There are usually two reasons:

• Developmental milestone

Your little one is learning something new and it’s disrupting sleep because they’re waking up to play or “practice”, or getting “stuck” in a new position (rolling/standing), etc.

• Daytime sleep is affecting night sleep

Oftentimes when a child is going to bed overtired from poor naps that day, it can lead to more night wakings and false starts. When a child is getting too much daytime sleep, it can lead to split nights.

Investigating these two factors is a great way to work to identify why there is a sudden increase in night wakings when your child was previously sleeping well.

And if wakings continue once adjustments are made, it’s good to take a look at how you’ve been responding to the wakings. For example, were you adding in a feed that your little one had already weaned just because you weren’t sure why there was a new night waking? Things like this can cause them to continue.

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