Speaking with other mums recently, I’ve realised our little Miss is actually a pretty good sleeper.

Gone are the nights of waking up every 2, 3, 4 hours to feed — she’s moved past the need for multiple nightly feeds.

Thank God! I honestly still shudder — goosebumps and all! — at the early memories of the 2-3-hourly feeds when she was first born. Mumma loves her sleep and the sleep deprivation was real! YIKES!

And she rarely wakes up throughout the night needing major soothing sessions and a lullaby concert.

Most nights, she falls asleep without a fuss — well, she likes to fight the sleep sack, which no doubt signals bedtime, but once she’s in that and is drinking her bottle, it’s all systems GO towards dreamland!

And as long as she has her dummy (aka pacifier), she’s generally pretty content to sleep in her cot.

All this has got me thinking about sleep routines and where we should ideally be with Miss A’s sleep progression as she approaches her 1st birthday.

consistency is king!

Night time routines may sometimes feel like a mini adventure, especially when baby’s main goal seems to be, well, staying up, but as any expert will tell you, consistency is king when it comes to a smooth bedtime routine.

As is a whole lot of patience. Phew! Some nights, I’m practically singing myself to sleep with endless rounds of ‘Silent Night‘ to get Miss A settled.

I’m a stickler when it comes to consistent sleep routines (bedtimes as well as naps).

Supporting everything from immunity and growth to memory, cognition and motor skills, sleep is crucial for baby’s development, so I definitely pay close attention.

Plus, Miss A does a lot better all-round when we keep to her sleep/nap routine — she does better, so we do better … it’s a win-win for everyone!

In terms of the number of hours that a 1-year-old should sleep, health experts recommend around 10-14 hours of sleep every 24 hours, made up of both the nighttime sleep and naps.

For us, Miss A generally has two naps per day — one in the morning at around 9/9:30, and one in the afternoon at around 2 or 3 depending on how long the first nap lasted.

Although, she’s entering the stage now where she fights the second nap more than she does the first — starting to transition to one nap per day perhaps? Health experts suggest that by about 18 months, baby’s generally transition from two naps per day to one.

And she generally naps anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 (plus) hours.

At night, Miss A sleeps around 10 hours.

Bedtime is generally around 7-7:30pm, which goes a little something like: dinner, change into pjs, playtime and book, sleep sack, bottle, lullabies and mummy cuddles, and cot/bed.

It’s recommended that screen-time is avoided at bed time, but we don’t generally allow Miss A any screen time anyway, so that’s not a major issue for us at the moment.

While Miss A is generally a good sleeper and sleeps through the night, there are still nights when she’ll briefly wake herself up a few times.

This normally happens if she’s lost her dummy or if she’s had a nightmare or something’s startled her.

I’ve also read that if this happens — if baby is waking herself up because she’s lost her dummy — it’s a good idea to start transitioning AWAY from said dummy. So, getting baby used to falling asleep and settling WITHOUT it! This one will be a challenge, but it might be time to start transitioning Miss A towards sleeping dummy-free. Oof!

But anyhoo … because Miss A’s cot is in our room — she effectively sleeps next to me … this works for us! — if she does wake up, it’s generally fairly quick and easy to get her settled and back to sleep.

Having her cot in our room, next to me, is great for me, too! Means mumma gets to go back to sleep as fast as possible as well!

Speaking of waking up throughout the night, what are some other reasons for baby’s waking up?

Well, from what I’ve read, it could be a little bit of separation anxiety.

I’ve found this happens especially when first place Miss A into her cot for the night and walk out of the room. She’ll wake herself up, startle because mummy isn’t there and then will need a little bit of comforting to get back to sleep.

The other thing could be teething.

Miss A’s teeth are definitely coming in, so this could be making it a little uncomfortable for her.

Or it could be the dummy!

As I mentioned earlier, more often than not, Miss A wakes herself up when she loses her dummy. As soon as it’s back in, she settles back to sleep almost instantly.

Another reason for disrupted sleep and bedtime resistance could be the next “sleep regression” milestone, which is said to occur at around the 18-month mark.

We haven’t reached the next “sleep regression” stage yet, but we didn’t really have that much trouble with Miss A’s sleep at the 4-month sleep regression milestone, so I’m hoping we won’t have a bedtime rebel on our hands this time around either. Please, God, let this be so!

So, here we are —nearing the 1-year mark and feeling pretty grateful for every night of decent sleep. Getting mostly uninterrupted sleep is, well, a dream compared to those early months of constant night feeds and sleep deprivation.

A consistent bedtime routine is key for us — it’s our lifeline, keeping us (mostly) on track and in dreamland.

Of course, there are still nights when Miss A stirs or loses her dummy (something to work on!), and we’re always keeping an eye out for any new teeth or sleep regression milestones lurking around the corner. But for now, we’re soaking up the smoother nights and hoping this good run continues.

Here’s to continued restful nights for all of us!

x G.

Margaret Mielczarek

editor, journalist, digital content creator with a background in nutrition & dietetics.