Please can someone give me an opinion on what is going wrong?

[sherilee]

Hi everyone

I have a problem with my 18 month old. He goes down like a dream for his afternoon sleep but just recently his bedtime is a nightmare. He gets up at 7-7.30 ish and naps from 1-1.30 til 3/3.30 and like I said, is wonderfull. I put him in his sleeping bag, give him a sip of juice and a cuddle and then he goes in the cot and I leave the room. He chatters for a few minutes and then goes to sleep. Bed time is about 7.30 and he screams for up to an hour. He has not had a dummy since he was 4 months but lately goes crazy as soon as I take his bedtime bottle from him. I thought it was teething but he has all his teeth now. I really don't want to start giving him a dummy at this age! After all the hoo har he usually sleeps through but has had a cold since Friday and now is up loads but the bedtime trauma has been going on for weeks even when he wasn't ill. I just dont know what is going on!

Please can someone help?

Thanks

Sherilee

[jana224]

Hi Sherilee
Could it be that he's not ready for bed, and thus wants some sort of comfort item to be with him in his bed?  The reason I say that is that it looks like he's awake for around 6 hours before his afternoon nap, but only awake 4 hours after his afternoon nap...  If he can do 6 hours A time in the morning, he might be resisting that 7:30pm bedtime because he's not quite tired yet.  If that is the case, what about a 12:30-2:30pm nap?  Or limiting the nap to 1.5 hours?  Just some thoughts.