Your Baby Turned One! Here’s What Needs To Change.

Congratulations! You made it!! A baby’s first birthday isn’t for them…but you! You survived!! Time to celebrate! Your baby turned one!!

I have always thought the time between 10-14 months is the most fun! Your baby seems to wake up as a different kid every day, saying more, moving more and sometimes…sleeping less!

Today I want to prepare you for the things you need to be aware of when your baby turns one year old!

 

YOUR ONE YEAR OLD’S DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES

First of all, let’s look at their development. Developmentally your little one is surging – they are perhaps pulling up and taking their first step, maybe they’re getting really good at cruising. 

(If your child is more advanced than that and they’re already running around, well, then you’ve probably noticed some things in their sleep that I’ll get into!)

But I want you to know at this age, your child’s little body is going through a lot. 

Not only are they trying these new skills physically, but their brain is surging through so much. They’re saying new words, they’re connecting the dots on more things around them in their home and in the outside world, and it’s a really cool thing to see. 

Also 12 months is when separation anxiety peaks! I probably didn’t have to tell you that – you’ve probably already realized that your 1 year old or almost 1 year old is incredibly clingy. 

All of these things basically means that you should give your child a lot of grace, but it doesn’t give them a pass to just completely regress in all of their sleep. 

As your child learns how to talk, as they learn how to walk and run and jump and have a stronger, more clingy connection with you, the more they actually need that sleep that’s restorative to them. 

Now that you know what your baby is going through, let’s talk through a checklist for how you can adjust to the changes your baby is making as they turn one.

 

#1 – BEDTIME ROUTINE

The first thing I want to dig into is the bedtime routine.

By 13 months old (because I give a little bit of a grace period), all bottles and the bedtime feed should be gone. 

When your child turns 1, you need to get rid of bottles and the bedtime feeding will be the last one to drop. 

For nursing moms, I want you to nurse before the bedtime routine because I don’t want any food or drink during bedtime after age 1. (Learn more about why to make this developmental transition here!) 

Developmentally, we need your kiddo off of bottles and onto sippy cups. There is, of course, a lot of talk around what’s the best kind of sippy cup and I’ve heard from many Speech Language Pathologists that the straw is the best option. Moving from the bottle to the straw makes a better connection with speaking at this age. 

So whatever you choose to use, I want you to know that by 13 months old, definitely no more bottles, this can become a really large habit for your child. We do not want to make a habit of the connection of eating or drinking to sleep for your child.  

I have a whole blog post that actually talks through how to transition out of the bottle here that you can check out! Your baby is also going to be sleeping all night long, so changing the bedtime feed is the first thing we’re going to change.

 

#2 – NAP TRANSITIONS

The next change that I want to see is that anywhere between 12 and 15 months old, your child will transition to one nap a day. 

Now, this does not need to happen the day they turn one. However, for many of my clients who are in daycare settings or school settings where the child is graduating, if you will, to the next class, and they go to a classroom where all of the children are sleeping at 11:30 or 12:30 on a nap mat, then your hand is almost forced. And that’s really okay if your hand is forced into a one nap schedule because starting at 12 months, that’s the earliest that we can see that transition. 

So by 12 months old, we could be getting your child on a one nap schedule – for a step-by-step plan on how to do that, you can click here. 

Anywhere between 12 and 15 months, your child will go to one nap, but I really want you to not rush into this if you don’t have to. Like I mentioned earlier, your child is going through a lot of development. They are learning how to walk, how to talk, they have that separation anxiety with you, and it may not necessarily mean that they’re ready for one nap just because one day they fought their afternoon nap or they wouldn’t go down for their morning nap. 

I want you to give them about 2-3 weeks to see if the signs they’re giving you are really showing that they’re ready to drop a nap or if it could just be a developmental regression. So give them some time and some space to work it out and sort out their whole situation, and if they’re still having nap trouble, then yes, it may be time to go ahead and move to one nap.

 

#3 – SEPARATION ANXIETY

Now, this is gonna sound incredibly harsh. When your child is 12 months, and then 18 months, they surge through separation anxiety. 

Oftentimes, what I’m looking at is your child is laying their head down on your shoulder for a few moments of cuddles right before you get them into bed and what can happen is that this moment of them laying their head down on your shoulder for a quick little snuggle, a quick little cuddle before you get them down in their bed, actually gives them the idea that they need you for their sleep. 

And that is not the case.

Your baby has not been using you as a mechanism for sleep. But this micro moment of your little one laying their head down on your shoulder gives them the idea that you have something to do with their sleep. 

So if you’ve been noticing that you lay your child just like you always have into their crib, you say goodnight and you leave the room and they start screaming, and it’s all of a sudden totally different, and you don’t know what’s happening, I would want to ask if they are having that moment of becoming sleepy on you before you get them in that crib. 

Essentially, what’s happening is that they’re looking for you to help them get sleepy and then you toss them in the crib and say goodnight and they’re like, whoa, I can’t do this myself! I needed you!

Sometimes a whole new prop is created at this age, because they’re looking for you to help get them sleepy again. 

So just be warned that if this is happening, that’s actually pretty normal. 

What I would want you to do instead is actually go through and put them in the crib and then walk around the room, turn the lights off, turn the sound machine on, then come over, say your say your goodnights, say I love you and leave the room. 

This doesn’t have to be like this forever. I’m not saying you can never cuddle with your child ever again. But I want you to note and be aware of the fact that at this age, it’s very common for your child to quickly start to associate you with helping them go to sleep if they’re allowed to have this time where they lay their head down on your shoulder for a small snuggle moment.

 

CONCLUSION

Here are the 3 things I want you to dig into if your baby turned one:

• At age 12 months, drop the bottle! They should be transitioning to sippy cups and the bedtime feed will be the last to go.
• Between 12-15 months old, your child is ready to transition down to one nap. Don’t rush into this if you don’t have to, but it’s time to drop the morning nap around this age.
• Resist the urge to snuggle during their separation anxiety so you don’t become a sleep prop!

If you have a one year old, I want to encourage you again by saying congratulations!! You made it, and we can continue to keep sleep a thing as your one year old continues to make huge growths and developmental changes this year!!

 

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