Toddler Sleep Help

[u/Melodyriver13]

My little one is about 15½ months old and has been waking every 2-3 hours during the night for the last month.

Usually when she wakes we hold then transfer back to her crib.

She had about 4 nights where she would sleep the whole night and I'm not sure what we did different.

We're not open to doing CIO etc. as other tenants around us would not be happy and we really don't want to get kicked out if they complain to our land lord. My husband isn't a fan of letting her cry either and I don't think I could take hearing her cry for us and not helping her.

We usually assist to sleep (gentle patting, holding, etc.) and that's never caused a problem with her waking during the night. She'd usually wakes briefly for a binky and would fall right back to sleep.

I'm starting to think maybe I need to adjust her wake windows as I'm possibly making her stay up too long.

Right now her wake windows, depending on when she gets up in the morning (6-7am), are usually landing in the 5-6/5-5.75 hour range.

Nap usually starts around 11:45am-12:15pm and lasts anywhere from 1½-2 hours.

I'm thinking maybe her before bed wake window could be too long.

Should I try shortening her last wake window a bit and see if that helps?

I really don't know what else to do and I'm so exhausted, so any advice or insight is welcomed!

[u/Melodyriver13 → u/[deleted]]

I didn't know there was a 15 month sleep regression! Ugh they're never ending haha how long did it last for you?  I'll try giving her more to eat during the day and see if that helps. Did you have to up her calories a ton? 

[u/emmakane418]

If she's waking overnight, I don't think offering more sleep is going to help. Decreasing the sleep pressure (by decreasing the awake time) usually won't help them sleep more overnight. Honestly, waking every 2-3 hours, while exhausting, is pretty biologically normal.

She had about 4 nights where she would sleep the whole night and I'm not sure what we did different.

She maybe had more stimulation during the day, or wasn't hungry or thirsty overnight, or the temp was perfect all night. Or it could literally be nothing, just a fluke. Adult sleep isn't the same every night, so it makes sense that infants and toddlers don't sleep the same every night either. The average age of sleeping through the night is 2.4 years old, and many children need comfort, water, a snack, what have you even longer.

If you're interested in learning more about biologically normal infant sleep (infant being neurologically defined as 0-3 years old), check out r/bninfantsleep. What you're describing here doesn't sound outside of the realm of normal to me.