1 year old doesn't sleep for long hours at night

writeme · Mar 12, 2012

Hi All,

I badly need some inputs from moms here. My baby is 1+ years and she never gets a sound sleep at night. Except for a day or two in the last 1 year, she never slept for long hours. Every 2-3 hours, she wakes up and cries. We used to give milk to calm her down and put her to sleep. But lately her pediatrician advised to give water instead of milk and then she'll stop waking up many times at night. We tried this, but it didn't help her. Still she wakes up many times, seems very disturbed too. We feed her with water and then she falls asleep again, for another 2 hours; sometimes even lesser. Not sure how to make her sleep the whole night. We tried bathing her just before bed, but that too didnt work.

Waking up one or two times at night is reasonable, but she hardly gets any good sleep. But she sleeps well early in the morning, say from 5.30-6 to 8 or 9.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Indu

dvl · Mar 13, 2012

Hi,

Where does she sleep ?..Do you put her in a separate crib / bed ?...If you are trying to make her sleep away from you, it could be the reason for her anxiety. Did you try some kind of pacifier?...Try tucking her favorite doll with her in bed. Is she colic...or allergic to some particular food?...May be try to restrict her sleep during day time. Make her play for long hours. It might make her tired enough to sleep for long hours at night.

Rgds
Vidhya

writeme · Mar 13, 2012

Thanks Vidya for the quick reply. She never sleeps in her crib. So after a month or so after her birth, we put her our bed. She uses pacifier during sleep, but when she wakes up and cry, that doesnt help. She need water or milk to sip. And this has become a habit, that she wakes up so many times at night. Im worried if would be getting enough rest. During day, she sleeps only once, that too max for 2 hours. She isn't colic, and not allergic to any kind of food so far. Her solid intake is too less; I try so many things, but she is not interested.

BerryPine · Mar 13, 2012

Let her play in the evenings.If she dont hv some company you/h spend time with her,play and narrate funny stories and make her laugh.
Just my 2 cents
Pls let me know if it works!

charmingpooh · Mar 13, 2012

hi writeme

it might be anyone of the following stomach pain(give gripe water) or stomach is not full(try variety of foods to eat) or less sleep.just check these,you will find out whats the reason behind.dont worry.

Nandshyam · Mar 14, 2012

How is her dinner look like and when does she take her nap in the morning? Have you noticed her being tired sometime during the late afternoon or is she active throughout till night time?

Make her active in the evenings, by letting her run around for as long as she wants and have her dinner done by 7-7.30PM. Make sure she eats full, I think her tummy is not full and thus the restless sleeps and water/milk doesn't help at this age.

polymorphic · Mar 16, 2012

I think she is getting hungry in the night. Can you try giving formula in the night time so that she is not so hungry? A one yr has to have solid food because they are more active. So try giving diff food atleast twice a day. Empty tummy can also produce gas and stomach pain.

writeme · Mar 17, 2012

Thank you all for your inputs.

She is an active baby and goes to bed no later than 10.00 or 10.30 at night. Even on the days she eat well, she tends to wake up many times at night. I doubt if this has become a practice to drink water/milk at night. Sometimes she just drinks water and sleeps, but sometimes cries so badly that she is content only with milk. May be shez hungry then. I'm more worried if shez getting enough rest - babies' growth and development are more active during sleep and its important that they get proper rest.