My son was around 3 years old before he started sleeping through the night and it liked to have drove me crazy. When my daughter came along 5 years later I said that I wasn't go to go through that. When she first came home from the hospital I made the decision to only get up to feed her and then put her back to bed and that is what I did. I didn't play with her and I didn't give her a chance to even start that. When she got a little older she would be in her bed playing in the dark but, I didn't get her out of the bed for ANYTHING other than to give her a bottle or to change her diaper. It worked for me.
If I were you I would not let my 1 year old get out of bed after you put him/her down for the night. If he/she wakes up just let them know that you are there but, don't get them out of bed unless they need a new diaper and then put them right back to bed. It wont take very long to realize that you aren't going to get them up soon if they wake up they will just lay there until they go back to sleep and you wont be woken up again. Granted this will be VERY hard for the first week or so but, it really wont take all that long for them to realize they aren't going to be able to get up and they will stop trying to do so. Take it from me.......Put the law down now because if you let them get away with things like getting up in the middle of the night now that only leads to bigger things later and soon you will have my problem and honey you don't even want that......I wish you luck and I hope that it works for you.
When they are small I always made sure there was a difference between bed time and daytime naps. Have a bedtime routine, bath story cuddles and sleep. I always let them go to sleep without being cuddled off. Give lots of cuddles but not hold them till they fall asleep, that way if they wake in the night they are more able to go back to sleep without having to be cuddled off to sleep. Also night time for sleep, i.e.if they wake dont start playing with them, dont take them out of their bedroom, keep your voice soft and conversation to a minimum. As soon as they are old enough dont give drinks if they wake up and learn to be firm. Give minimum comfort, nappy change or whatever, say goodnight and leave the room. Leave for 5 minutes and repeat process until they realise there is nothing to wake up for and nothing exciting if they do wake up. I know this sounds harsh but it doesnt mean you cant give plenty of cuddles and fun during the day when it is appropriate. I have three kids aged 13,10 and 7 and this process worked for me. Hope it helps, PS Dont ever take them into your bed as a quick fix solution coz this causes lots of problems with sleeping on their own in the long term.
