Almost 17 month old night wakings - unweaning

[Melissa0785]

I'm totally lost right now.  My daughter will be 17 months on the 10th and she has been completely night weaned for several months and sleeping through the night since somewhere after her 1st birthday... until now.  She goes down fine, but is up multiple times a night and will not go back to sleep until I nurse her.  Even then she often wakes up again, but nursing her is the only way to get her to lay back down. Last night she woke up at 11:45 and didn't fall back to sleep until almost 3am.  Once she finally crashes around 2-3am she sleeps until morning and I usually have to wake her at 7:30 or she'll sleep much later.  Her naps haven't been affected and she goes down at 12:30 and sleeps until 2:30-3:30.  She's cutting canines, but it doesn't seem to be affecting her during the day or at naps and I've been giving advil at night so I don't think teeth is an issue.

Any ideas? 

[jessmum46]

Could be the 18 month sleep regression.... (ugh)... Does she settle to sleep independently at bedtime?  Assuming her bedtime is somewhere in the 8pm zone (give or take - sorry I'm just guessing from what you wrote ) then her daytime routine looks fine and I wouldn't think that is the issue.  Usual advice for regression is just stick to your normal routine and ride it out.  Meds for teething are a good idea too   I would be very very careful about nursing at night though, that can be a very hard prop to break with a toddler  . How long has that been happening now?  Do you think there may be an element of re-sleep training needed? 

[Melissa0785]

Yes, she goes to sleep independently.  My husband was able to get her back down last night on her first wake up and that's been the first he's been able to do that in a few weeks.  The 2nd wake up he got her to lay back back down, but she stayed awake from 12:45-2:30 crying on and off for me.  I ended up going in there and rocked her and gave her a sippy with milk, but didn't nurse and she fell asleep.

What do I do during the extended wake ups? I think her schedule is OK so I don't know why she's waking up for so long.

[jessmum46]

I agree doesn't sound like a routine issue - which really leaves discomfort (for which you are giving meds - but fwiw meds did nothing here when DD was cutting 2y molars around that age) and developmental/sleep regression.  I would offer comfort but try not to start any habits you aren't willing to continue or put the effort into breaking.  So for us my mantra was always 'do the minimum' - so if extra cuddles or sitting for a few extra mins were needed, fine, but I wouldn't personally have taken DD to my bed or restarted feeding at night.  Unfortunately it may just be one of those phases you need to ride out for a while, sorry that's not much help but if it's not routine I think you are doing all you can xx