Split Nights: Why Your Baby is Wide Awake and Ready to Party in the Middle of the Night!

Have you ever found yourself awake in the middle of the night, watching your baby babbling away, moving about, or just lying wide-eyed in the cot?

Instead of quickly dozing back off, they’re ready to PARTAAY 🪩👯‍♂️ and you’re left wondering why they won’t just go back to sleep.

This frustrating phenomenon is commonly known as a split night - a period of prolonged wakefulness in the middle of the night, often lasting 1-3 hours before your child eventually falls back asleep. Unlike a typical night waking, where a baby or toddler briefly stirs and resettles, split nights involve full wakefulness where your child might want to play, chat, seem totally refreshed or eventually become frustrated and upset with the fact that they're still awake.

Split nights are common in babies and toddlers, but the good news is: they are fixable! Understanding why they happen is the key to getting everyone back to sleep.

What Causes Split Nights?

There are three primary reasons why split nights happen:

1. Too Much Daytime Sleep (Often Occurring Around Nap Transitions)

If a baby or toddler gets too much sleep during the day, it reduces their overall “sleep pressure” - the natural drive to sleep that builds throughout the day. When there isn’t enough sleep pressure at bedtime, they might go to sleep easily but wake up in the middle of the night, completely refreshed needing that extended wakeful period to build up enough sleep pressure to go back to sleep.

💡 Common scenarios that lead to too much daytime sleep:

• Too many naps for their age (e.g., a baby who still takes 3 naps when they should be on 2).
• Naps that are too long, especially late in the day (e.g., a long afternoon nap pushing bedtime too late).

🛠 How to fix it:

• Adjust daytime sleep: If your baby is getting excessive nap time, try reducing nap duration or adjusting awake windows. Following age appropriate routines can really help you keep track of your baby's evolving sleep needs and identify when a nap transition is needed.
• Stick to age-appropriate sleep totals: Example guidelines:
  • 6 - 9 months: ~ 2.5-3 hours total daytime sleep
  • 9 - 12 months: ~ 2.5 hours total
  • 12–18 months: ~ 2 hours total
  • 18+ months: ~1.5–2 hours total

2. Too Much Intervention at Night

Many well-meaning parents accidentally reinforce split nights by intervening too much when their baby wakes up. If your child wakes and finds the environment stimulating, it can actually reinforce long night wakings.

🚨 Common ways parents unknowingly encourage split nights:

• Picking baby up immediately
• Turning on lights (this signals to the brain that it’s time to get up)
• Offering a feed when it’s not needed (often trying to use the feed out of desperation to get them back to sleep rather for genuine hunger)
• Trying anything and everything to get them back to sleep - leading to frustration for all involved. 
• Admitting defeat by getting them up and taking them out of their room to play

🛠 How to fix it:

• Pause before intervening: If they're happy you don't need to do anything! Don't panic over the fact that they're awake. Let them be and see if they eventually go back to sleep on their own.
• Keep the environment dark & calm: If you need to check on them, try and keep the lights off and use a simple and consistent resettling method.
• Skip unnecessary feeds: Try to avoid introducing additional night feeds as a settling tool rather than for genuine hunger. Feeding involves the metabolic system which can reinforce habit wakes.

3. Developmental Milestones

Babies often experience temporary split nights when they reach big developmental milestones. Their brain is so busy processing new skills that it can interrupt their usual sleep cycles.

🧠 Common milestones that can cause split nights:

• Rolling, crawling, standing, walking
• Learning to babble or say words

💡 Signs it’s developmental:

• Your baby is practicing new skills in the cot at night.
• It resolves within a few days on its own.

🛠 How to fix it:

• Give them extra opportunity to practice during the day: Let them work on their new skills as much as possible during the day so they don’t feel the urge at 2am.
• Keep their bedtime routine predictable: This helps their brain recognise that nighttime is for sleeping, not playing.
• Be patient! Developmental sleep disruptions usually resolve on their own once the milestone is mastered.

How to Fix Split Nights: Summary of Step-by-Step Solutions

If your baby is struggling with split nights, here’s how to get sleep back on track:

✅ 1. Adjust Daytime Sleep Where Necessary

• Shorten or drop naps if your baby is getting too much daytime sleep.
• Make sure they're progressing with age appropriate awake windows or routines.

✅ 2. Avoid Over-Intervening at Night

• If your baby wakes, wait a few minutes before responding - if they're happy... stay out!
• If you need to go in, keep lights dim, voices low, and interactions minimal.
• If you've started offering a feed out of desperation but don’t think they actually "need" it, try gradually reducing night feedings.

✅ 4. Encourage Independent Sleep Skills

• If your baby relies on external intervention to fall asleep (feeding, rocking etc), try gentle sleep training techniques to help them self-settle so you can minimise the level of intervention needed.
• A consistent bedtime routine (bath, story, snuggles) signals to your baby that it’s time to sleep.

✅ 5. Help Your Baby Resettle During a Split Night

• Resist the urge to get them up and out of bed.
• Keep it dark, calm and quiet—this helps signal to your baby that it’s still night.
• If they’re happily babbling in the cot, let them be - they may resettle on their own.

Split nights can be frustrating, but they’re usually temporary and fixable! The key is to identify the cause, make small adjustments, and stay consistent!!!