Mid nap crier

I have a 1 year old (14 months) who wakes up about 40 min after nap starts and cries. Mom warned me when he started that sometimes he wakes up a little early and cries, but to leave him for a few minutes because he often falls back asleep.

Now we're 4 weeks into care and he does just that. He wakes up, cries as if he's done and if I leave him long enough he falls back asleep. He does this a few times during his nap.

I have white noise on in his room and the room is dark. He sleeps alone, I've tried to mimic home as much as I can.

Any suggestions on how to get this little guy a good 2 hours of uninterupted sleep?

You are doing what I normally do - eventually once they get older they realize that they can return to sleep without 'crying out' when they roll over and wake up - we all often wake several times a night we just do not remember it cause we return quickly to sleep.

The only thing I could add to what you are already doing is perhaps a 'sleep sack' to help keep him feeling secure through his sleep - it is a way to 'swaddle' kids who are more mobile than a younger infant?

Sleep Sacks

I have had two kids in my home career who have a very high anxiety for sleeping in 'cribs' and one I could not even get to sleep in one and the other would go in if you rocked him to sleep but after 30 minutes he would scream - both ended up having to move them even as an infant to a toddler cot and put them in the main floor living room where I spend quiet time to 'watch' that they stayed on it or if they were rolling around to make sure that they stayed in the middle (it is only 2 inches from ground but still do not want them rolling off it if possible) but that move allowed them and I to immediately get a nice 2-3 hour nap without 'crying out' in between cause they roll over see they are not 'alone' in a pen and go back to sleep within 30 seconds - no noise to wake up others in the house .... sleep is important to me and I am willing to think outside the box a bit to help ensure they get it - both these children also 'co sleep' at home so I think the being 'alone' in a room was the biggest issue for them... for me it was easier solution than trying to 'break' them of the habit while listening to them scream for weeks over nap time - got me the end result I wanted immediately - a child who self soothes to sleep on their own ,,, and eventually they grew out of needing to 'see me' while they went off to sleep and i slowly move the cot toward where the other 'cot nappers' are.

LOL, he's already in a sleep sac. At least he's not upsetting the other ones at this point. Thank you for your feedback. Certainly something to think about.

I have a child who does this and its usually because he needs a diaper change...either pee or poop. I find that some children are very sensitive to having a dirty diaper. So I get him out, change him, and put him back to bed telling him that its still sleepy time and he usually sleeps for another hour. Could that be your case as well?

maybe, but it's not like he has an overly heavy diaper when he wakes up. And he only poops in the am. Yup, a man on schedule right from a year old.

I think getting him out to change him would be a last option. I'm afraid that my activity on the upper level might stir the others sleeping. And once my 2 yr old sees hope of getting out of that bed, there's no going back. LOL

Ya - if he is not 'disrupting' anyone with his routine - I would likely leave him where he is then...my too I had to think outside the box with were so loud they woke up the dead ... the most recent would get so worked up so fast that between when I heard him cry out in the monitor and the 30 seconds it took to get up the stairs he would be hysterical and have puked from his effort - 0 to puking in 30 seconds it was nasty .... and I tried to make it work in the crib for over a week but it was just well stressing me out and him out and well not worth the aggravation - so tried the sleeping in the livingroom where I am so I could at least get some work done and a 'break' while he rested and he ended up sleeping awesome.

You know, if he's not disturbing anyone, and he's going back to sleep.... I wouldn't even worry about it. We all wake up on occasion during sleep, and some more than others. As long as he is still napping, I wouldn't really stress!
:)

Thanks all. It's the funniest thing. He cries like someone is cutting his toe off for just a few minutes at 3 different times in his nap. But when he's actually awake and ready to come downstairs I hear him just playing and chatting to himself. LOL

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Originally Posted by apples and bananas

Thanks all. It's the funniest thing. He cries like someone is cutting his toe off for just a few minutes at 3 different times in his nap. But when he's actually awake and ready to come downstairs I hear him just playing and chatting to himself. LOL

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LOL - yup that 'startle' reflux must be what is waking him up - where their body 'jumps' and it scares him ... when he wakes up normally he is not scared therefore not crying ... sometimes they are not even truly 'awake' when they are making that horrible noise ... my one little dude who did this his eyes were still closed - weird little dudes!

I have a little boy who did that for several months. He started here at 11 mos. of age and has only stopped doing this about a month ago at age 16 mos. He woke up screaming nonstop once or twice during his nap and as Daycaremamma said it was usually a poop, but if I changed him there was no way he would go back down so I would just lay him down and cover him up again and tell him to shush and sleep. It was quite a battle. Turns out the little guy was in complete pain because he had a lactose allergy that his parents didn't realize and his doctor didn't diagnose.