Confessions of a Sleep Consultant: My Toddler's Sleep Went Off the Rails Last Night

My little non-sleeper. Very cute when it's not 3 am.

Last night was one for the books. My daughter, Valentina, who’s newly 20 months old, decided sleep was optional from 12 to 4 a.m. Yep, the sleep consultant’s child was wide awake. The irony isn’t lost on me.

It wasn’t her typical wake-up, either. Every few minutes, she’d let out a single cry—just one—and then go silent. This went on for over an hour.

Finally, I went into her room to investigate. I figured maybe she was too warm since she was wearing a fleece sweater (it’s freezing here in San Miguel, and we don’t have central heating). Removing it helped briefly, but soon enough, the crying resumed.

Next, I enlisted my partner (who managed to sleep through most of the commotion) to check her diaper. Nothing.

By 2 a.m., desperation set in, and I broke one of my own rules—I brought her into our bed. Shh, don’t tell anyone! We’ve bedshared a couple of times recently while traveling, but only for short stretches and only because she’s older now. (For the record, I don’t recommend this with infants!)

She tried to settle, bless her heart. But “trying” involved flopping onto me every few minutes like a tiny gymnast, then flopping back into the middle of the bed, followed by some delighted babbling. Needless to say, neither of us was sleeping. (Unbelievably,  my partner had no trouble snoozing through most of this.)

So back to the crib she went. Same story: intermittent cries, no resolution. And the cries were starting to escalate. 

At 4 a.m., I caved and gave her some milk. I’ll admit, I don’t recommend that either, but at that point, I was running on fumes.

What Happened Here?

In hindsight, I’m pretty sure this was a classic case of a “split night.”

Split nights happen when a child gets too much daytime sleep, disrupting their nighttime rest. Unlike waking due to hunger, bad dreams, or separation anxiety, split nights often involve a child who’s perfectly content being awake—sometimes even ready to party if given the chance.

Here’s what likely led to our split night: Valentina is transitioning from two naps to one, which means her nap schedule is still in flux. Yesterday, her first nap started late, pushing her second nap too close to bedtime. She fell asleep easily at bedtime but had this prolonged, bizarre waking in the middle of the night.

The Game Plan

To course-correct, we let her sleep in until 7:30 a.m. today (when she woke up naturally) and skipped the morning nap entirely. Normally, she’d be cranky by 9:30 a.m., but thankfully, she wasn’t. She powered through, increasingly bleary-eyed, until 12 p.m., when she went down for a single, mid-day nap.

Fingers crossed this helps us all get a better night’s sleep tonight.

What About Your Sleepless Nights?

If your little one is pulling their own version of Valentina’s split night (or has any other sleep challenge keeping you up), I’m here to help.

Let’s figure out what’s going on and create a plan that works for your family. Schedule a free consult today, and I promise you’ll be sleeping soundly within two weeks—guaranteed. Click here to book your free consult.