TWOS-DAY question #1 My baby girl is 8 months old, she has always had a good sleeping pattern. The last few nights she goes down for her regular bedtime between 7:30-8 but wakes within an hour, crying. I go calm her and get her back to sleep and as soon as I put her down she wakes again. She wakes up completely, is happy and shows no sign of tiredness. I try rocking her back to sleep, putting in her crib but nothing works...her naps have been consistent but the last couple days she will only take 1 nap instead of 2. What can I do to help her because I think a midnight bedtime for an 8 month old is a little late! Please help.. Answer #1 This is tough when babies do this. First of all it is hard because at this point she should be sleeping and second of all because she is probably so cute when she is happy that she is probably hard to resist :) As with any sleep disturbance such as this one, there are always many factors that can be contributing and so I offer suggestions only based on the information that I have above! First, try introducing a dramatic wake-up into your routine. This is done at the end of naps and in the morning when she is getting up and you want her to be up. A dramatic wake-up is done by at the time of a waking you go into her room, flick on the lights, turn off the white noise, and say good morning or what a nice nap in an upbeat cheery voice. These can differentiate wanted wakings with wakings that you dont want happening such as any night wakings or that pesty waking that is happening after she falls asleep. Wakings in the night or ones that you dont want will have very little interaction and the room will be kept dark with the sleep environment set for sleeping. This may help her know that it is not time to be waking up. Second, try an earlier bedtime. The 2 to 1 nap transition is not recommended until after 1 year of age because at 8 months, developmentally, babies still need more sleep than we think! For naps, her body is most ready to sleep in the mid morning (9:30-10 ish) and then in the early afternoon (1:30-2 ish). This will leave bedtime happening about 3 hours after waking up from her second nap which should be a bedtime that happens between 6 and 7 p.m. Moving the bedtime earlier can help her slip into a more restful sleep that may help her sleep through that time when she would normally wake. Restless sleeps caused by not enough naps or too late of a bedtime (yep, 30 minutes can make a big difference at her age) can often cause wakings commonly occuring shortly after going to bed. I hope this helps!!!
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 02:30:57 +0000
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