Another 2 Year regression question!

[Jazzandh]

I have followed the previous threads on the apparent 2 year regression and my DS is showing all the symptoms (2 next week!)

All four 2 year molars almost through - no obvious symptoms during the day. Consecutive colds - but no night time distress or much in the way of daytime issues other than a slight runny nose.

He is low sleep needs and prior to this was on the following

A         6am
Nap     12.30 - 2.30 (I wake)
BT (asleep immediately) 8pm

I have never got much more than 10 hours overnight with either DS. He rarely wakes in the night - the occasional cry out if overtired - his default is early waking and starts with 9.75 nights and gradually gets earlier regardless of whether he is OT or UT!

For the past month he has been doing more 9.75 nights, so wake-ups earlier but naps until last couple of days have been solid - no problems.

He is now crying when I put him down for his nap, crying out half way through, but resettling. Previously I would wake him after 2 hours but now he is waking and crying himself at that point.

He is unhappy at bedtime "no like sleep byes...don't like it"......and when he wakes in the morning - is up and crying immediately - whereas previously he would chatter for a while.

Yesterday - he finally settled for nap at 1pm, so I woke him after 1.75 hours and put him to bed 5.25hrs later thinking his nap may be too long and bringing bedtime forward by 15 minutes. He was up after 9.75 hours last night at 5.40am

So I suppose I am looking for advice.... did you just get through this regression and then possibly tweak afterwards, or did it settle back down to a similar pattern.

I have tried keeping nap to 2 hours and bringing bedtime forward in case he is overtired - but again this results in shorter nights.

When I have cut nap back he wakes earlier so I think he still needs the long nap.

I just don't know whether to tweak or just get through it with minimal intervention and hope that we return to something approaching normal the other side. His awake times are long - initally due to neccessity but he has been doing them for a long time now so I think he is used to them, and it would seem a lot to push them out further...or would it?

Thanks if you have followed all this!!!

[clairebear79]

The 4 molars coming through is likely to be having an impact, often they can suffer more at night & so if they wake in the early hours & are in pain (b/c all meds will have worn off by then) they are less likely to go back to sleep.  So you might find once the teeth are cut things settle a little.

We did have a rough patch at around 22 months (I think 2yr regression related) where DS was resisting naptime & bedtime & waking earlier, or waking in the night.  We tweaked & tried a shorter nap since it seemed 2hrs may be a bit long but like you, we found a shorter (capped) nap meant shorter nights so we also had to stick with a longer nap. 

One thing we definitely did find helped, was pushing his nap later to a consistent 1pm start.  DS went from doing a routine identical to your DS's, to this:

Up: 7am
Nap: 1-3/3.30 (he wakes naturally, but if he's still sleeping at 3.30pm I wake him or it affects bedtime)
BT: 7.50pm
Asleep: 8/8.30 (typically by 8.10pm)

We found that even though his nap is later & long, he still settles well at BT & now wakes nearer to 7am rather than 6am (so he actually gets more sleep at night).  He is still doing this routine now at 2yrs 2 months.

We found that the rough patch suddenly settled back down again after a few weeks, and the resistance & NW stopped, so if you hang in there you might find the same happens.  I suspect your nights may stay short though, unless you push the nap later. 

[Jazzandh]

Thanks Claire, I know you have had success with this nap push and I am trying to get there. Have got to about 12.40pm and may have had slight success, but then all this hit and I can't see the wood for the trees any more!

He settled for his nap today without a peep, but has woken after 1.5hrs and wouldn't go back off.

I think he has well disguised OT (fine during the day) so I will go for an earlier bedtime. I daren't go much earlier than asleep for 7.15pm. I am just always terrified of a super early wake-up iykwim! I am used to 5.30am (have been getting up for nearly 8 years early with DS1) but 5am is just too early especially as at the moment he is waking up hysterical!

Having said that - sometimes it seems to relate more to the actual bed TIME rather than how long since the end of nap - so 7.15pm is early for him....

ho...hum!

[clairebear79]

Oh bless.  I agree he could well be OT, esp given you saying he wakes up miserable in the mornings, but the reason I had not suggested EBT is that IME while it certainly does address OT, it doesn't always address the root cause of the problem i.e. his nights are likely short because the nap is too early.  So he may catch up a bit, only to start EWing again in another few days IYSWIM?

I would def give it a try, esp as he has short napped today (I do this too :-)) & see how he fares over the next few days, & if he's waking a bit later you could look to push the nap on a bit. 

IKWYM about earlier BT's being scary but I have to admit on the odd day my DS has done a no nap day (we're getting a few of those now) he goes to bed at 6pm & sleeps through til 7am so it really does work!  Good luck.x