12 month old sleeping | ExpatWoman.com
 

12 month old sleeping

37
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 26 June 2012 - 18:01

Hi Ladies

Could you please advise how many naps your babies are taking and the duration? I have loads of books but my girl just doesnt fall in any categories...

She sleeps in the morning for an hour and in the afternoon for just under an hour and then wakes up crying. I try to settle her but she cries and keeps getting up - so I sit with her in the rockingchair and then she falls asleep. Any advise how to increase the sleep without me rocking her (i NEVER rocked her before - this has happened twice now and I know this is an absolute no no!)

I had the baby whisperer and save our sleep - I tried pick up/put down - she thought is was a cool game! For some reason if I was in the room it just made things worse. So I did CIO (something I said I will NEVER do) but it worked and for the first time her naps were longer than 30 min. Nighttime has never been a problem as she slept through the night since she was 6 weeks old (10 - 6). Now she sleeps 11 hours at night and sometimes wakes but settles hereself.

How come she has no issue sleeping through the night but cant seem to have a nice long nap in the day (always wakes up crying hence still tired).

Hope to hear your sleeping methods - I guess the reason for my question is to establish whether or not I should move to 1 nap or if I can do something to help her sleep longer with the afternoon nap.

Hope to hear from all y' mammas

504
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EW GURU
Latest post on 29 June 2012 - 01:46
I'm interested to hear how you go with dropping a nap. My LO is nearly 15months and doesn't look like he'll be giving up sleep any time soon. He doesn't seem to mind if he misses a morning or afternoon nap for any reason, but will still happily sleep for 2 hrs morning and afternoon, given the chance. NEVER in public though, always in his own space. Also still putting in a solid 12hr night from 7 till at least 7 am. I'm wondering if I'll ever get him out of bed in the morning once he drops a daytime nap.
2782
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 27 June 2012 - 18:55
I'd bring bedtime earlier, 6:30/7pm ish until you manage to shift the one nap later, at a guess she will still sleep until 8am. At one point my guy had a 5:30pm bedtime, which frankly, was awesome!
37
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 27 June 2012 - 16:25
Thank you for all your replies. Kiwispiers - I wouldnt be surprised if my DD would also cut the afternoon nap instead of the morning.. She used to be put down awake (without a dummy - I took it away at 6 months) and then go off to sleep without any fuss. I know it is not teething as she does calm down a bit once I pick her up and then tries to resettle on my chest, gets frustrated and cries, but if I put her in her crib she cries more and gets up. I will try tomorrow to stretch the morning nap and see how she does. What happens if by say 6:30 she is so tired and falls asleep? She goes to bed at 8pm at night. (on an 8 - 8 routine) Do I give her a 15min power nap and wake her so that I will not have an issue to put her down at night?
2782
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 27 June 2012 - 14:57
My guy was a bit different as he dropped the afternoon nap rather than the morning. He started fighting the afternoon one but would go down so easily in the morning and really seemed to need that one more. At around 12 months I dropped to one nap, which went from 10am until 2pm (i got really long when I dropped the afternoon one, befoe that his 2 naps were 90 min each and before that he often took only 3x 45 min naps). I then brought his bedtime earlier, but gradually pushed the nap later and later until it was 11:30/12 (over the period of a few months). He is 23 months now and still sleeps 12-3/4pm plus a solid 12 at night, long may it last. Could be an emotional phase too, they do go through a few of these where they are a bit clingy for a few weeks, you just have to ride it out, cuddling your baby is never a major no-no, please don't feel like it is, sometimes they really do need you. But do try shifting the nap times a bit and see if it makes a difference.
488
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 27 June 2012 - 14:10
agree with PJ - it could be her pattern changing. Any sudden changes with my 13 month old DS usually meant he needed a change in routine - normally pushing a nap back a half hour. His signs were more crying instead of going straight to sleep. I've always kept DS's morning nap to 30-45 min to ensure he does have a long afternoon nap as I found if he slept longer in the morning he wouldn't sleep as long in the afternoon and would then be cranky. He's always been perfectly happy to be woken up and then does 2 hours in the afternoon. That said, this week he is often refusing the morning nap so I am keeping him up and putting him down for his afternoon nap an hour earlier than normal and he then does 3 hours which is bliss! That was the other reason I always kept the morning nap shorter - eventually I wanted him to have one long nap after lunch. He also sleeps 12 hours at night. As M said it could also be a sleep regression, or something like teething. If you don't want to get in the habit of rocking, maybe try just shush/pat, or stay in the room with her with your hand on her back. I would also say that if she is still falling asleep easily in the morning that she still does need the morning nap, but you could try cutting this to 30-40mins and then she might sleep longer in the afternoon? Worth a try. Also does she use a dummy or have a cloth/lovey?
370
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 26 June 2012 - 20:10
First rule out anything like teething or unwellness. If she previously slept well - her pattern could just be changing. She may just need the one sleep. My DS switched to 1 sleep sometimes between 8-10 months (for 2.5 to 3 hours) and he slept longer due to being that bit more tired/ready when i stretched him out all morning.
332
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 26 June 2012 - 19:15
Hi Niccy01 Is this recent or has it been happening for a while? Could it be something else like teething, food item she doesn't agree with, gas? My DD is also 12 months old and sleeps a solid 11 hours at night without break and settles to sleep on her own. She takes a nap in the morning which can go from 1 hour to 2 hours and then a nap at around 1.30 / 2.00pm. She usually sleeps for 1.5 to 2 hours in the afternoon. However, on occasion, she has slept for only 30 minutes in the afternoon but she doesn't really wake up crying when she has these occasional short sleeps. But when she does wake with a cry, it's usually because she is missing her dummy or something has woken her and then she cries until I come in give her a pat, maybe sing a little to her and then walk out and close the door again. She is too big to be picked up and rocked to sleep. That all said, there is apparently a 12 month sleep regression which can affect day time naps and some parents take this as a sign that the baby is ready to take one nap per day but not all babies are ready to transition to one nap at this age. Like the 8 month sleep regression, it can last 4 to 6 weeks : (
2239
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 26 June 2012 - 18:24
All my children have only had one nap since around 9 months.....my son at the mo sleeps from around 10:30. - maybe 12.... If I don't go outin te car he will ve awake till bed time around 6 pm...I prefer he isn't have a nap in the afternoon so he goes bed early. Are you sure she's still tired as two naps for an hour and sleeping all night seems enough to me...and as she gets older that morning nap will get later n later and hopefully she will take a longer afternoon nap.... Perhaps see if she can last to after lunch and she will have a longer nap?
 
 

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