My 11 month old has never consistently slept through the night. He will go 3 or so nights with sleeping great, or waking up and being able to put himself back to sleep but then the other 3 or 4 nights he wakes up, around 2am, crying unable to console himself.
I am an incredibly light sleeper so rather than staying awake, i typically would cave, give him a bottle and he would fall back fast asleep. Some nights, he would drink very little, other nights, he would drink a full 8 oz bottle. There seems to be no true rhyme or reason why he cant consistently sleep. How do i get past this phase?
I have always been quick to say my son is little and that if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he is probably hungry and needs food. I realize at 11 months, he should be able to do so. Do i ferberize? or are there other, better methods, because of his age?
Our schedule is pretty routine. My husband and I are early risers which means he is an early sleeper. Typically in bed around 8pm each night. He is up at 530am, against his will, getting ready for daycare. He eats dinner each night around 530pm and gets a night time bottle right before bed.
Ideas??? I am preparing for baby number 2 and do NOT want this habits to continue after the new baby arrives.
R.,
I suggest putting him to bed earlier- 7pm at the latest. He will sleep longer if you put him down earlier. Also, have a consistent routine for bedtime each night. Such as dinner,bath, book, cuddle time and bed. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, sing to him. Or give him a bottle of warm water-not milk. Hope this helps.
Molly
I agree that you should stop the night time feedings and move his bedtime earlier. My daughter was doing the same thing at 10 or 11 months (not the feeding though). We use to start her night time routine at 8 and she would be in bed by 8:30, we moved it up to 7 and in bed by 7:30 and she sleeps until about 7 or 7:30 in the morning with 2 naps during the day. I think (you should check this) an 11 month old needs about 12 hours sleep at night, plus 2 naps during the day. I also think if you deal with the exhaustion for a few nights and not give in, you will have a happy sleeper.=o) My daughter doesn't sleep all night every night, but most nights she does (probably 25 out of 30 nights).
Best of luck and congratulations on #2!!!
C.
Hi R.,
My daughter was doing almost the exact same thing! She FINALLY started sleeping through the night at 11 mos. I think your nightime routine sounds great and I would'nt worry too much about putting him to bed earlier(that did not seem to work with our daughter) but what did work was letting her cry on the 3rd and 4th night when she would wake up. Of course, this was VERY hard because she was a tough one and would cry for an hour( or a little more) at a time but by the third night she learned how to soothe herself back to sleep and now she sleeps consistently. We tried the "cry it out" method when she was 6 mos and it was horrible...she was just not ready for it. She is also small and when she turned 11 mos, I could tell she was getting up for consolation as opposed to needing food. I also stopped nursing her through the night at around 10mos.
She still has issues with sleep...she does not take her naps in her crib during the day(but sleeps in her crib at night) and wakes up early 5:30-6:30 but it is SOO much better! Having consistent nightime sleep helps mom and baby.
Good luck and just remember that whatever you do, just try to be consistent!
What is the bedtime routine? Does he know how to soothe himself to sleep? Is he teething? How long has he been inconsistent with sleeping? How are his naps in the day? I think the night feedings aren't necessary and possible part of the problem. I think you might want to push his bedtime back at least a 1/2 hour considering his early wake up time. My daughter goes to bed at 7:30 and has to wake up around 6:15 for daycare. Maybe he is overtired. I know sometimes kids at daycare can get really worn out and overtired kids don't sleep. My daughter was taking 2- 2 hour naps each day at daycare and she was well rested when I would pick her up. Please send more info and I can send more ideas also.
Hi R.,
It sounds like your son sleeps through the night. There are soooo many reasons he could be waking up upset. The people who say their kids sleep through the night and never wake up are either etremely lucky or are not being completely honest.
When kids go through any change, new development, teething, illness - they can have disupted sleep. My daughter is a pretty good sleeper but occasionally wakes up in the night. I give her a pacifier - which is pretty much the same as a bottle - it comforts her. I work full time - which it sounds like you do as well - which makes sleeping at night even more of a neccesity.
I personally used the Ferber method to transition out of swaddling and it seemed to also help her sleep more consistently through the night 8:30PM -7:00/8:00 AM. I also was very lucky and my daughter started sleeping through the night at 2 months - and I truly believe is was not because of anything I was doing - I just got lucky.
Ferber may not be the route you want to go - in the book it also referenced not starting the method if your child is sick, or mastering a new skill - such as crawling, standing, walking. It worked for me in 3 days but again I lucked out and she was already a good sleeper.
Good luck:)
