Snoring and restless sleep in a 1 yr old

ReeceFamily

DD is 12 months old and I've become more aware of two things:  she often snores, particularly in the early stages of sleep (or if, say, she falls asleep in her carseat); and she seems to be VERY restless at night.  We bedshare, and she still has a strong nurse-to-sleep association.  She'll generally sleep for about 3 hours at first (say, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.), then she'll wake and toss and turn and fuss all over the bed (she'll literally end up at the other other of the bed) until she either goes back to sleep (25% of the time) or until I side-nurse her back to sleep (75% of the time).  This crazy tossing and turning will generally happen every hour or two until about 3 or 4 a.m., at which point she generally falls asleep for another 3 hours until she gets up for real.  It doesn't seem to be gas, although she does seem to be trying to get comfortable.  She ends up sleeping in these uncomfortable looking positions, often with her head thrown back at a weird angle, limbs akimbo, etc.

Believe it or not, I manage to get enough sleep, although my nipples are sore from so much side-nursing.  My question is...should I be concerned?  Could the snoring and restlessness indicate some problem other than routine 1 year old crappy sleep? I'll ask her ped at our appt next week, but just curious to hear what anyone had to say. I hesitate to discuss sleep with him because he's not on board with bedsharing, so I'd like to sort out my thoughts before I talk to him.  BTW, I have "Sweet Dreams" on my Kindle queue so I can learn more about normal sleep patterns.

Emerald27

Awesome that you're getting Sweet Dreams!

DS snores and has long been a snorer. He is pretty stationary when he sleeps, though. I have heard of kids who roll around and change directions in bed and such as they sleep. It's an interesting question.

My thought, other than this being your DD's personality, is how warm is the bedroom? I notice that everyone in my house sleeps restlessly when the room is too warm.

blu-eyedwife

We didn't bedshare, so my story may be helpful (or entirely unhelpful).  I have a really restless sleeper.  He doesn't snore, but he does talk in his sleep.  A lot.  Almost nightly.  He tosses and turns, is often found facing the complete other direction from where he started.  And he's always been like this (the talking is more recent, probably came about when he started dreaming). 

The point of my sharing is that you can be confident in the fact that the bedsharing probably plays little to no part of his restless sleeping, and if you're uncomfortable, you don't need to mention that part to your doctor.  We have a video monitor, which we still use, because of the talking - we can see he's still asleep even though he's calling out (or asking for ice cream, or telling the dog to leave him alone...)

It also may help you feel this behavior isn't entirely abnormal.  I'd mention the snoring, only because sometimes that's related to respiratory issue, but even snoring itself is usually normal behavior.

Emerald27

Lol @blu-eyedwife! DS does the same talking in his sleep. He asks for stuff, for food and TV shows, and most recently he often says emphatically "no, mommy." Or "no, daddy."

blu-eyedwife

@Emerald27 - Just saw the ticker, CONGRATULATIONS!

Emerald27

blu-eyedwife said:

@Emerald27 - Just saw the ticker, CONGRATULATIONS!

Thank you!!!