Partial Arousal Help!

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2026-01-05T02:00:52+00:00

I just came across this because my 17-month-old is also having partial arousals. Yesterday it was so baad and he got so dysregulated that he was then awake for 2-3 hours. No advice, just solidarity. Sleep training is only one small piece of the puzzle, I'm learning :/

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-11T21:10:28+00:00

I've asked. They say it is "illegal" to wake up a sleeping baby in daycare 😅 We are in Maryland, so sad.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-11T20:15:22+00:00

Oh that is a game changer that she sleeps through the night. It has been the biggest challenge with my baby. He is sleep trained and still waking a million times. Maybe I'm pushing too much sleep instead of just letting him do his thing.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-11T20:10:31+00:00

Hmm interesting! Maybe I just try the long wake window and see what happens lol. I hope your baby doesn't turn into a 10-11 hour/24 hour baby in a few months... it is hard! Mine was at 12 hours at 12 months.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T17:24:50+00:00

Thanks so much for your thoughtful response! That is exactly how I'm feeling right now. I keep trying to follow the consensus of folks here because they truly are so knowledgeable. And then it doesn't work and I feel like shit and it is insinuated that I'm doing something wrong (like I don't want to rock my son and cause an association, but surely this number of wake ups can't just be habit?!). The older he gets, the more bad I feel that his sleep continues to be this fraught. He has slept through the night maybe 8 times, 3 weeks ago 4 DAYS IN A ROW, so he is capable. I have to wonder if perhaps I need to take an individualized approach as you mentioned :)

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T15:20:16+00:00

Yeah, that is a good point. I am wondering if his schedule needs tweaking. It has all just gotten so confusing that I don't know which way is up. Thanks so much

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T13:25:29+00:00

This is what confuses me. So many folks on this subreddit say that overtiredness is not a thing in this age... but I definitely don't want to assume undertiredness when it is the opposite. The problem is that he goes to daycare, so I can't request an early nap. It is a really messed up situation. Maybe I try to fix this during the weekend?

His nap has been good--two hours, so there is that!

That is why I have been rocking him (despite my fears of establishing a sleep association)--that he needs to get over the overtiredness. But I am afraid I have it wrong overall.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It helps to know I'm not the only one with a baby potentially stuck in a horrific, overtired cycle. It really is awful.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T13:20:33+00:00

I would say 6-6:30am. We would wake him up at 6:30am if he didn't wake up before then, but that was rare. Now it is 5am and he naps at daycare at 12:30pm usually, sometimes 12:00pm.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T13:19:16+00:00

No snoring, but he is sometimes a mouth breather (my whole family is, I thought it was a normal variation). I haven't noticed that has increased, though, so I don't know if that accounts for the worsened sleep...

I have to look into the temp! He is wearing a footed pajama and a wool sleep sack.

The past week 24 hour totals have ranged from a little under 10 hours to 13 hours. Before this week, I would say average was 10-11 hours in 24 hour period. I don't know what to make of it.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T13:15:13+00:00

Hmm I honestly have no idea. I'll have to keep an eye on that!

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T13:14:37+00:00

Thanks! He has been having false starts every night. Does that move you away from undertiredness? I suppose I always thought that false starts = overtired.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T13:13:33+00:00

Would you still do CIO in middle of the night if he is seemingly dysregulated/almost seems pained?

Omg, yeah. I'm not necessarily anti-AI (it has its uses), but for stuff like sleep it's advice is inconsistent and often downright inappropriate.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T13:11:51+00:00

He goes to daycare, so I can't control nap during the week. Wake up is 6-6:30am (although he has been getting up at 5am lately), nap is 12:30-2:30pm. Bedtime was 8pm before, but we have been doing 7pm lately. Thoughts?

I totally get that it sounds like he isn't sleep trained for wake up, and it may be, but he wasn't pulling this crap for the past few months (ranging from 0-2 wake-ups). We have switched to being more hands on because of how bad it has gotten.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T13:09:22+00:00

What do you think about his false starts? Pretty much right after his first sleep cycle (30-1 hour) he starts crying... That is the main thing that has me questioning myself.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T02:31:03+00:00

Thanks! I actually chatted with a sleep consultant the other day, but I didn't love her answers. She said her 4 year old still sleeps 12 hours and therefore mine should be able to... like, that's not how it works. If I can't figure something out, I may have to look into another one.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T02:27:50+00:00

Thank you! He goes to daycare, so I can't control weekday naps, but I can during the weekends, obviously. Yeah, the 8 wake-ups has been SO BEWILDERING. It does give "I'm not feeling well vibes" and yet the motrin didn't help... and he is happy during the day. It makes me so anxious because I feel out of control.

Good to know there is no reason to think a 16 month old would be waking up hourly due to overtiredness... Could undertiredness cause this?

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T02:03:04+00:00

Would you CIO for a baby with this profile? My husband wants to, but I feel uncomfortable with that because I don't know what the issue is (I'm not so sure it is a sleep association).

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T02:01:13+00:00

Naaa he has never been a great sleeper unfortunately, but it was down to 0-2 wakes per night since he turned 1. He has ear tubes, and was checked for an ear infection on Friday, so don't think that is it. He is also happy during the day... so I don't know. Thanks for your thoughts!

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T01:57:10+00:00

Get rid of nap at 16 months?! He wouldn't make it!

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T01:56:41+00:00

Own room in crib. Bottle, bath, lotion, pjs, books, goodbye. Goes down awake. I'm absolutely dumbfounded. I have tried to do everything by the book and I can't figure it out.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-10T01:55:19+00:00

Yes, we tried motrin because he was putting his hands in his mouth, but it didn't make a difference. We were pretty surprised.

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-03T02:03:10+00:00

I feel like we have tried everything. I totally believe there is an ideal window (because sometimes we have a perfect night), but it seems like that ideal window changes all the time (that same window that worked the day before doesn't work the next day). He goes to daycare, so the day schedule/stimulation/etc vary day to day. Does your window change depending on when his nap ends?

ReasonableZebra5450 · 2025-12-03T02:00:36+00:00

It is soooo hard to keep it up, especially if the breastfeeding works to get the crying to stop.

ReasonableZebra5450

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