When your baby or toddler is waking frequently at night, the first question you probably ask yourself is, “Why?!?” Countless parents contact the Baby Sleep Site and ask that very question: “Why is my baby (or toddler) waking up all the time?!” Dear readers, we wish SO MUCH that we had an easy answer to that one. Unfortunately, as with so many things related to your baby or toddler, nighttime waking isn’t exactly straightforward.
Sleep Associations and Hunger: Two Common Causes of Nighttime Waking
Lots of babies and toddlers wake at night due to sleep associations; for those children, the solution is usually to sleep train. Newborns and young infants can often wake at night from hunger; in that case, the solution is to offer a feeding.
But what about nighttime waking that isn’t so straightforward? This article will highlight 6 possible reasons (aside from sleep associations and hunger) your baby or toddler is waking at night.
Other Causes of Nighttime Waking
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A Scheduling Problem
If nighttime sleep is becoming an issue, take a good, hard look at your baby or toddler’s daytime schedule. Is your baby getting enough sleep during the day? If not, she may be overtired; that can lead to lots of nighttime waking. Naps aren’t optional, remember; babies need naps!
On the other hand, your toddler may be getting too much sleep during the day, or he might be going to bed too early; if that’s the case, it can cause him to wake frequently at night. For help in determining if your baby or toddler is getting the right amount of sleep, check out our “How Many Naps” post. If you’re hoping to improve your baby or toddler’s current schedule, take a look at our “Recommended Schedules” page for help.
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A Developmental Leap
Your baby or toddler is growing and learning at a phenomenal rate. And guess what? Each one of those developmental milestones (learning to crawl, learning to walk, learning to talk, etc.) affects your baby’s sleep. Most parents find that right around the time their baby or toddler is learning a major skill, a sleep regression happens. During those sleep regressions, your baby or toddler suddenly begins waking at night out of the blue, for no apparent reason. We generally recommend that parents wait out these regressions, since they normally pass in a few weeks, and avoid developing new habits that can become long-term. Once they’re over, your baby or toddler’s sleep should return to normal.
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A Sleep Disorder or Medical Issue
Sometimes, your baby or toddler’s nighttime waking is a sign of something more serious. Nighttime waking can be a sign of illness or ear infections. Check your baby or toddler for symptoms (fever, runny nose, coughing, ear-pulling); if you suspect that she might be waking due to illness, consult your healthcare provider.
Nighttime waking can also point to a sleep disorder (although these are less common than other causes listed in this article). Sleep disorders include issues like sleep apnea, RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome), and SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder). Again, if you suspect that your baby or toddler might have a sleep disorder, contact your healthcare provider for further testing.
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A Bout of Teething
It can seem like your baby or toddler is teething constantly. And that’s not far from the truth, actually — babies and toddlers start cutting teeth around 6 months of age, and it doesn’t stop until age 2. 18 months worth of teething can definitely feel like an eternity!
When your baby or toddler is teething, the pressure and swelling on her gums can make her uncomfortable, causing her to wake more often at night. Review how to handle teething and sleep, here, for tips on what to do about your baby or toddler’s teething.
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A Food Allergy or Intolerance
Food allergies and intolerances can cause a host of physical problems, and disrupted sleep is one of them. Food allergies and intolerances often trigger digestive issues (like gas and bloating) as well as rashes and swelling; all those symptoms make for a bad night of sleep!
Food allergies and intolerances can develop at any age, but this may be an especially big problem as you start to introduce your baby to solid foods. For more information on how food allergies and intolerances affect your baby, and how to be mindful of allergy-causing foods as you start your baby on solids, review How to Introduce Solid Foods to Your Baby.
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A Late-Night Snack
This one doesn’t apply to babies so much; if your baby is hungry, you should feed her. With toddlers, however, it’s a different story. Keep in mind that food provides calories and that calories = energy. So what’s going to happen when you give your two-year-old a bedtime snack or middle-of-the-night feeding? He’s going to get a nice, big boost of energy, right at the moment when you want him to start winding down or in the middle of the night. Not good. Instead, make an effort to give your toddler plenty of (healthy!) food during daylight hours, and make sure that he eats an adequate dinner and a snack at least 30 minutes prior to bedtime. That should ward off any late-night hunger.
Nicole’s Note:
“We have a lot of clients ask us why their baby or toddler is waking and while, most of the time, it seems obvious (to us anyway), it isn’t always so obvious. I had one co-sleeping mama (with no interest in changing that) whose toddler was staying awake for 1-2 hours at night, even in bed with her. It turned out to be dairy intolerance. She was ever so grateful that we figured it out, because no one, not even her daughter’s doctor, put it together. We can’t typically stop ALL night-waking, since it is somewhat normal, but chronic waking or waking for long periods isn’t good for anyone.”
Karen McGlone says
My 16.5 month old is awake every night from 11 to 3 or 4 am. We put her down at 8. She wakes up in the morning at 730 or 8 and then won’t nap until 1 (we try putting her to bed earlier for the nap but she won’t go). It has been two weeks of this. We still rock with her to sleep to get her to sleep at night and have tried to stop but then she and we don’t go to bed until 10 pm and then still end up rocking with her. She pukes if we try to cry it out. She was a good sleeper from 6 weeks until about 9 -10 months. She does this every couple weeks for 2 weeks or so.
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi @Karen – Thanks for writing, and sorry to hear that your toddler is waking for so long at night, and seems to have insomnia! We know how tough this can be, so hang in there! Please utilize the tips on this page and in the video that are meaningful to you! And working on helping her fall asleep interdependently may really help too. If you haven’t already, check out our free suggested schedules here, and make sure naps are a good length, and she is getting a good amount of overall sleep: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-feeding-schedules/
I hope that things smooth out! Please feel free to contact us if you need more assistance!
Laura Shepherd says
My 13 month old is waking up 2 and 3 times a night, sometimes needing 2 hours of soothing to go back to sleep, often wanting to nurse. Most recently, he has been demanding that we bounce him, which is what we stopped doing at 6 months with some sleep consultant support. He puts himself to sleep just fine usually for naps and bedtime, but the past five days he’s been fighting bedtime and throwing tantrums. Last night he chatted to himself for over an hour, and then amped himself up to hysterical screaming for the better part of another hour, ignoring all techniques to soothe or leave him be, before we finally gave in and bounced him to sleep at 10pm. He was then awake again at 3am wanting to nurse, and up at 6:30 for the day. We had weaned down to 3 minutes of nursing at the nighttime feeding, but then travelled and shared a room for a week, during which he was teething, so we are back up to 8 minutes again. We have been sleep deprived for over a year!! What do you think is a good next tactic to try?? Thank you!!
Neosha says
@Laura – Thank you for reading! We feel your pain – this age can be an especially tough one for sleep as toddlers have a newfound independence that babies don’t yet have. If you haven’t taken a chance to review his full daily sleep schedule and tweak it to ensure he’s sleeping at opportune times, that would be a great next step. If you find you need further support with this process, please don’t hesitate to connect with one of our sleep consultants who can walk you through getting to better sleep step-by-step, day-by-day. You can learn more about our lovely ladies here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/about/ Hang in there, Laura!
Denelle says
17 month old waking everynight at random times and once awake then will be awake for 3 hours not matter if we try to comfort or leave alone. This has been happening for weeks. Md says it’s teething but pain meds do not help.
She is skipping her afternoon nap now and schedule all off due to night wakings and such a long period of being awake. Definitely not getting enough sleep.
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi @Denelle –
Thanks for writing! Sorry to hear that your little girl is struggling with night wakings and with naps too! We know how tough that can be! It sounds like you’d benefit most from one on one help from one of our experts! You can read about all of our sleep consultation packages here:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services
Hang in there, and please let us know if you have need any assistance!
Amanda Downs says
Help! My 7month old baby has been waking up every 2 hours since birth and ive tried everything! Hes on routine he takes naps he goes bed early he eats ll day ive tried cereal in his bottle He wont even cosleep Im exhausted and I dont know what to do?!
Neosha says
@Amanda – Thank you for reading and for sharing with us! I’m so sorry to hear that your little guy has had such a tough time with sleep – I know how exhausted you all must be! 🙁 If you haven’t tried any formal sleep coaching (great job on having the steady routine! 🙂 ) this may be a good next step. Once you’ve ruled out medical issues that can cause frequent waking, formal sleep coaching can help your little guy learn more independent sleep habits which oftentimes helps with sleeping in longer stretches. We have SO many “how to” articles on the blog on getting started with a sleep coaching strategy but this article overviews EVERYTHING about sleep training/coaching and I think you’ll find it helpful: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/sleep-training-baby-guide/ We’re here if you find you’d like or need more one-on-one support through the process. Hang in there, Amanda!
Ashley says
Hello! I am suffering from my 2yo’s daily night wakings and was googling for a solution when I stumbled upon your site!
I know about scheduling and my baby was sleep trained since 4 months old. He is an independent sleeper although he doesn’t quite sleep through the night all the time.
He was able to sleep through the night for a few weeks since late last year but suddenly in Dec (he just changed to a new school), he is waking up every single night for long hours! On good days, about 1 hour. If not, that will be 2 or occasionally even 3! Sometimes he falls back to sleep quickly, but most times, he is very alert and plays around and will request for milk (he always had dinner and a bottle of milk at least 30 minutes before he turns in). And recently, he is waking up A FEW TIMES as well.
I cannot control how long he naps in school but I try to keep his last wake time to bed time short (about 5 hours) to prevent overtiredness. He will roll around for 30minutes or so (sometimes longer sometimes shorter) before sleeping.
Help. I am at my wits end. Nobody can tell me what’s wrong and just gave me sympathetic comments. I am so so so exhausted and it’s affecting me. I know this cannot be right and I wish someone can shed some light on this for me. Thank you so very much.
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi @Ashley –
Thanks for writing, and I am sorry to hear that your little guy is waking and staying awake at night! That is so tough! It sounds like he has some insomnia, and I can also share that sleep issues around age two are very common too! Here is a link that may help ease you through this:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/toddlers/toddler-sleep-regressions-explained/
And here is a link to our sample toddler schedule, to use as reference to be sure she is sleeping at generally good times. I know you cannot control the naps at school, but you may be able to make up for him under or over sleeping there, and perhaps they can help keep track of his sleep, or even help with nap timing too? A toddler that is offered sleep at the right times will tend to sleep better: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/toddler-schedule
We can definitely help more with this issue, and if things do not smooth out, please consider one of our Personalized Sleep Consultation packages, where one of our wonderful expert consultants will work with you on a detailed plan- one that finds the issues and works to fix them, and is a plan that you can commit to and feel good about.
You can read about all of our sleep consultation packages and purchase directly online here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/services/
Hang in there Ashley!
Jay Ong Ramirez says
Hello there!
My 3year old son had the same issue regarding waking up in the middle of the night. And it was very unpredictable. He will going to sleep at 10pm then He woke up every 1am and does not want to sleep again. He will go to bed at 5am in the morning, and that was the whole day sleep, like now it was already 2:00 pm and he was still sleeping. Though he get more than 8hours of sleep as a normal child do. But, the routine was Not Good! He turn the day to night, and the night to day. ?
Hope that you can help me through this.
? Thank you so much
Danielle says
Hi Jay,
Thank you for using The Baby Sleep Site as a resource! I’m sorry to hear you’re having such a big issue with your toddler’s sleep. In general, we would recommend choosing a schedule and sticking to it for a full two weeks, to get him on a good pattern. We have a sample toddler schedule you can review here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/toddler-schedule/
However, in extreme cases like you’re describing, we do usually recommend a personalized sleep consultation, so that we can rule out any bigger problems. You can read more about those here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
I hope this helps, but please let us know if we can help further!
Divya says
Hi, I put my 2-year old daughter to sleep at around 9:00PM. She goes into deep sleep within 15 minutes.
She gets up at around 1:30AM and I can put her back to sleep instantly by tapping her back.
However, she is awake again at around 02:30AM and she is now super active till 04:30AM before she goes back to sleep.
After this, she wakes up at 07:00AM as normal and does not sleep there after.
We are completely exhausted in the 2 hrs trial (02:30 to 04:30) of putting her to sleep every single day. I appreciate if you can provide a solution to overcome this problem. Thank you in advance.
Danielle says
Hello Divya,
Thank you for using The Baby Sleep Site as a resource! I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with your toddler’s sleep. I’m not a sleep consultant, but this sounds like it’s mostly likely a scheduling issue, where your daughter’s bedtime is incorrect, or she’s overtired, or sleeping too much during the day. We have a sample toddler schedule you can check out here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/toddler-schedule/
I hope this helps, but if you continue to have any trouble, please consider working with a consultant directly, either through a sleep consultation package, or through the weekly Members Area chat. Good luck!
Nadeem says
Hi there,
I have read all the above concerns and answers and feel that my problem is a bigger one.
My LO is turning 18 today and I have never seen her sleep for more than 3 hrs in a stretch. She needs to be carried and breastfeed or put in cradle… then again putting back to bed after 30-40 min lullaby… and this repeats whole night and all nights… we have a hard time at first place to put her to sleep… we start at 11pm and it’s almost 12:30am by the time she sleeps. In day time she sleeps from 2pm to 4:30pm… not more than 3 hrs…
I m worried for till when this will change and we can sleep through night… please advise
Nadeem says
Just forgot to mention that if she sleeps at 12:30am she gets up at 10:00am where she gets up at least 3 times in between and is cranky if we don’t follow her…like breastfeed, swing, lullaby….
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Nadeem, I’m so sorry to hear you’re struggling with frequent night wakings from your daughter. I am sure you are all super tired and ready to see some progress with this. We would love to help. First off, here is a link to download a free guide with tips to help your child sleep through the night: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-through-night-free-ebook/
If the article is too general for you because there are more underlying issues going on, I would highly recommend working with one of our expert sleep consultants. When you work with our team one-on-one you would fill out a whole sleep history of your daughter and they will write up a step by step, personalized plan for your family to help you all start sleeping better. If you are interested in finding out more about our personalized consultations, you can read about them here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
Of course if you have any questions about that, please feel free to contact us directly at [email protected] and we will gladly help you further from there. Hang in there!
Jessica says
My 13 month old son keeps waking 3 hours after he falls asleep. He falls asleep on his own, he usually naps between 2.5 to 3 hours a day. He is on a 630 to 630 schedule. He doesn’t feed anymore in the night. I don’t know what to do, he will stay awake for hours before he finally goes back to sleep. I should mention that he is not upset during this time either. Please help.
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Jessica, thank you for writing to us. I’m so sorry you’ve been struggling with the night wakings recently. I know the struggle of worrying that your baby is not getting all the sleep they need. It would be difficult for us to determine without a full sleep history what could be causing the wake ups for your baby, which we would be happy to do in a personalized consultation package. If you are interested you can read about our different options to be able to work one-on-one with a sleep consultant who can help you all get the sleep you need! Here is the link to read more: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
Hang in there! I hope we can help you through this!
Donna Scott says
Hi Jessica did you get any help with this? My child is exactly the same age and doing exactly the same thing! How did you get through it. Help! ? Donna
Beth says
My 20 month old son is now waking up for 1-3 hours overnight during the last week ever since we returned from vacation. He goes to bed around 8pm, sleeps with a lovey that he loves, and ends up waking up around 12/1am screaming and has thrown his lovey and anything else in the crib out. We’ve gone in to give him it back, tell him to lay down, and leave the room. Sometimes he immediately stands back up screaming throwing it out again and other times he lays down for a few or more minutes to fall back asleep, but doesn’t and stands back up throwing everything out again. We’ve tried letting him cry it out and it lasted 2 hours and I finally gave in. He gets so worked up and hysterical it’s as if he can’t calm himself back down until he’s really really tired again. What can we do? Is common during leaps, do we not go in to return his lovey he throws out?
His schedule was for a few months:
6/6:30 wake up
12/12:30 nap for 1.5-2 hours
8pm bedtime
I’m so exhausted I feel like I have a newborn again!
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi Beth, Thank you for writing to us! You must be SO exhausted right now! Toddler challenges such as this can be so very tough. With toddlers, it’s all about setting limits and being consistent, so if you do decide to not go in to return his lovey, I would recommend letting him know about this ahead of time, by talking to him about it before bedtime, and then being consistent with what you say and do.
For additional help, I would recommend that you consider our e-Book, The 5 Step System to Better Toddler Sleep. It is written specifically to help parents of toddlers with sleep issues. The book includes a number of detailed sample schedules, as well as an explanation of the various sleep coaching methods you can try for issues just like this. : )
You can find out more about this ebook, and order the book directly online here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/5-step-system-toddler/
Good luck and I hope that things smooth out very quickly!!!