When we last left off, Baby Boy had been moved to his own room and had miraculously stopped waking up for all but one feeding (that could be anytime between 1 and 5 a.m.).
Baby Sleep at One Year
At ten months Baby Boy dropped his final night feeding. It also more or less coincided with the time he began to eat three substantial meals a day of solids, so maybe that does have something to do with it. Then again he also became a crawling, cruising hurricaine so perhaps he was just zonked.
I have found that he needs to have a few very particular conditions met to keep this up:
- eaten well during the day- skipping solids meals guarantees me a night feed.
- bedroom has to be at the right temperature- this means adjusting the window to be open just enough relative to how much clothing he is wearing.
- bedroom has to have enough light but not too much- we’re using a 7 watt bulb in our nightlight and blackout curtains. If I forget to turn it on Mr. ScardyCat calls out for me in the middle of the night, and if the curtain is cracked I’m waking up a lot earlier than I would like.
If one of those is off, I end up having to get up for a night feeding. Other causes for night feedings include: teething, thirst (when it’s too hot), and milestones (like walking, ahem). Overall, though, I can’t complain too much about the last couple of months. Fingers crossed that this continues.
A note about napping:
My policy is not to fight about naps. I try to put Baby Boy down when I see his sleepy cues- slowing down, clumsiness, eye-rubbing, and whining. If I wait for a yawn, then it’s too late.
Currently he naps twice a day for 45 minutes, occasionally one of the naps will extend up to 1.5 hours, but never more.
He seems to regulate the sleep hours himself, and sleeps less at night when he naps more during the day and visa versa. If we’re out of the house, we just adjust as best we can.
