Are there any one year olds here who are still not sleeping through the night?

[_jellybean_]

Wondering if it's just my little girl? If you do have a one year old or older toddler who still wakes at night, I have a few questions:

1. Do they wake more than once?
2. Are there scattered nights where they sleep through so you get a break?

Thanks! More info is below if you want to read.



She's waking up frequently, but did sleep through for two nights on the weekend. It's really hard for dh b/c he gets up with her at night--usually for a feed (or two feeds, or three!). She is having enough milk during the day, and eating a ton. We've got her allergies basically sorted out with medication, etc., but she's still waking. We don't want to try CIO, and we are unable to co-sleep because we both have medical issues that would make co-sleeping dangerous. I'm always looking for tips to get her to sleep through. It's killing me to see my husband so utterly exhausted and sleep-deprived. I don't want him to (God forbid) get into a car accident while driving to work

 

[seoj]

Just a thought- but have you tried no feeds (or sippy with water if needed)? Just comforting her till he falls back to sleep if needed- it's possible she's just in the habit of waking for food for comfort, and not out of a "need"... ? You can tell me I'm rubbish though if you've already tried this

 

[AnneD]

16 months here and has never slept through the night.

1 Yes.
2 No.

When she's teething, it tends to be worse. As a general rule, she is difficult to keep asleep towards the morning. I started cosleeping out of sheer exhaustion. It's not as bad as it used to be, though. I count a night with three wake-ups a success.

 

[PoppyPainting]

My lo can sleep through but teething or illness will cause her to wake and need cuddling back to sleep.

I stopped feeding her during the night at around 10 or 11 months. I tried watering down her formula but she just drank a full bottle of water then weed loads! I also tried a sippy cup of water but she refused it. In the end I had to go cold turkey and she cried for one hour one night then totally accepted it.

Sometimes she only wakes once. Last night cutting her first molar was every half hour from midnight until 4am!!!

Eta; stopping milk at night did help shorten the wake ups and increase the number of times she sleeps thru.

 

[fannyadams]

28 months and still doesn't.
The very odd night she goes through but usually wakes to come in with us and then still wakes several times for one thing or another (never a drink).
This is a vast improvement though.
I feel your (and your oh's) pain xxx

 

[_jellybean_]

Just a thought- but have you tried no feeds (or sippy with water if needed)? Just comforting her till he falls back to sleep if needed- it's possible she's just in the habit of waking for food for comfort, and not out of a "need"... ? You can tell me I'm rubbish though if you've already tried this

thanks, seoj. Yes, dh has tried this and he actually does try to give her water often--it ends up extending her wake time because she stays awake until he gives her milk

p.s. I love reading your posts--you're always so helpful and your posts are well-written and thoughtful.

 

[_jellybean_]

So it's not just my little girl...thank you so much ladies for taking the time to respond. I wish there was a simple answer. Dh would be so much happier/healthier if he had more sleep--and he has a difficult job as well agh! Thanks again.

 

[Scottish mum]

My lo woke once a night up until he was one. It stopped al 1 as he was sick for a few days so we stopped giving him milk full stop. I was worried about this but you know what he's slept through the night since and he only take water now during the day! Supose for us in a sense him being sick those few days kind of helped us a bit. The key I think is stoping the comfort feeds at night as that for me was why my son was waking only for his milk!!

I think offer water instead but it's hard as you might have to stand your ground x

 

[Zephram]

My LO is up about 4 times a night on average. He's 17 months old. He has never slept through the night. I just shrug now, honestly. I've tried everything and nothing works.

 

[Leafy]

thanks, seoj. Yes, dh has tried this and he actually does try to give her water often--it ends up extending her wake time because she stays awake until he gives her milk

p.s. I love reading your posts--you're always so helpful and your posts are well-written and thoughtful.

my daughter is 15 months and exactly the same - we've tried water or just cuddles/comforting but she will stay awake until she's had milk (and if we try the other things before the milk she is usually even more awake and harder to get back to sleep!) so just easier to give her a bottle but it is so exhausting. my OH has a 6am wakeup for work but we take it in turns and i do feel for him when its his turn but i have health issues and cannot do it on my own every night feels like it will never end! x

 

[flosie]

19 months and she wakes 6 plus times. Best we ever have is two wake ups but that is rare, maybe happened about5 times in her life. Sorry no suggestions but your definitely not alone

 

[bookworm0901]

My LO was getting a night feed until he was 14-15 months old. Finally one week DH and I had had enough, so we did a weaning process. But this was for only 1 feed. We gave him 6 oz. for a few days, then 4 oz., then 2 oz., then nothing. When we gave him nothing, he didn't even care! We were shocked.

He still has never STTN, but he is vastly improved. What he does is wake up sometime between midnight and 3-4 AM and get in bed with me. So our routine is for him to self-settle in his own crib at bedtime, wake up at 2 or whatever, get in my bed, and sleep til morning. But we definitely have off nights where he will stay awake for 3 hour stretches just wide awake. Or wake up crying at like 5 AM and fuss a lot until finally falling back to sleep.

And lately he's been asking for a drink and getting mad when it's water and not milk. Last night he asked for a drink at 2 AM, I said "water?" he said "no milk" and I did it. But I would rather he be drinking water in the middle of the night.

 

[FAB mama]

Glad to see I'm not alone! LO wakes more than once, pretty much every night. I guess a few times he's woken up just once, but no he really never sleep through a whole night, unless you have another definition of "sleep through". I mean from bedtime til breakfast, no he doesn't sleep through. On a normal night he wakes up around midnight or 2 am and then a few more times after that… increasing as it gets towards morning. I haven't really tried much. I nurse him back to sleep and co-sleep if he isn't very sleepy. If he's tired enough I'll put him in his own bed. He usually falls back to sleep ok if he's next to me. Honestly, I stopped working when he was born and I think I sleep more now than I did when I was working! I used to have trouble sleeping but now I'm just tired enough to sleep and I can sleep as long as LO will sleep in the morning, which is normally enough for me. DH never gets up at night unless LO is really screaming. He works a very physically demanding job so I know he needs sleep, and he can't breastfeed anyway!

 

[NoodleSnack]

16 months here and has never slept through the night.

1 Yes.
2 No.

When she's teething, it tends to be worse. As a general rule, she is difficult to keep asleep towards the morning. I started cosleeping out of sheer exhaustion. It's not as bad as it used to be, though. I count a night with three wake-ups a success.

Mine's 14m but otherwise exactly the same. I've gotten used to it, if I get a 4 hours stretch, I feel great.

Do you work? If you don't, is it possible to do shifts such that he can get a longer stretch somewhere?

 

[MiniKiwi]

My daughter will be two soon and doesn't sttn. She never does and wakes many times. I feel like there's nothing we can do but wait. I did sleep train her at 13 months as she was waking every 45 mins and staying up for hours each night. I did CIO but stayed next to her cot, pretending to sleep while she learned to self settle. We had a couple of months of sttn after that but it's gradually gotten worse and worse again, this time I'm not sure why as she knows how to self soothe and doesn't wake for anything in particular.

I hope you find a solution or that your LO grows out of this phase soon. Sorry I don't have any magic ideas for you

 

[Rachel_C]

Neither of my kids slept through until they were about 2 years old, and that was when I night weaned them. Before that, they were waking at least once, usually twice. At a year old, I think they were both waking 2-3 times regularly, more when ill/teething and occasionally only once.

Could you do sleeping in blocks so you both get some uninterrupted sleep? Maybe 10pm-3am could be your OH's time to get up and 3-8am could be your shift? I don't think it's the length of time you're awake that's always the problem, it's that you know you're going to be woken again soon which makes it hard to get back to sleep! If you at least know you can sleep for a certain number of hours it can help.

 

[Bambino123]

I have a 3 year old that has slept through the night twice.
Yes. Twice.
On those 2 occasions it was so unusual that I actually got up to check he was ok so I didn't even get to have a full night myself. I'm due another baby in a month so I guess it'll be another few years before I get a full night sleep

 

[RoseArcana]

My 19 month old doesn't consistently sleep through. I'd say she STTN once or twice a week on a good week. She doesn't take any milk or water through the night and hasn't since about 11months old. I put it down to the fact we stay in two houses and she seems to always be either teething, in a wonder week stage or had a rough day. I'm just going with the flow at the moment. I'm sure she'll sleep through eventually! X

 

[donnarobinson]

My sons 2 and doesn't sleep thru the night ! He can and has done , but most night he wakes up crying bt go in settle him back down and he goes bk of , he has a sip of v weak juice and that's it I use to leave it In there but he wud drink the lot and be soaked thru half way thru the night x he sometimes wakes for hours on end as well. Its hard work ! X

 

[SazzleR]

You probably don't want to hear this but my DS is 3 in 2 weeks & he wakes up most nights Admittedly he usually goes straight back to sleep these days once one of us puts him back in bed but it still means disturbed sleep for us. In all honestly, if someone had told me when he was a newborn that he still wouldn't be STTN now, I think I'd have had a break down But you just get used to it I suppose. At least getting up to feed no. 2 won't be a shock to my system in a few weeks