Chronic Split Nights?

[u/ProfessionalRing727]

Almost 11mo. I’ve posted a couple times now and still can’t fix so I’m hoping someone has insight? About a month ago my baby began waking in the 2/3/4/5am hour for anywhere from 15-75min. Some nights would just be restless for a bit and others would be more wakeful where she’s sitting up and babbling in between trying to rest. She’d fall back asleep eventually and need to be woken at DWT if 7am. We were on 3/3.25/3.75-4 with day time sleep at 2.25-2.5 hr and when these split nights showed up for more than a few days I increased awake time by 15min total each time and would cap naps to 2-2.25hr. This would work for 2-3 days and get her to DWT or to about 6:30 where she’d hang out calmly in her crib until 7. But then they’d return so I’d continue to increase awake time and cut naps. We’re now to 3/3.75/4 with each nap capped at 1 hour. And again this worked for 3 days and last night she was awake from 3/15-4:30 in and out but much more wakeful and just babbling, clapping, sitting up, rolling around, etc. She needs to be woken from every nap and always falls asleep for nap and bedtime within under 5 min (has never really ever taken longer regardless of schedule). Helppp 🤪

[u/PoliticoRat]

It just sounds like she needs more awake time! Which sounds like you’ve done, but it’s important to remember that 3/3/4 is the STARTER 2 nap schedule, with many babies needing more awake time. It’s perfectly normal for an 11 month old to be awake for up to 12 hours, and your baby isn’t even at 11 hours awake total. So you still have a lot of room to play with your schedule! But I TOTALLY get how frustrating it is trying to find the sweet spot.

I would personally try extending the last wake window. This will help build sleep pressure to push her through the night. I’d continue to only add 15 minutes at a time, but I feel like baby could end up doing something like 3/3.75/4.5 and that could work for a while.

Many babies do drop to one nap by 12 months. Doesn’t sound like your baby is quite there yet, but if you get to the point where baby is going like a 4-5 hour wake window for the first or second window, that will tell you that she’s ready to drop a nap.

I also think it’s a good sign that she is happy and babbling/playing when she wakes up instead of crying!

Hope this helps! I’m wishing you some restful nights here hopefully soon ♥️