14-Month-Old Sleep Case Study: From Multiple Night Wakings & Bottles to 11–12 Hour Nights

At 14 months old, Naoise was waking multiple times during the night. When he woke, he often needed help from his parents to return to sleep — sometimes a bottle and sometimes having his back rubbed.

He was also regularly waking early in the morning, sometimes around 5am. A bottle would occasionally help him return to sleep until after 6am, but it had become part of the pattern his parents were relying on to extend the night.

His daytime sleep was also inconsistent. His one nap could start anywhere between approximately 12:30pm and 3pm, which meant his bedtime could vary significantly too.

His main sleep challenges were:

• Multiple night wakings

• Waking around 5am

• Needing a bottle to return to sleep overnight

• Needing parental support during some night wakings

• An inconsistent one-nap schedule

• A nap sometimes happening too late in the afternoon

• Long periods awake before bedtime

• A bedtime that was often too late

Interestingly, Naoise could already fall asleep independently at nap time and bedtime.

That was really important.

He already had the skill of settling himself to sleep. The difficulty was that he wasn't consistently getting the opportunity to use that skill when he woke during the night.

The Sleep Result After Two Weeks

Fast forward just two weeks and the difference was fantastic.

Naoise was:

• Sleeping approximately 11–12 hours overnight

• Settling much more easily at bedtime

• No longer relying on a bottle at every night waking

• Following a more consistent daytime sleep pattern

• Getting his nap at a more appropriate time

• Going to bed earlier

• Needing significantly less parental support overnight

So, what changed?

Why Was My 14-Month-Old Waking Multiple Times at Night?

When a toddler suddenly starts waking frequently overnight, it's very easy to focus entirely on what is happening during those wakings.

But when I work with a family, I look at the whole 24 hours.

For Naoise, I looked at:

• What time was he waking in the morning?

• When was his nap happening?

• How long was he sleeping during the day?

• How long was he awake between his nap and bedtime?

• What time was he actually falling asleep?

• How was he falling asleep initially?

• What happened when he woke overnight?

• Was he being fed when he woke?

• Was he being given enough opportunity to return to sleep independently?

There wasn't one single cause of Naoise's night waking. Instead, there were several pieces of his sleep that we needed to bring together.

1. 14-Month-Old Waking at 5am

One of Naoise's sleep challenges was early morning waking, sometimes as early as 5am.

His parents could sometimes get him back to sleep by offering a bottle, allowing him to sleep until after 6am.

The problem was that the bottle was beginning to become part of what Naoise expected when he woke early.

The early hours can be particularly challenging for babies and toddlers because by this point they have already had several hours of sleep and sleep pressure is naturally much lower.

That can make returning to sleep more difficult.

Rather than automatically treating 5am as morning, we worked on keeping these early wakes as close to nighttime as possible — dark room, minimal stimulation and giving Naoise an opportunity to return to sleep.

We also looked at the rest of his sleep because an early wake isn't something I assess in isolation.

2. Finding the Right 14-Month-Old Nap Schedule

Naoise had moved onto one daytime nap, but the timing of that nap was inconsistent.

Some days it could begin around 12:30pm, while on others it might not happen until much later — sometimes as late as 3pm.

For Naoise, we worked towards a more predictable nap opportunity time , while still considering his morning wake time and sleepy cues.

The aim was for him to get approximately 2–2.5 hours of good-quality daytime sleep, where possible.

The timing mattered too.

A long nap isn't necessarily helpful if it happens so late that it pushes bedtime out and changes the balance of the whole day.

By making Naoise's nap more predictable, we could also make bedtime more predictable.

3. Bedtime Was Too Late

Because Naoise's nap varied so much, the period between his nap and bedtime varied too.

On some days he was awake for too long after his nap and was very tired by bedtime. On other days, a late nap pushed bedtime much later.

This is why I don't look at bedtime as one completely separate part of a child's sleep.

Nap timing and bedtime work together.

4. Bottle to Sleep Association Overnight

Another important part of Naoise's sleep was the bottle.

Although he could fall asleep independently at the beginning of the night, a bottle had become one of the main ways he returned to sleep when he woke overnight or very early in the morning.

That distinction is important.

Naoise didn't necessarily need a bottle in order to initially fall asleep.

Instead, he had begun to expect it when he woke between sleep periods overnight.

When the same response happens repeatedly after waking, it can become part of the pattern a child expects in order to return to sleep.

For Naoise, we therefore worked on moving away from automatically offering a bottle when he woke and giving him an opportunity to use the settling skills he already had.

5. He Could Self-Settle — We Needed to Give Him the Opportunity Overnight

This was probably the most important part of Naoise's case.

At nap time and bedtime, Naoise could already settle himself to sleep.

So this wasn't really about teaching him a completely new skill.

It was about recognising:

He already knew how to do it.

When he woke overnight, his parents understandably wanted to get him back to sleep quickly. That could mean offering a bottle, rubbing his back or intervening before he had really had an opportunity to try to settle himself.

We started giving him more space and time before stepping in.

Over time, this gave Naoise the opportunity to use the independent settling skills he was already demonstrating at bedtime.

The Sleep Plan We Put in Place

Rather than changing one isolated part of Naoise's sleep, we worked on bringing his whole 24-hour sleep pattern into better balance.

• A More Consistent Morning
• A Consistent Midday Nap
• An Earlier Bedtime
• Separating the Bottle From Sleep.
• Giving Him the Opportunity to Return to Sleep

The Outcome: From Multiple Night Wakings to 11–12 Hour Nights

When Naoise's parents first contacted me, his sleep had been disrupted for approximately two months.

He was waking multiple times overnight, relying on a bottle or parental support to return to sleep and often waking around 5am.

His nap timing was inconsistent and bedtime was frequently falling later than was working well for him.

Fast forward just two weeks and Naoise was settling much more easily at bedtime and sleeping approximately 11–12 hours overnight.

The goal wasn't simply to remove his bottle or leave him to work things out alone.

We looked at the whole picture — morning wake time, nap timing, daytime sleep, bedtime and how his parents responded when he woke overnight — and made consistent changes across his day and night.

And because Naoise already knew how to settle himself to sleep, a big part of the process was simply giving him the opportunity to use that skill overnight too.

Looking for a Child Sleep Consultant in Ireland?

If frequent night wakings, early rising or overnight bottles are leaving everyone exhausted and you're not sure what to change, you don't have to work through every part of your toddler's sleep alone.

As a Certified Child Sleep Consultant, I work with families across Ireland to understand what's happening with their child's sleep and create an individual approach based on their child's needs and their family's preferences.

Looking for a Child Sleep Consultant in Ireland? Read more about how I work with families and the sleep support I offer.

Or, if you'd prefer to chat through what's happening first:

Book a FREE 15-minute Sleep Assessment Call and we can talk about what's happening with your child's sleep, what you're finding most difficult and whether I can help.