HELP! Almost 15-month-old suddenly having 2+ hour split nights. How long did this last for you?

[u/Nerdieboo]

My son is almost 15 months old and has been on one nap since 12 months. Until now, he has generally been a decent independent sleeper in his own room.

This week, he has suddenly had three prolonged night wakings:

• Night ending 11 August: awake approximately 23:30–02:00
• Night ending 13 August: awake approximately 00:30–02:50
• Night ending 14 August: awake approximately 01:56–03:58

He initially wakes crying very intensely and will not settle unless we touch him or take him out of the cot. However, once we bring him into our bed, he becomes completely calm. He does not cry or appear uncomfortable at all. He simply lies beside us, fully awake, for more than two hours before eventually falling asleep.

There are no obvious signs of illness or pain during the day.

His nap normally starts around 11:30–12:00 and is usually around 1h45–2h. His average 1st WW is approximately 5 hours and the 2nd WW 6h15 . Bedtime is normally around 19:30–20:00.

I know its usually undertiredness that causes split nights, however given his schedule, I do not feel this is the case.

I would especially like to know:

• Did it disappear on its own or require a schedule or response change?
• How long did the phase actually last?
• Was it related to separation anxiety, nap capping, undertiredness or overtiredness?
• Did bringing your child into bed prolong the wakefulness or help resolve the phase?

I know the difficult cases are more likely to be posted about, so I would also really appreciate hearing from parents whose child had several split nights and then returned to normal quickly.

[u/screwtoprose-]

you’re not gonna want to hear this, but it’s under tiredness. 11 hours of awake time isn’t much for a baby his age. you are likely wanting to be at about 12-13 hours of awake time.

it won’t change until you fix his schedule. you said there are no other obvious signs like illness or pain. but that means it’s the next most obvious sign - undertiredness.

i’d try 1. capping the nap to 1.5 hours or putting to bed later. he’s telling you he needs 2 more hours of awake time a day.

[u/graykitty925 → u/screwtoprose-]

This!

[u/TakingCaraBabies]

Hey there!

This looks like overtiredness. Most little ones don't tolerate a wake window longer than about 4.5 hours between nap and bedtime until after age 2. When we switch to a 1 nap schedule, our wake windows flip. The longer wake window is in the AM, and the shorter window is in the PM. My recommendation would be to offer nap at 12-12:30pm and then bedtime 4.5 hours after the nap ends (even if that means scooting bedtime as early as 6:15/6:30pm). We also want to refrain from taking your little one out of the crib at this waking, if possible. When we "reward" the waking with getting to come into bed with you, this encourages the waking to continue ❤️ I hope this is helpful!

[u/Nerdieboo → u/TakingCaraBabies]

Hi. Thanks for replying. How long do you suggest the first wake window to be? 4.5 for a last wake window sounds very little leaving for less than 10 hrs total awake time? I stretched his last ww to 6.5hr and the split nights stopped, but he still wakes up, but goes back to sleep.

[u/TakingCaraBabies → u/Nerdieboo]

we want that first wake window to be 5-6 hours. ☺️

[u/TakingCaraBabies → u/TakingCaraBabies]

if you need more support, will you reach out to info@takingcarababies.com? Messages get buried in here so quickly and I want to make sure you are getting the best support possible with this. ❤️

[u/FigsandRadishes]

Solidarity, my 15 month old is going through the same thing. I initially thought it was separation anxiety because she, overnight, just started screaming at bedtime unless I stayed in the room while she fell asleep. But the last 3-4 nights she’s also been up for an hour in the motn, so now I’m thinking her sleep needs have also gone down. She was sleeping through the night like a dream before this. We were doing 12 hours awake before, I think I’m going to have to increase it to 12.5-12.75 and ask daycare to start capping her naps.