How do you put your 1 year old to sleep?

My baby still wakes 3+ times each night and I’m being told different things. I believe every child is different however some say it’s because my son is EBF so he still wakes for feeds. So I’m curious how you put an EBF baby to bed and is there a way to make them sleep longer without giving formula? Is there a way I can make him sleep through or do I just go along with the process?

Read more on Peanut

The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.

Learn more about our guidelines.
Add a comment
Avatar

Hi I’ll see if I can help you, I'm a child sleep consultant x

Avatar

Firstly it’s not that he is EBF 🙂

Avatar

thank you, is there anything that I could do differently to make him sleep longer and wake less? X

Avatar

We all sleep in cycles (until age 4 it is around 45 mins) which goes from light to deep back to light sleep)
When we get to the end of the cycle as adults and older children we biologically can go on into the next sleep cycle.
Babies need to learn this after 18/20 weeks when they develop their own body clock.

Avatar

how do you soothe him back to sleep when he wakes up? X

Avatar

However your little one is getting to sleep is what they will expect to happen at every single wake to get them back to sleep. You can still feed in the night if you wish to, it's just a case a of keeping feeds for nutrition and not for sleep. Their are different approaches to do that. X

Avatar

As a mum of an infant who still doesn't sleep through - would thoroughly recommend this insta page. It's been really reassuring.

https://instagram.com/lyndsey_hookway?igshid=MmU2YjMzNjRlOQ==

Avatar

thank you 🥰 this is really encouraging to hear others in the same boat! X

Avatar

Same situation here, EBF (doesn’t take a bottle, directly and only from boobs!) wakes up about 3 times. I try to soothe him back to sleep but he will cry and cry until he gets a feed. And feeding him so much at night means he isn’t hungry enough for solids during the day and barely eats 😭 i feel like I’m stuck in a cycle that i can’t break.

Avatar

appreciate your comment, lovely to know I’m not alone! 🤗 My son eats so much solids during the day though, especially at nursery he eats loads! i personally just think every baby is different and don’t think there’s a correlation between night feeds and eating solids x

Avatar

Hi! My LG has been EBF from birth (only from boob no expressing). She either sleeps through or wakes once and has been doing now for a couple of months. If it’s any consolation though her sleep was a nightmare for probably the first 8 months waking anything up to 15 times a night and wanting boob most times. We did do some gentle sleep training around 6 months which seemed to work in the short term but didn’t last as she seemed to “get wise” to the techniques we were using and they just stopped working. We do have a bed time routine which we have done from around 5/6 months but my honest opinion after feeling like we tried absolutely everything to improve her sleep is just that she did it when she was ready. If that is the case then I hope things click into place soon for you!

Avatar

Hey, my girl was formula fed but now on cows milk and has dropped her night bottle but will still wake one or two times just little moaning here and there, sometimes I’ll leave it a minute to see if she nods off. If not I’ll just get up shush her gently with a little touch on her belly and she falls back to sleep, I don’t pick her up or get her out the cot cos it disturbs her massively, she’s got herself to soothe herself to sleep now on her own so doesn’t need me x

Avatar

I never found anything to work with my eldest, baby sleep is the biggest mystery and what works one night might not work another etc 😆 The good news is that they will just sleep longer themselves eventually. Second time round I'm not stressing about it and accept they will sleep longer when they're ready

Avatar

The quality of his sleep is not connected to him being EBF - I EBF and my nearly 1 year old LB has been able to sleep through the night since 4 months old without milk. He may wake for other reasons, like gas or when he’s learning a new skill though but not milk. So I never offer milk as an option, I always try to sooth back to sleep. Sometimes it takes a while but I feel it’s better he’s helped back to sleep than to start to rely on night feeds xx

Avatar

She has a bath before We give her milk and when finished put her straight in her cot awake. She then goes to sleep. She has white noise on too. Since removing the dummy she’s been a different child as before she would wake for her dummy throughout the night

Avatar

My son is EBF. Wakes multiple times a night, I couldn’t count bcos honestly I just feed him back to sleep. This is why he co-sleeps with us at 1 years old. But I enjoy having him next to me sleeping in his cot (we took one of his cot walls off so I can feed him at night). Honestly, just do what works for your family. Wouldn’t listen to anyone else’s opinion, you know your child. I’ve heard even older toddlers still wake often and they’re not bf. I think it’s a long road ahead for us all lol but take it easy, and give yourself some grace!

Avatar

Literally a bowl of porridge before bed, thank me later 🤣♥️

Avatar

My LO is EBF and wakes a minimum of 3 times. He can fall asleep independently but still wakes to nurse multiple times. I’ve driven myself mad trying to figure out ways to get him to sleep longer. Nothing has worked for me so far. All I can say is, I hope it gets better & I understand the struggle!

Read more on Peanut

Trending

in our community

Help

My LO every feed. Drs don’t seem to think it’s a problem the whole Muslim cloth gets soaked so much I’m using towels now. I’ve tried size O teats he gets really frustrated and still spills it out :(

Avatar

13

8 week immunisations

My 8 week old has his first set of injections tomorrow and I’m abit nervous. Does anyone have any advice for after the jabs? I know they get a temp after so have got some calpol to give just before hand. Should I put him to bed in less clothing to make sure he doesn’t get too hot? Any tips from your experience with first set of immunisations? Am I worrying more than I need to? 😅

Avatar

2

14

Signs of Neurodivergent Toddler

Any moms of neurodivergent toddlers who could help me out? My son is 13 months old. I know that is technically too early for a diagnosis, but I have a gut feeling that he is on the autism spectrum.

The main sign he shows is hand leading. He does not point at all, and instead will take my hand and lead me anywhere he wants to go,
getting very frustrated if I do not follow.

He is also extremely sensitive to being touched, especially when it comes to hats and putting clothes on. He won’t let anything touch his head or face and I have to fight him to brush his teeth, comb his hair, etc.

He’s very interested in things that aren’t toys and will repeat the same behavior over and over. He can go in and out of doors or walk up and down stairs for hours. He loves taking things out of containers and putting the back in repeatedly.

We recently took him on his first vacation and he REALLY struggled with the change. He struggles with any type of transition or change in routine.

He laughs, makes eye contact, mostly responds to his name, but doesn’t do any other gestures.

Normal toddler behavior or signs of ASD? Let me know your thoughts!

Avatar

2

6

11 month old constantly standing in cot

Please tell me someone has some advice for this cause wow it’s trying. My almost 11 month old is fully on the move now and his new favourite thing is repeatedly pulling to stand in his cot. The problem is that he wears a sleep sack (mainly so his legs don’t get stuck between the bars tbh lol) so he’s not stable enough to lower himself down. So earlier he fell backwards and hit is head and now we feel like we can’t just leave him to it. Typically it’s his first full day at nursery tomorrow and my first day back at work IT’S LIKE HE KNOWS!!
Please tell me someone has some tips. Currently we are quietly placing him back on his back every time but he just keeps doing it! 🤣🤡

Avatar

11

My seven year old

Is out of control. Her dad and I share 50/50 and when she comes to my house she is so mean. And idk what to do

Avatar

1

12

Bedtime

What time are you getting your LOs down for the night now and how are you finding bedtime? We’ve had the sane routine since my daughter was a few weeks old - bath with her older sister and 6.45, followed by a bottle and ideally in bed by 7.30. This worked at first but over the last few weeks she’s been fighting it a lot and, with the exception of a few days last week which were a lot easier, it’s a bit of a battle to get her down and features a lot of screaming and resettling. Not sure if we are putting her down too early or late? Her last nap is usually a cat nap (30-45 mins) and finishes by 6. She’s pretty good at settling herself from a night feed, but seems to be unable to do it at bedtime, even with her dummy.

Avatar

2

13

Read more on Peanut