Help Wt 16 Mo Old Not Sleeping Thru the Nite

My advice is to let her cry a little (not too long), and let her learn to put herself back to sleep. If you are concerned about her hunger level, make sure she is well fed before bed, and try to stick to a schedule, especially a set bed time. I notice that when I change the schedule on my 6 month old, she wakes up more during the night. good luck!

Let her cry.I know this may be hard but she basically has you "trained" to pick her up and rock her when she lets out a whimper.You need to turn this around and put her on your schedule,crying will not hurt her!It will probably hurt your feelings but don't give in!It may take several days even weeks to get her on your schedule but it will give you loads of releif as well as a good nights of sleep! Good luck and stay strong!

I know it's hard but try not to touch her when she does this. Many times children at that age are "talking in their sleep" and the stimulation of you comforting her actually wakes her up. My son will call out in the middle of the night , sounds like he is crying at times. When I go into his room he is actually sound asleep with his eyes wide open. S T R A N G E ! However he isn't seeing anything and within a minute his eyes are closed , thumb in the mouth and he's back to normal sleeping.

Sounds sort of like she is doing the same thing.

J.

probably nothing is wrong. My son is almost 3 years old and doen't sleep thru the night. I think he ie just a light sleeper. Your daughter might be a light sleepper and hasn't learned how to fall alseep w/o you yet. I would give it a couple more monthes before worrying about it.

my 16 month old son just started sleeping through the night without waking up every hour when I moved out of the room. his dad would put him back to sleep. he woke up 3x a night, then 2x now sleeps from 7 to 530am solid and I am back in the room with them....
hope that helps! I think it just becomes habitual and you have to gently help them break the habit.

its totally normal for them to do that. i have a 12mo old daughter who will wake up in her crib at night and fuss a bit or play i just leave her there and she eventually goes back to sleep. since your little one is sleeping with you, you may find this behaivor will increase when you decide to put her in her own room and bed.

Hi J.,
I think what you are describing is pretty normal, especially if she sleeps with you in your bed (which is probably more normal than we think!). My son is 26 months and also slept in our bed. I very gradually weaned him from night breastfeedings from about 18 to 22 months, by gradually prolonging when he would get breastfed (ie. not breastfeeding til after 12, then when comfortable with that not til after 1, etc) He fought this very hard, but I felt that at least he knew we were there for him and he was at an age where he could understand, mama needs her sleep too (mama go night-night I would tell him). Maybe when you feel you and her are ready you could try something similar, like gradually weaning her from being rocked back to sleep, by substituting your voice or a rub on her back or snuggling instead of rocking.
It felt sometimes like a very slow process to my husband and I, but I could never bring myself to do the "quick" cry it out method by themselves. At least when they are next to you, your child will not feel alone or abandoned.
By the way, my little guy now has a toddler bed pulled right up against our bed and sleeps there all night (sometimes he sleeps thru the night - seems like a miracle to me whenever that happens, lol). Sometimes he wakes 1 or 2 times and I just scoot over and we snuggle for a few minutes til he falls back asleep. And just like before, I know that eventually he will not need to snuggle with mama to go back to sleep. I just have to remind myself, lol, that it is a slow process and that if I let him do it in his own time we will have the most success.
good luck,
M.

I can completely relate. My 17 mo old daughter does exactly the same - waking up every 3 hours in a good night. She hated her crib and slept with us for a long time, but then we got her a full size mattress and she loves it. You might think about doing that.