Forum home Babies Sleep

Getting my 1 year old to finally sleep through

Hi everyone,

I have a little boy who has just turned 1 and have been tackling sleep throughout his life. He has never had a fall night sleep or even close to be honest. 

He wakes anything from once to 6/7 times or wakes once but stays awake for two gruelling hours!!

I have listened to friend and family advice and different techniques as; 2 minute leave and cry method, calming music, bedtime routine, nursery rhymes, star lights, white noise and although some have worked for him to fall asleep he doesnr stay asleep longer than 2-3 hours. 

i have tried no milk during the night, so his last bottle is before he goes to sleep around 9-9:30 and only water in the night until we get up for the day around 7 where I’d give him another (and gave him milk through the night too, say around 3am) but both still hasn’t stopped the waking up, I’ve tried different clothing/temperatures, lavender oil- you name it I’ve tried it!! Also when he wakes in the night you can see how tired he is where he literally falls over with exhaustion but he will drag his head back up so he sits up it’s so strange!! I just want to say sleep if you’re tired surely? 

I really do not know what else to do and where to turn and would really appreciate any new advibe anyone could give.

Thanks so much x

Replies

  • ***Oh to add, I also only allow him 2 naps a day, for no longer than an hour and last being no later then 4pm.

  • Tell me about your daily routine: like wake up time, naps, snacks, bath, bed time everything... 
    Sometimes changes to routine can be key in getting your child to sleep through, so be interested to know what your routine is like. 

  • I would defo look at your routine my little one wasn't sleeping through and I found that I was doing bed time too late ! Don't get me wrong he still wakes up but sometimes he does sleep through and doesnt stay awake to long most of the time. We do bath at 6pm then bottle and bed at around 7 not later than 7.30 .. he's 9 months .. we bath him every night to ensure he got into a routine and it did make a massive difference. We have an Ollie the owl too I found that really helps him self settle .. we defo arnt perfect but 100 times better 

  • Sounds a simple question but just to check... are you using the special overnight nappies? Some Babies just really can’t atand feeling a wet nappy and so will wake up & get uncomfortable on a regular diaper as it doesn’t hold as much & keep it away from their skin. 

    other than that... I would try a couple of simple things like giving him a lovvie that you have had stuffed down your top all day... so it has your smell on it... if he wakes up briefly and smells that it might be comfort enough to help him drift back off. I would also try camping out by his crib for a couple of nights... when he cries you can reassure him verbally and let him know you’re there but theN stay laid down next to the crib and encourage him to lie back down too. When my little guy has had a sleep regression. (Has happened maybe twice) then usually that has done the trick within a day or 2 & then I slowly retreat from the room until I’m all the way out.

  • 9pm bed time seems quite late to me. Also, i would not allow any nap after 2pm - try changing these two things, i think they'll make a difference. 

  • i agree with victoria... I missed the bit about what time you were putting him to bed... sleep for that age should be roughly 11-12 hours at night & then 1 or 2 naps during the day (up to 2 hours each is fine)... so it really does sound like he could be overtired & the Adrenalin from that could be keeping him awake! 

    my little guy is 2 1/2 and we only just in the past week or so started trying to move his bedtime from 6pm to 7pm... he sleeps 12 hours at night and also still takes 1 nap during the day most days (about 2 hours)... 14-16 sleep in a 24 hour period is totally normal for a 1-2 year old. 

    So as well as all the other suggestions I & the other ladies have said I would say start trying to put him to bed by 7 at the latest and also let him sleep longer in his naps. I agree that naps after 4pm aren’t good... especially if you’re going To put him to bed by 7... but at other times of the day... don’t wake him... let him sleep as long as he needs... kids are great at letting their bodies do what they need to do so I would trust in that a bit & let him guide you. If he sleeps 2 hours for a nap in the morning... great! If he goes down again at 2 & sleeps for another 2 hours... great! Even with 2 good naps  he should still be needing a good full nights sleep so don’t worry about that ☺️

  • Thank you all for your messages, so my routine is as follows;

    - Get up for the day anytime Between 6:30-8 every morning

    - Breakfast at 9:30

    - Nap at around 11 for an hour 

    - Lunch at 1ish

    - Nap anytime from 2-3:30 for an hour 

    - Dinner at 6/6:30

    - Bath at half 7 (every other day)

    then bottle and story before putting him down at 8/8:15 (before yesterday this was 9:9:30)

    I do also give him snacks inbetween meals During th day.

    I have also started from last night putting him in his own room, so would lay him down in his cot after story and most of his milk (sometimes doesn’t drink all of it and isn’t interested) 

    I have a nursery rhyme playlist that I play very quietly to soothe him as without he gets historical and with the playlist after some crying he does fall asleep. Usually this takes about half an hour of crying and I do pop in briefly to just lie him down and try the remaining of the milk. I do this twice and then let him cry and settle himself.

    Last night he woke up at 3 cried, I went in and laid him down, stroaked him and walked out and he did cry for about 5 mins and then went off again until 5.

    Im going to try and keep on wit’s this method and just hope and pray it works and he sleeps through, but to be honest last night was a good run in comparison to most nights. And maybe being in his own room will help! 

    Whats every ones thoughts? X

    X

  • Looking at your routine, there are a few tweaks i would make - simply, just brng everything forward by an hour to an hour and a half. I think your baby is going to bed too late, and is maybe overtired, so not getting that full deep sleep. 

    I would bring breakfast forward to 8am - 8.30 latest (upon waking at 6.30/7)
    I'd try and bring that first nap forward a bit too - to 10/10.30 if you can. 
    Try and bring lunch forward 30mins if poss. 
    Afternoon nap - i wouldn't let baby sleep past 3pm. 
    I'd bring dinner forward to 5pm.
    Bath at 6pm (try and bath every night to establish it as routine )- with a view of being in bed by 7, 7.30 the latest. 

    See if you can give this a try, and good luck! x



  • Thank you I will give it a go! fingers crossed x

Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions