Please help us get back on track (20mo)

[bobblesmum]

Hi all,

Any advice on how to get my overtired toddler back into a good routine, appropriate for his age? LO is nearly 20mo. Typical day:

5.15am Wake and milk (9oz) in cot
"Plays" in cot till 7am (gets v.grumpy though)
9am Breakfast
11.30am Lunch
12pm nap (goes down v.easily is exhausted)
1.30pm wake
2pm milk (0-6oz)
4pm Dinner
5.45pm snack
6pm bath, milk(6oz)
Asleep by 6.45pm
Wakes anywhere between 2-4am. Milk (7oz)


I know we have got into a bad habit of giving him milk in the night... but he seems genunely hungry and will gulp it in 2 mins flat. He is starving again by 5.15am! he seems to eat well in the day though.

He is very overtired and very prone to angry tantrums. He just seems tired all the time (rubbing eyes, whingy).

Any advice appreciated,

Gouri xxx
 

[Colin Macs Mom]

How long has he been doing that? It seems he's truly hungry, maybe it's a growth spurt?

Nice to see you around again, you avatar always makes me laugh 

[bobblesmum]

HI, Thanks for your reply,

The night feed has been going on for about 1 month and started after a very difficult teething period. What do you think about the early wake ups? Would a later nap help this?

its good to be back!

Gouri xxx

[brightside]

I tend to work on a 12 hour day so if he is waking up at 5.15 then I would definitely aim to have him asleep by 6pm. I have to do this sometimes with DS and it works really well. Sometimes he still wakes up early but at least he is rested. Or he wakes in the night for a while but then goes back to sleep and has time to sleep in and catch up without his whole day going too far off track. I would definitely do early bedtimes until the overtiredness cycle is over and then work on the bottle in the night. You know he doesn't really need it-don't you  You could also try an earlier nap time. When DS gets up very early he is often asleep by 11.30 and then I have to wake him at 2 to keep a reasonable bedtime of 7pm. Either way I work on 5 hours A time either side of the nap and that tends to work quite well. If he is really well rested, then he can go nearer 5.5 hours. GL

[Colin Macs Mom]

I'm afraid I don't know anything about early waking personally, that's one of the few problems Colin never had. But it seems from a lot of posts around here that early waking is often a sign of OT.