, we have a pretty strict routine. Could it be that it is because I am messing with his routine?
I would greatly appreciate any thoughts or advice. Thank you!!!!!
Could he be getting some teeth or have an ear infection? We just encountered a similar situation and it was one tooth. It lasted almost 3 weeks.
Hi there. It is hard to know what it is! Did this start the day you changed his schedule?
Does he have sep. anxiety during the day at all?
I would have him checked out for teething, ear infection, etc, etc first.
Is there anything else going on? New cargiver or anything like that?
Does he wake at random times at night or the SAME time every night? If it is the SAME time every night it is happening during one of his lighter sleep phases, and you may infact have to cut his nap down by 30 min for 4 or 5 days to drive him to sleep through the lighter part of the night.
Once a baby hits 18 mos they start to need less sleep.
I know confusing - you have gotten responses - don't cut out sleep and yes, cut out sleep. If nothing else is wrong you can certainly try cutting out the sleep and see if it works. Trial and Error!
You could also try the walk in/walk out method if you do not want to keep bringing him into your bed. If you do not mind him in your bed, then so be it!
I always know that when my LO starts sleeping a bit off, it is teeth, an ear infection or a cold pops up in a couple of days - EVERY time.
Good luck!
2 of the reasons why kids have night terrors is 1)chnage of schedule & 2)not enough sleep. He could behaving them and then waking himself up. He is waking the same time? Try a night lite.
Maybe he is getting too much sleep? I would try to get him doing one nap a day for a few hours and then he might be more tired at night. It also is very possible that he has something that is causing him pain like teething or an ear infection. So I would call the pediatrician to have him check him out or just give it a few weeks and see if it passes.
It could be because you messed w/ his schedule but it could also be because he might be teething. My youngest had a terrible terrible time w/ his canine and 2 year molars you did say he usually wants you when he's sick but this is also the age for seperation anxiety so rule out teething and possible ear infection or on coming illness first.
GIven your son's prior excellent sleep pattern, I think there's probably something going on with him - whether it's teething, separation anxiety, bad dreams or something. I do not believe he is getting too much sleep - it sounds perfect to me as far as what babies SHOULD be getting - most babies don't get enough sleep unless their caregivers are careful about ensuring they do. So it sounds like the sleep thing is perfectly normal. My 20 month old transitioned to one nap from two at about 15-16 months and it was hit or miss for awhile - sometimes she'd take two, sometimes one longer. Now for the last 3 months at least she's been napping about 12:30-3:30 or something like that. She also sleeps about 7:30 or 8 to 7:30 or 8 so 12 hrs at night.
So I don't have any great advice but I don't think you are doing anything wrong with the sleeping and I DON'T think you should try to shorten naps. 2-3 hrs per day is perfectly normal and necessary for his age group. 12 hrs at night is as well.
I think trying a night light is a good idea, and going in and offering comfort but not bringing him to your bed is also good (easier said than done, I know). I know my own DD has gone through phases where she wakes up repeatedly for a couple weeks and then goes back to sleeping but we've not brought her into our bed - I always go in her room and comfort her there either by laying beside her crib on the floor (for hours sometimes!) or holding her in the glider rocker chair.
I suspect he'll be pulling out of this phase anytime, and would agree with continuing your routine. However, I do think that when transitioning form one nap to two there are days where he'll still need two and you have to go with it. Bad sleep begets bad sleep; good sleep begets good sleep so they are all related. The better his naps are the better his nights will be and the converse too. It will all fall into place.
sounds like you are doing a great job!
When you say he started to take out his afternoon nap what do you mean? He wouldn't sleep for it or would just go down for a shorter amount of time? Maybe instead of changing the time of his morning nap which it seems he was still taking without a problem you should just eliminate that afternoon nap. If he was already starting to do it on his own. If he's showing signs of being tired maybe because you had a very active day then you can still put him down in the afternoon for a little while. But if you've always stuck with this very strict schedule then his sleep patterns are now being adjusted to that. And with you changing the way the sleeping goes he just isn't sure what to expect anymore. Stop taking him into bed with you though. If he's able to go to sleep once he's in bed with you then he's able to sleep. So I would just go in there tell him it's time to sleep in his own bed and tell him you'll see him in the morning and lay him back down. If he continues to fuss don't say anything and lay him back to sleep.
Your son sounds very much like my almost 17 month old daughter. She has also been a fantastic sleeper, usually sleeping 12-12 1/2 hrs a night and a decent nap during the day. the past few weeks she started waking up crying, obvioiusly upset. My daughter also usually soothes herself back to sleep. I think it is the the second round of separation anxiety that they go through. If he sounds upset about something you should go in and soothe him. Especially if it is the separtaion anxiety. He just needs to know you are still there. I usually rock my daughter for about 5 min and then try to put her back down. Sometimes that's all she needs and other times I end up laying in bed with her. The way I look at it is that I would want someone to be there for me if was scared and that's what I'm doing. I also know it's a phase and won't last forever. I know exactly what you're going through right now and wish you luck!
