Awake for hours at night but not crying

alohamora

I'm been combing the Internet for experiences similar to mine but haven't found much, so I thought I'd post.

My almost 15-month-old will wake up in the middle of the night and hang out for sometimes hours before falling back asleep.  He doesn't cry, he only babbles a bit every now and then.  He basically just lays there and fiddles with his blanket, sometimes rolling around.  The only reason I know this happens is because we have a video monitor and I'm a very light sleeper.  The babbling will wake me up, so I'll watch him.  Sometimes he'll do this for an hour, sometimes it'll go on for up to 4 hours before it's time to get up for the day or he falls back asleep for a bit.

If I wasn't aware that this was going on, I don't think I'd know anything was up.  He's not super cranky throughout the day and still naps well.  The only inkling I'd have is that sometimes he can't make it too long in the mornings without needing a nap (prob because he's been up for hours already).  

Lately I've been just turning the monitor off (I can still hear him if he actually cries and needs) and trying not to worry about it and just get some sleep myself.  Do you think this is wrong?  I feel guilty but since he's not crying, should I worry?  I think this has been going on for like a month and a half, and I believe he's about to cut some canine teeth and maybe some molars.  He still gets 2 naps a day and sleeps well for them, so I don't think we're ready to drop a nap yet.  Anyway, just wondering if I could get some feedback, like if I should really be worried or if I should just let it be.  He does have a well check here very soon so I plan to ask the dr about it too.  Thanks!

honeydew01

My daughter did this when she was 7-8 months old. At the time we had the monitor next to my bed and the smallest noise would wake me up and I'd stare at the monitor and wonder why she wasn't going back to sleep. I never went in if she was not crying, but in hind side I should have just turned it off and slept. She'd just lay there for 3-4 hours staring at the ceiling...I was/am a narcotic first time mom and worried a lot the first year so even though I knew I should just turn it off and sleep, I just couldn't. You can call me crazy...Unlike your daughter though she'd be so tired and crabby in the morning when she was up at night.

We have since turned the monitor volume off but it still sits next to me.. The other night she screamed and it's unlike her so I turned the camera over and looked and her foot was stuck in the rail (we have the foam patting on each single rail and a mesh thing also per ped's recommendation) so I don't know how she could get her foot stuck. She does move a lot.. I called my husband to go in (if I go in she'd not settle back to sleep as easy) but she got it out on her own before my husband made it to her room. In fact he was on his way but I saw on the monitor that she got the foot out and stopped him from going in...so I don't think the monitor is totally useless, I like it, but I wouldn't sit and watch it all night. It's on (face down) by my bed with the volume off.

The last 2 days she has been waking up at 5 am (ugh) and I can hear her babbling from down the hall but she is not crying so I let her be...I usually turn the monitor and take a look at her and then put it down and snooze...

In your case, I am no expert, but do you think she may be not as tired at night? Maybe she is starting to transition to one nap? My daughter finally made this transition, she is a week over 16 months. 

pb_bride

Dr. Ferber's "Solve your Child's sleep problems" have a section of extensive night wakings (ie, being awake for hours at night).  It's worth getting the book and check that out ( you can borrow it from your local library).  Although some PPs said it's not a problem, it does mean that your LO isn't getting a good chunk of continuous sleep.  The reason he's napping well during the day could be because he's not getting enough sleep at night.  How much sleep do you think he gets a day?  If he takes long naps during the day, then he isn't tired enough at night to sleep through the night.  Or if he goes to sleep to early at night etc.

alohamora

I think he sleeps about 6-8 hours before he wakes up at night. His naps during the day are usually each about 1.5 hours, so about 3 total. And he goes to bed between 7 and 8 pm usually. All of this seems pretty normal to me and doesn't explain why he'd be waking up.

spainy17

I had this exact same issue when DD was the exact same age!

Up for up to 2 hours in the middle of the night just AWAKE.  Napped normally and acted reasonably well but didn't make it long in the morning before needing a nap. 

What ended up helping us?  Transitioning to one nap.  She was just too awake after that first chunk of sleep to get back to bed. 

I ended up pushing her morning nap a little later each day until I could drop the second nap and put her to bed earlier than usual.  I had a crabby baby on and off for a few weeks and there were a couple of days where I had to double nap her but eventually we made the transition and she sleeps much better now.  It also lengthened her one nap so she almost naps as long as she did with two in one stretch but she is up longer before bed so it helped night sleep. 

Hope this helps! 

Cejiml

Hi my DD has done this since she was 8 months (now 22m). The longest is 4 hours. We co-sleep so those nights aren't superfund but she is the same as she doesn't fuss. Just almost wants to play and cuddle. She laughs a lot. I asked my Pedi and they said it was fine. I'm hoping it goes away soon. They don't happen all the time. Maybe 3-4 times a month. Just a rough day for all the next day. I will say I always wake her no later than 8 even if she is up long. Just bc I want to keep her on her schedule.

alohamora

@spainy17 Did you just guess that going to one nap would do the trick or were you transitioning anyway and it happened to fix the issue?  I'm really loath to move him to one nap a day especially because we're in the middle of moving.  Oy.

spainy17

I just ended up trying it because I was blown away by the fact that she was so awake.  I figured she was getting too much daytime sleep.  Well it was a rough transition but that really is what did it.  The funny thing is that she lengthened her one nap out to where is basically is the same length as her earlier two naps but something about the timing (I think the longer awake time before bed) means that the problem fixed itself.  i would wait until you move though because it definitely had some stops and starts and probably took two months to fully transition.