Waking every night, moving bub About Natalie Ebrill:
Founder of Sleep and Settle®
Mother of Three Daughters RN Diploma in Applied Science (Nursing) University of Newcastle Post Grad Diploma in Health Science (Health Promotion) University of Newcastle CFHN Post Grad cert in Child and Family Health University of Western Sydney/Karitane Breastfeeding Counsellor. for more info visit to:
Name: Clare
Subject: Waking everynight, moving bub My 13 month little girl is waking up at night still. we have tried everything from crying to settleing etc. She still has a bottle and a dummie.
Lucy is a big mover in her cot when she is asleep and i wonder if the waking is due to her hitting her head or body on the cot? Also latley she has been screaming in her sleep , i would think it was nightmares but not sure. We haven’t had a night yet were she has slept though! Please help me! as i am now getting so sleep deprived and we are thinking of not having another baby yet until she sleeps. =========================================================================
Response from Natalie Ebrill: Hi Clare,
I appreciate that you are very tired and frustrated with the night waking after 13 months.
Here’s my suggestions for your issues:
* A baby usually weans to 3 bottles at 9 months, 2 bottles at 10 months 1 bottle at 11 months and doesn’t need any bottles of milk from 12 months on.
Your baby should be eating chopped up versions of family foods and drinking water as their drink of choice with a small sipper cup of milk with her stories before cleaning her teeth before bed. I would drop the bottle asap.
Your daughter is not going to like it but doesn’t need it. If Lucy is having bottles overnight replace them with 50-60 mls of boiled water overnight for three nights only and then offer nothing but put your sleep strategy in place. She will learn it is not worth waking for water.
*Toddlers are supposed to be mobile in the cot, however because Lucy is unable to self settle to sleep she may be disturbing herself in the night and unable to put herself back to sleep without your help. She needs a self-settling strategy for you to consistently and persistently apply to teach her to self-settle. It will take between 3-21 days for her to respond and change 13 months of habits. I would apply a brief and boring strategy of briefly reassuring Lucy for up to 1 minute in her room and then leaving.
Wait 1 minute and repeat returning to the room to briefly reassure her for up to 1 minute then leaving and only waiting 1 minute outside the room before returning to the room until asleep. Try the ’Airwrap’ bumper to protect her head a little if she is hitting the sides.
*Night terrors occur 1-2 hours after baby has gone to sleep and usually before midnight. Night terrors require calming but try not to wake her because this will scare her. They can be due to overheating or too much fluid before bed.
*Night mares are more common in toddlers and occur after midnight. Calm the toddler with night mares and listen to their story about the nightmare to help you identify the issues causing the nightmares.
*I agreed it is a good idea not to plan another baby until you are sleeping well and rested and Lucy is sleeping well. Children rarely grow out of sleeping associations and so she will probably continue to wake all night until she is taught how to self settle. Yes this would be hard with a new baby to look after as well.
*I have a 12 months and over in a cot Sleep Package available for download on my website which will walk you through the above issues in detail and provide you with a step-by-step strategy.
best wishes,
Natalie
Natalie Ebrill
RN CFHN Mother of three
Baby Sleep Consultant 0-5 years
"I want to give you your life back!"
Sleep and Settle
Office: (61) 02 49634460
mobile: 0437 633953
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Monday, 02 May 2011
I tried to write out the evidence of this but this site said 'comment too long', but you can read the evidence on my blog. Just scroll down to 'persistence of sleep problems'.
I am just a parent who got sick of being provided with conflicting parenting advice with little or an undisclosed evidentiary basis, so I decided to do my own research.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012