My baby stays awake and plays until 4 am

Question

I'm trying to set a sleeping schedule for my 1-year-old daughter. The last three days she was waking up at 8 and sleeps at 9 with two naps in between and it was perfect. But for no obvious reason she kept awake today until 2 am.

One main problem we had before trying to fix her sleep schedule is that she stays awake and plays with high energy until maybe until 3 am or 4 am although she wakes up from her latest nap at 5 pm. I know that there is a wake-up window for any baby that ranges from 2.5 hours to 4 hours or so. I don't understand why can she stay too active and exceed this wake-up window with much energy.

Any hints what can be the reason and how can we solve it?

Answer 1

The biggest thing I spotted was the 2 naps

https://www.littleones.co/blogs/our-blog/nap-transitions-how-and-when-your-baby-will-drop-their-naps

Between 12-15 months your baby should then drop from 2 naps to just 1. Dropping down to one nap is slightly harder than 3 to 2 and the transition is also over a longer period. Some very alert babies or really good sleepers who will sleep past 7 AM in the morning will be able to drop down to one nap shortly after 12 months. Others will be closer to 15 months, especially if they are waking earlier in the morning.

Answer 2

I agree with the suggestion about dropping a nap. But also note you mention it seems to be around 2am regularly. This could be a body clock issue where their body is set to a 2am wake time because of a previous feed at that time or something disturbing them. You could try 'catching the clock', where instead of responding post wake you attend to your little one around 1.55am and watch for the light wakeful motions of your child. When you start to see them waking, I would suggest resting a hand and gently patting and shusshing quietly to try and re-settle your little one over into the next sleep cycle. If you do this consistently for a week or so and it is body clock you are likely to change that 2am wake up. Good luck.

Answer 3

Try to reduce the nap duration during day time so that baby can sleep more during night. Since baby is active during the night, you can rest be assured that there is no discomfort such as any colic pain or so due to which baby is waking up. It is possible she may be feeling too warm or cold, so check on that. Try to avoid feeding baby with solid food late at night when she wakes up, that makes her want to burn the energy away. After a certain age, doctors even advise to reduce breastfeeding during night. You can check with baby's doctor if some food habits are also causing this, Doctor will be able to advise better based on baby's health condition.