11 Month Old Having Sleep Issues

Like many of the moms said, it is time to “play” with her sleep schedule, I know it can seem like a huge task...but just wait till she drops here morning nap all together. My son dropped his around 12.5 months, he all of a sudden was sleeping from 8:30 pm till 10:00-10:30 am and honestly it happened over night, and he still takes a 3 hour nap everyday from 2-5 so he’s much happier now in the evenings. But like everything this too shall pass…it will just take a few days to try some new sleep times out and see what works for her.

13 hours at night seems a smidge on the long side to me (at least from my personal experience with our kids). My oldest always went to bed for the night a little later than I read about others' doing, (around 9:00), so when we had #2, we "Ferberized" and started her going to bed around 7:30. 6:00 pm for bedtime for the night seems a bit on the early side. If you can work the schedule so that she goes down a little later for the night, then she will probably adjust her wake up time to a later time also. At 11 months old, she is growing into a little person, and leaving babyhood behind. Her sleep schedule will reflect that... only babies sleep so much (LOL). I would try moving back the bedtime by squeezing in a quick "doze" when she is crankiest (4:00 ?). If you have to, drive around the block a couple of times so that she falls asleep... only let her sleep for 20 minutes though. Then make her bedtime at 7:00pm. The next morning she may sleep a little later, if not, that's okay.. just try to hold off her morning nap a tiny bit (not until 9:30, 9:45?), then make sure she sleeps for a full nap when she does take it (if she is up in 10 mins, she isn't ready to be up yet). Let her play hard after she wakes and has lunch, then try to hold afternoon nap until 1:00 or 1:30. If she gets a full morning nap and afternoon nap, she should begin to last until 7:00 pm for bedtime. Then 12 hours at night is pretty "average" I think. My kids NEVER slept past about 7:30, and often were up by 6:30 or 6:45. But their standard bedtime (when the oldest was 3 yrs and the baby was a baby) was 7:30 for the oldest and 7:00 for the baby. By the time the baby was 3 yrs, they were going to bed at the same time... around 7:45 pm, and cutting out every nap they could manage to avoid!
I would try to approach it with the idea of changing time zones... Because it sounds like you really just want her to go to bed a little later and sleep a little later the next day...

It's also her age. Mine was a champ sleeper until right around 11/12 months. What I read was that they become much more aware of the world around them and don't want to miss a thing. We just maintained our routines for naps and bed and after maybe 4 weeks things went back to normal. Congratulations on the new baby too!

P.,

Hi there! I know that this can be very trying, especially when you are pregnant. As a mother to 3 boys I went through all the different stages and had to play around with it and experiment with different things. What I found that worked for me because I found that my youngest son was doing what your daughter is doing is the following. I would put him to bed later at night, between 7:30 and 8:00, he would then wake between 6:30 and 7:00, then get up for breakfast and playtime, by 10:30 or 11:00 he was ready for his nap and slept for 2 to 2 1/2 hours and he was good until dinner time, he then usually dozed off for maybe 10 or 15 mintues then off to bath time around 7:15 or 7:20 then to bed depending on how tired he was. This has pretty much been his routine since. With the exception of the naps are no longer in his schedule, he has decided not to take anymore naps now that he is 3 1/2. Just experiment, but I have found the fuller the tummy at bedtime and the later they go to bed the later they sleep in.

Good luck.

S.
35 y/o SAHM of 3 boys
14, 6 and 3

Babies sleep needs change the most in the first 12-18 months. She is doing just that. Her little body is tring to go to one nap but she still need some rest in the morning. The change from two naps to one can be challenging. And it takes some time for them to figure it our. I think that 6 is too early for her bedtime at this age. Move it up 15 minutes every couple of days til you get to maybe 7 or 7:30. If she is trying to drop the morning nap she will be cranky for a few weeks and you need to move her lunch and afternoon nap to earlier , say 11:30 lunch and 12 nap time. My one daughter didn't give up her two nap schedule til 15 months and the other was ready at 12 months. But it was a transition period and we had some cranky days.

Just when you and they get used to a routine, it changes!
She will eventually stay up a bit more during the day; but encourage the bedtime... Perhaps a bit later (half hour) Soft music and a favorite blanket are soothing to little children. A new baby in the house will most likely disturb her routine even more. Not to mention yours...Hang in there.

you need to 'play' around w/ nap times...eventually the 2 naps will morph into one...but it is not a big deal to have 2 naps as long as baby needs it- I always try to follow baby's cues to find his schedule...so try morning nap at 10am, since she is passing out by 11am or try 10:30am and go from there. when she wakes up, give her lunch and a bit of play or reading some books and then try for second nap...you might also need to play with bed time, making it 6:30pm and see what happens...
enjoy this time w/ your sweet baby!