changing sleep pattern-14month old

mushi

mushi

Registered User
hi, i have a 14 month old baby who had been sleeping quite peacefully from 7pm to 6.30 am continuously till about a month ago....now even though he sleeps at 7.00pm he wakes up at 5.00 am and then does not want to go abck to sleep.....earlier he used to cry a little bit at 5.00 am but would manage to go off to sleep by himself.now that he has "grown up" he just stands up in the cot and cries since he does not know how to lie down again..i have to pick him up and try to rock him back to sleep, but he is wide awake and wants to play....i have also tried just making him lie down in the cot again and he bawls and bawls till he manages to stand up again.....

sleeping technique is also changing, earlier he was being fed his bottle and the would go off to sleep peacefully immediately or with a little 5 min fuss......now he screeches when i try to put him in cot and refuses his milk unless i make him sleep on the bed or in my arms......i do so and then put him down in the cot and he wails and wails till he goes to sleep!!

i really don;t know what has gone wrong....i am very particular about his daytime schedules and that is being followed as before.......is this a phase of a 13-14 month old......how do i handle him when he wakes up and stand up at night?

pls. help!
 
I don't really have any good advice but more support. My baby was always very good at going to bed without a fuss. BUT now for the past couple of days she cries hysterically until she finally falls asleep! Recently she has been sick and her top teeth have been coming in so I have made exceptions with her sleeping (during the night) by taking her out of the crib and sleeping with her. Not sure if that has caused some problems.....probably.

Maybe he just has to get used to sitting back down? Are there any developemental milestones that may be influencing the change? I am sure though that eventuallly things will get better, hang in there.
 
my baby is 9 months old but is also learning to stand up in the crib. she does know how to sit back down but it is still causing her to stay awake longer. like your baby, she also fell asleep while feeding and i would put her down no problems. now she stays awake when i put her in the crib. but every five minutes i go in and lay her back down and eventually she falls asleep. i just tell myself it's a phase and consistancy is key. one day she will just fall asleep on her own........fingers crossed :smile:
 
megan, does yr baby cry when she is sitting in the cot, cause mine can bring the roof down by his horrific screams.....he pulls at my hands and i feel so wretched to just push him down back in and walk out sp. since i know that is standing up already ....even before i reach the door.......i had done controlled crying earlier but this time it breaks my heart to do it.....
 
mommies, where r u? i am really disappointed not to get any more advice from u all..... now my baby has gone form bad to worse....besdies waking up at 5.00 am he now also wakes up at midnight and refuses to go to sleep till 3..00 am!! i have tried CC but this standing in the cot and screaming really makes me feel so guilty now as opposed to earlier when i did CC when he was 7 months old. So I am forgetting CC for the moment and trying to co-sleep....anyone done that before with an over-active baby of 14 months? will it work? i plan to do it for 3 nights and check it out..........WAITING FOR YR ADVICES.
 
Hi mushi,

Like megan2008, I'm sorry I don't have advice, but some support. Both my sisters have had the problem of an early waking baby, waking throughout the night and standing in the cot, that they both did co-sleeping.

To this day they still recommend it- but it is just a personal preference.

I have also read somewhere (not sure here or not) that you may need to help teach you bb to sit/lie down on their own by practicing with him during the day in the cot.

Hope everything works out!
 
Yes, my baby would scream very loudly. It would frustrate, anger and sadden me but eventually it got better. If you go in every five minutes your baby will eventually figure out that you are coming in regardless if they scream cry or are happy. The important thing is that you stay calm, go in, and lay your baby back down. I would add some kisses and pats and tell her that I love her before closing the door. You will find what works for you. I noticed with my daughter that she would cry louder right before she would fall asleep and sometimes she doesn't cry at all. Hang in there, it will get better.
 
My daughter would also start to stand as soon as I put her back down. I would just let her, walk out and wait five minutes before coming back in.
 
BOth mine have had similar sleep patterns ( I have a 3yr old and a 14 monther). What I've learned is:
Early rising: To a certain extent, you have to 'suck it up' (There's a whole thread on this somewhere onthe forums). I sympathise with you completely - I haven't had a lie in past 6 since?????!) Mine get up between 5:30 and 6:30 at the moment
Other stuff: whatever method you choose, consitency is the key. If a baby is doing CC one night but being rocked the next, he gets confused. Every couple of months my 14 month will have a 'relapse" and unless he's ill, I use excatly the same method. 1) Check that he's ok and comfortable (including room temperature, quick feel of his forehead, sniff his bum to make sure he hasn't pooed.)
2) Lay him down and comfort him for a few minutes
3) While he's still awake, say 'night night' and walk out. This is tough as he sometime screams and screams.
Usually the relapses only last a night or two.
The good news is, as your communication with your baby gets better, it gets easier. If my 3 year old gets up way too early , we just tell her it's still sleep time and she will go back to bed - even if it's to sing to her dolls!
Good luck!
 
Mushi,

My daughter just went through the same thing and like you, I struggled with letting her cry this time. I guess it's because they're older and have more obvious personalities and you can hear the distress in their cries. Now, I've dropped one of her naps so she's down to one to see if that helps and even though she's worn out during the day as she adjusts, she seems to have got over the screaming as soon as I lay her in her cot and the hours of crying in the middle of the night.

The other thing is seperation anxiety which my daughter had big time last week. It was obvious during the day and even more so at night which is another reason i struggled to let her cry alone. I stayed with her during her crying bouts and sat on the floor next to her with my arm through the bars and my hand on her back which gave her security.

Hope this helps!
 
Hi Mushi,

Just some thoughts......

1. Is he getting too much sleep during the day? I find that my daughter is very timetabled and will get hungry and semi sleepy at the same time everyday regardless of how tired she is. We are in the process of swapping from two naps to one and regardless of how tired or not she is at the time of her previous naps she starts to rub her eyes and yawn, but she cannot sleep as she is not tired enough. If your son is used to going to sleep at 7, that is his bedtime clock, but he will wake earlier if he has had enough sleep. So, maybe he gets too much during the day.

2. Is he hungry? He may be gowing through a growth spurt? If you dont feed him anymore at night maybe try a dream feed before you go to bed for a couple of nights to see if that helps. I occasionally put dream feeds in now if my LO starts to wake in the night or wake early.

3. Mornings are very light now, try darkening the windows to see if this helps.
 
Oh I do sympathise. I'm struggling with the early morning wakings too. Can anyone tell me WHY oh WHY is HK so bright in the early mornings? It is brighter than other places, right? We have blackout blinds but simply not effective. I will have to put something else on the windows. I have never seen anything like this early morning light that comes in - 5 am today! Mushi why don't you try a black out - or do you already have one?
 
hi ladies, thanks so much for all your advice and help.....it has got much better now......but yes i had to do co-sleeping.....it has worked out well as there is no crying and anguish for me and he seems to know i am around so has stopped waking up at night.he does occassionally stir but i sh-sh him and he goes back to sleep.....mornings are also better now as the same sh-sh works for atleast 30 mins more!!...........i will be continuing this till another growth spurt!
 
My baby has started to do this too. He used to be so easy to put to bed, no crying just straight to sleep for day sleeps and at 7pm for his night sleep. Now at 15 months he has started to cry a lot and stand in his cot crying out when he doesn't want to go to bed. Usually it is one sleep a day which he protests - either his afternoon nap or his night sleep. So frustrating too as you know that they are not going to sleep when they are standing up in their cot! We did CC too but he is teething too so never know whether they are in pain or are just being wilful given that they are older now. Will persevere with CC (together with teething gel) and hope that it is a phase that passes. It is so stressful though and that is tiring in itself.

Good luck.

SB2
 
sounds like everyone has great advice and in the end it's personal preference and what works best for you and your baby. personally, i never co-sleep with my son who is now 17 months old. my husband and i never get any sleep and i would not want him associating sleep with me.
 
Hi Mushi, I have a 18 months with me, he used to cry a lot when he was young. But, what worked for him is, I need to keep telling him it's bed time and he needs to go to bed, mommy is here with him, and mommy loves him. I believed even from your tone, they can really tell or feel your love.

This should comfort them and of course there is no magic, it does take time to have them get back to the normal sleeping pattern. Babies or toddlers, they are always trying their luck so as they can get more from those who loved them... Be patient...
 
Hope you don't mind me piggy backing off your thread, Mushi! Can anyone who has done the two-to-one nap transition tell me how they went about it? I think we're getting there but some days I feel like I've got timings all wrong and am wearing my 14 mth old out! She definitely can only manage one nap now, btw.
 
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