Do infants change their sleeping habits often?

Question

My daughter is 12mo. and she recently started changing her sleeping habits, she gets up frequently through the night. She use to sleep through the night, I give her a bath, feed her cereal and then put her to bed with a bottle. I though last week was because 2 more teeth broke through, but for instance, I was up last night from 10:45-11:20 and then sometime around 12am and we fell asleep on the couch, I woke up at 2 and tried to put her back down and she woke up by the time I got back in my bed, then from then from 2-3:30am we laid on the couch and then I rocked her back to sleep and got her to stay asleep in her bed. Her dad leaves for work a little after 5 and I pray every day he doesn't wake her. I didn't know if perhaps she got use to me laying with her on the couch last week to sooth her since she was teething last week, plus I didn't mind last week, cause we were on vacation.

Answer 1

Sleep issues run a close race with feeding issues as far as what is most troublesome to parents (true regardless of your child's age!). The short answer is "yes", babies do change sleep habits frequently. Each stage comes with its unique problems. Teething is just one thing that can keep a baby from sleeping as well as we want. Some babies also go through separation anxiety at various ages, including 12 months, that also can cause havoc to sleep patterns. I highly suggest that you begin to wean her off going to bed with a bottle unless it has only water in it. Sleeping with a bottle of milk or juice, while it works to get the baby to sleep, causes a great deal of damage to a baby's developing teeth and should not be done. Babies often have a major upheaval of their sleep schedule around a year old. This is an age when babies are learning a lot of mobility skills. This takes quite a bit of energy throughout the day - learning to pull-up on furniture, walk, manuever, etc. Sometimes babies begin to need extra sleep and an earlier bedtime can help prevent over-exhaustion. Contrary to common thought, an overly tired child is not always a good sleeper. 12 months can be a common growth spurt time for some babies. If she is going through one of these, she will want to sleep more and eat more. She may be waking due to hunger, if she finishes all her evening cereal regularly, try giving her more cereal or add another bedtime snack component such as a form of protein like yogurt, scrambled egg, cottage cheese, or turkey. Give her milk in a sippy cup at bedtime snack-time. Try having her finish eating/drinking 1/2-1 hour before bedtime as sometimes eating too late at night can energize some children. While it is extremely frustrating now, what your daughter is doing is likely just a phase and it will pass. In a month, you'll not remember the details of when she woke last night.

Answer 2

Ohhhh. my son was the same way at that age and it was always due to teething, it took me forever to get him on a regular sleep schedule. Yes, babies change their sleep schedules a lot, most all the way up until they are about 18 months or done teething. What I had to do was start sleep training when I knew that my son wasn't teething. I would put him to bed at night when he was ready, and let him cry himself to sleep, every night got easier and easier and I would check him after he fell asleep. He is now 22 months old and sleeps through the night, no problems and is just put in his bed awake with no bottle or soother, just a blankie and a special teddy. This is the best advice I got was to help him learn to sooth himself, but wait until he is done teething.

Answer 3

I understand what you are going through. My little guy will be 1 in a few weeks and we are going through the same thing. My Husband and I are just trying to let him cry it out. I know I hate to do that but he just wants to sleep with us for some reason. I wish I had some advise for you. I am sure that this is just a stage and it will pass.

Answer 4

my son is 14 months and doing similar stuff. i know his molars are trying to pop through, maybe your daughters is too. there is a teething gel from Hylands that i've used and seems to help a little. also a dose of baby tylenol for those really bad nights. it just relieves their pain a little and helps them through the night. once she gets past this, she will proobally change her sleep pattern again. good luck!!!

Answer 5

yes they do....its perfectly normal but i f they're just used to one, then they might get tired.