One Year Old Waking at Night

Assuming you have ruled out medical issues I have two bits of advice: (1) It is so easy to get hung up in a routine and not notice that our children's sleep needs have changed. Around age 1 many kids drop a nap, so maybe he is getting too much sleep in the day. Spend a couple days watching him like a hawk for signs that he is getting tired instead of going on autopilot. Maybe it is time to drop to one nap. (2) If that does not work, cut yourself some slack and do what you need to to survive this time. Being overtired and snappy will just make things worse.
My son was like this from 5 1/2 months until age 2! Prior to 5 1/2 months he was a champion sleeper!
In desperation I read many, many sleep expert's theories and I have yet to find any practical advice on how to apply the cio method with a truly stubborn bebe! There is definitely something to be said for the circadian clock theory, but how to keep a child who can scream for entire nights on end and cry his way through nap time day after day on any schedule is a mystery to me! Each time we stuck to our guns with cio, we wound up exhausted and it took weeks to repair the damage and get him back on schedule.
What I ended up doing right or wrong was: to do whatever it took to get him down for naps then I insisted he start the night out in his crib but allowed him to come into bed with me during the night. At 18 months I stopped letting him nurse but let him cuddle with me. I wasn't 100% happy with this, but at least everyone was getting enough sleep to function. For a long time we had to put a hand over his chest to keep him laying down but eventually I was able to sit in a chair next to the crib, then move the chair further and away from it. Around that time he stopped calling for me in the night and now that he does not nap anymore we can leave him awake at night and have him not call for us until morning. Alas, some children just can't be forced to sleep through the night until they are ready.

I think it could be one or both of the following:

1) He is hungry. Add more protein to his dinner, which will keep him full longer.
Use the feeding chart on Baby Center to determine proper portion of a child his age:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y...

2) He is teething. Try teething tablets or tylenol/motrin to ease the pain.

My daughter does the same thing if she wakes up in the middle of the night and I think I figured out that if I remove the "reward" she gets for waking up, then she will sleep better. The key is not to do anything you aren't willing to continue - one or two nights of nursing or taking them to bed with you is enough for them to wake up again on the third night for more of the same.
What I finally did was to stay with her and calm her as much as possible (whatever it takes to stop the screaming) then instead of leaving her, I would lie down on the other bed in her room and even fall asleep there for a while until she was really asleep (wait past your ten minute mark) then leave. My daughter usually accepted that until I left of course but then would be tired enough she would really only cry for a moment in protest and go back to sleep again. I think she realized that I wasn't going to give in to exactly what she wanted, but that I was there for her.
I also like the previous post idea of giving him a drink of water. You could put it in with him when you put him to bed every night and show him it’s there, then if he needs it, he can find it.
My daughter did drop one of her two naps shortly after 12 months, but I didn’t do it until she absolutely refused the second nap, then I actually dropped the first one. I think right now you’re dealing with restoring your routine more than dropping naps, just remember it might not go back exactly the way it was before.
Best wishes

Hi T.,
I would cut out any afternoon naps completely. My son stopped his pm naps at the age on one. Some kids just don't need as much sleep. Unfortunately, my son is one of those. My daughter however needed all the sleep she could get. But my son to this day lives on less than 8 hours a day now. He is 9 years old and going all day long. By the age of 2 he never took any daytime naps at all. So I would try to keep him up in the afternoon for a while just to see if that helps him through the night.

Good Luck,
L.

Hi T.,
You didn't mention what time you put him to bed at night or what his naps are like. If he has a sleep deficit due to his ear infection, too late a bedtime, or napping outside his circadian rhythms then he will continue to wake at night. The first thing I would do, if you aren't already doing so, is make his bedtime around 6pm with a nap at 9am and 1pm. A lot of times, moving the bedtime to the early hour makes all the difference in the world. I HIGHLY recommend buying the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth for info on age appropriate sleep needs and schedules, as well as the reasons for an early bedtime. If you have questions, email me. Always here to help a fellow mom who is exhausted. Been there, done that!
Sincerely,
L.

Hi T.,
I would wait on skipping naps, as long as he is not napping too late. My son is 15 months and he is just now dropping the second nap.
Don't forget about teething...just when we get a good routine here my son pops another tooth and everything is outta whack.
I feel your pain, my son this last week has been waking everynight from teething. He did it at 12 months and now again at 15 mo. Make sure he has plenty of pain relief - motrin works best for us at night. Also for immediate relief those homopathic teething tablets work great.
Are you offering water? I've found that when I weaned from night nursing that he was thirsty. I think bf babies are used to liquids at night. You could put a sippy cup or bottle of water in his crib - that was huge for us. He maybe nursing for comfort more than for food.
My son still demands nursing at 4:30...it drives me crazy but i know he is not ready to give up that one.

It really may be temporary from teething. so hang in there and try to stick to your routine. Soothe him best you can for now, and then your routine will return.

It sounds like you have a supportive husband, so here's my advice.

Have your husband be the only one who goes to him at night for a while. Your little one may be holding out in hope of a little mommy time and by changing off who goes to him, he might think that if he keeps trying he will eventually get you. All this effort is getting him revved up so that it is harder to get him to sleep.

It is okay to pick him up and soothe him--you won't create a bigger problem. Especially if the problem is that he gets so tense that he can't soothe himself after a bit of upset. You may have to teach him how to relax (taking loud deep breaths with sighing exhales will calm him, as will rubbing his back, letting him listen to your heartbeat, rocking). Don't lay him back down until he lets out a big sigh and he starts to get sleepy. You might find that his head gets warm as he starts to fall asleep. This might take a while at first, but it will require less time as he learns to associate soothing with going back to sleep. Learn to tell the difference between the "unhappy" cry and the "I'm freaked out" cry and try to avoid letting him get to the latter.

Nursing at night is a problem however. Try to resist nursing him at night. He will get into a habit with that and start waking just to nurse. Ditto bottles of anything but water.

It is important to be consistent so that he knows what to expect. If you are inconsistent, he will cry more and longer because he will think that eventually he will get the desired result. So make a strategy ahead of time and stick to it (adjusting as necessary but not violating your own rules).