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View Full Version : Why is my 12 month old not sleeping anymore?!?!



maylips
03-26-2008, 01:10 PM
DD turned 1 on the 12th and decided that she hated sleeping. She used to go down for 2 great naps -- both were usually 1 1/2 hours at least -- and then sleep through the night 11 or so hours.

Lately, though, she's only taking 40 minute naps (if I'm lucky!) and is cranky from lack of sleep. This is totally throwing me off her usual schedule because I see she's tired and try to put her down, even though it's not officially "nap time" and then don't feel comfortable letting her cry because it's not her nap time.

At night, even, we hear her waking up a lot -- she turns on the mobile music 3-4 times throughout the night, meaning she's awake. She's not crying then, so that's good, but she is definitely waking earlier (this a.m. it was 5:30. I gave her some milk and she slept in our bed until 8:00).

What is going on? Is it daylight savings time? Is she too in tune with what's going on out in the other rooms now? She completely weaned around the time this started...could that have something to do with it? I would think yes, except she seemed to emotionally wean easily and absolutely LOVES cow's milk (to the point where I'm also having a hard time giving her other food because she's filling herself up on that).

Please help! I miss my good sleeper!

hbridge
03-26-2008, 01:25 PM
Could she be ready to switch to one nap?

Our DC NEVER took more than one nap, but by 1 1/2 yo had switched from morning to afternoon...

hillview
03-26-2008, 01:28 PM
Ok so this is SOOOO my DS at this age. He seemed to go in and out of good sleep patterns for about 6 months with no real reason I could figure out. All I can say is keep to the schedule you have and do whatever routine you normally do. DS would do this for a week or so and then gradually get back into the routine. We had tried CIO at this age and it didn't work out well for us. We re-tried CIO at 2 years and that worked very well.

If she isn't crying in the middle of the night I'd ignore it (sounds like that is what you are doing). The move to cow's milk may be fine for her but she may be feeling like something changed and be a little bit out of sorts? I love the Healthy Sleep Habits book. Is she getting enough day light in the morning / day time to be on schedule? Is she going to be early enough (7ish?)? I might not try to do another unscheduled nap but instead try to get her back onto the schedule. This is what I do when we travel and naps get messed up. It is hard for a day or 2 but then folks get back into the swing of things.

Sorry!! It will get better!
/hillary

lisams
03-26-2008, 02:08 PM
Sounds like she might be transitioning to one nap. DS is 13 months and doing the same thing. On the days that I push back that morning nap a few hours, he takes a good solid 2-2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. It's hard though because he's so used to the routine that he gets grumpy when I push back that first nap. Getting outside or out of the house helps distract him. I remember DD going through this. I think I read in the No Cry Sleep book that at this age they don't need as much day sleep, like 2-3 hours.

Another thought is perhaps she's getting her one year molars? Those really seem to mess with sleep around here. The way I know is if I give him Motrin an hour before sleep time and he sleeps well - once the pain goes away he's able to sleep really well. If he's still sleeping not as well then I figure it's something else.

Hope things get better in the sleep area for you guys.

ETA - I just reread your post and I wonder if it's the cow's milk bothering her tummy. Maybe cut back on it for a few days and see if the sleep improves? Is she getting constipated from the milk? I remember our ped. saying that at this age constipation can be a cause of sleep problems.

bubbaray
03-26-2008, 02:17 PM
She might be hungry if she's drinking too much milk -- feed her solids first, then offer her milk at the end of her solids.