why wont my 12 month old son sleep through the night at all?

Question

My son is 12 mths old and has never slept through the night but recently it is getting worst. He doesnt sleep that much doing the day too, maybe like 45 mins. he has been waking up 5 times a night. I have tried letting him cry and he crys until he loses his voice and i am up for an hour afterwards trying to get him to go back to sleep. I NEED HELP ASAP! I want to know why he is doing this and what can i do to get him to sleep through the night.

Answer 1

The most important thing is to give your son a set schedule. Having regular snack, nap, play and bed times is very important in laying the groundwork for sleeping through the night. Having a regular routine at night is also important. This way your child understands when it is time to go to sleep.

If he wakes up in the middle of the night, especially at his age, most doctors will say to let him cry, peak your head in and gently comfort him, and then leave. Repeat this as many times as necessary. Your son will learn to go back to sleep himself after a while.

Other issues could be "seperation anxiety", "night tremors", bad dreams, or occasionally there may be some physiological reason that can only be determined by a doctor.

Don't fret just yet. I've heard of children that don't sleep through the night until almost 2 years.

Answer 2

I had this exact same problem with my little boy. He is now 13 months and sleeps through the night. I had to let him cry it out. I had to be mean mommy and I hated it, but I couldn't keep getting up with him (I had been doing it several times a night for 11 months). It turned out he just didn't know how to put himself back to sleep. The first time I did it he cried for about an hour and 45 minutes. The next night about the same. Then it got less and less until he now sleeps though the night until between 5 and 6 am which is so much better then he was sleeping. It took him about a week to sleep through the night without waking up. I was told initially that I should go in and check him and calm him down every 15-20 minutes.. but don't do it! Huge mistake! It just got him even more worked up that I was there and wouldn't pick him up. Hang in there it will get better!

Answer 3

Its pretty normal for a 12 month old to still be getting up at night. Bring him to bed with you and he will probably sleep longer. My son slept 5 hours straight last night! (which is a record for him, hes 14 mo)

He will eventually sleep through, when he is ready. Hes just not ready yet.

He may have a touch of seperation anxiety and that is probably causing the more frequent waking right now. Letting him "cry-it-out" will only make that worse.

Answer 4

there could be a few reasons and ways that i can help. have you felt around or considered teething?? feel around and see if he might be cutting a molar (which are super painful) and get some tylenol and baby orajel and give him a hit of the tylenol before bed and smear him up with some orajel and see if that helps. it should, it helped my son.

if that's not it, as hard as it is, just let him cry it out. he knows if he keeps at it long enough that you'll come and get him and it becomes a game at that point. my doctor told me to comfort him the first time he wakes up, making sure he wasn't wet or hungry and then putting him back to sleep (on his stomach) and shutting the door and leaving the room completely. let him cry for 10 minutes, go back in the room and SILENTLY (that's the key) get him re-situated and give him a kiss and leave the room. it should be real real quick, like less than a minute. then leave the room again for 15 minutes and repeat as many times as necessasary increasing the time by 5 minutes each time. you'll have a couple of very very hard nights but he needs to self soothe and as long as you know there isn't anything wrong with him, you have to be the stronger person and not cave into him or it'll only cause more problems once he's able to get out of his crib and will REALLY make the nights interesting. it'll be hard and you'll probably cry and think you're the worst parent in the world, but it will work.

whatever you do...do NOT bring him into the bed with you!! i made that mistake when my son was 6 months old and it literally took me almost 3 months to get him to sleep in his crib (which is only 5 feet away from my bed) you're going to get him used to that and that is the WORST habit to break him of!! he will NEVER sleep on his own if you cuddle him every night. good luck!!

Answer 5

It sounds like you have a kid like my oldest sister was...she didn't sleep through the night until she was over 12 months old. Before that she went to bed at 3 a.m. and got up at 6 a.m. She would take a few 10 or 15 min. catnaps throughout the day on good days.
Is he teething? Have there been some changes in your routine? Babies like sound schedules, so if you changed your normal schedule, that could be what is wrong.
If you think that there is something seriously wrong, the only thing to do would be to take him to the doctor.

Answer 6

Yikes, I'm going to be the only one here so far who is going to tell you to let him figure out how to put himself back to sleep. I am the mother of three (17, 15 and 12). I went through that with my oldest child when she was a baby. First make sure that he's not dirty, wet, cold, hot or hungry. If none of those apply, just make sure that he has a little stuffed animal and a blanket and let him be! He will learn to put himself to sleep. Do not reward him by taking him into your bed or otherwise spending time with him at night. I know that it sounds cruel, but it's not. The crying will stop after a few nights of you not showing up constantly at his bedside. He needs to learn that nighttime is sleep time and unless you plan on doing the night shift for a couple more years, teach him to sleep through the night on his own.

Answer 7

1) make sure he doesn't have an ear infection.
2) Put him to bed at bedtime with a full tummy, clean diaper, nightlight, white noise, and a short routine. Then LEAVE THE ROOM, CLOSE THE DOOR, AND DON'T GO BACK TILL MORNING no matter how long he cries for. AFter three to seven days of this which will seem like forever of course, your problem will be OVER. He needs to learn that he will not get attention for crying in the night. You as the parent have to help him learn this. Any attention at all of any kind for crying, provided that he is not sick, will just reinforce the behaviour you are trying to stop.

Answer 8

Your son might be over tired or over stimulated. Try and keep his room calm and free of neat things to look at like his toys. As far as noise try a white noise machine. Also a routine right before bed might help wind him down, start with a bath, then maybe a massage with lavender lotion to calm him, followed by a cuddle with a book and then lights out. If that doesn't help talk with his Dr to see what else might be the problem.

Answer 9

Make sure he is not having any sugar or caffeine during the day and then if this doesn't help, try giving him some oatmeal before he goes to bed. Also he might just want to be with you. It won't hurt him if he sleeps with you. Babies just want to know someone is there all the time.

If nothing helps you should talk to your doctor.

Answer 10

The baby could be teething. I'm thinking thats the most reasonable reason. Try rubbing his gums with your finger or get a teething ring to chew on. A low grade fever is common with teething.baby orajel helps, but its just gonna suck for a while, but this will pass.