Split nights are when your little one wakes in the night wide awake, stays awake for an extended period of time and struggles to fall back asleep. They can happen at any time of the night and can last for hours. It is almost as though your little one has treated the first part of the night as a nap, has an awake window before going down again for the last part of the night.
What causes them?
Most of the time, split nights are caused by either:
• Too much daytime sleep – If your baby is getting too much sleep during the day, i.e. too many or too long naps, they have met their sleep needs and don't need a long stretch of sleep overnight.
• Not enough sleep pressure before bedtime – If your baby isn’t awake long enough before bed, they haven't built up enough sleep pressure to result in a long, restful overnight sleep.
What should I do?
1. Check Daytime Sleep:
Make sure baby isn’t napping too much during the day. Depending on their age, babies and toddlers need a certain amount of sleep during the day, but as they get older and their wake window stretches, this required amount of day sleep changes and the routine needs adjusted. Consider capping a nap before dropping completely.
2. Lengthen Wake Windows Before Bed:
We need sleep pressure to build up before bed time to get a long stretch of overnight sleep. Make sure your little one's last nap isn't too close to bed time, or, if little one is having multiple naps it may be time to drop the last nap.
3. Introduce independent sleep skills:
If you haven't already, this could be a good time to start supporting your little one to learn self-settling skills. If your baby can self-settle they are more likely to sleep for longer stretches overnight.
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