What's happened to my good sleeper??????

[Liza]

Hello,

My dd is 19 months old, and up until this week, she has always been a good sleeper, going down without a fuss and sleeping through most of the time.  However, this week, she has started really crying at bed time.  There has been no change to routine/daily life etc.  She wakes anywhere between 6am and 7am, has a nap at 12.30pm for between 2 and 3 hours (depending upon how tired she is, and goes to bed between 7pm and 7.30pm, depending uon when she woke from her nap.

Like I said, now she has started crying at nap time and bed time, and it has been lasting about  30-45 mins.  I have been doing walk in/walk out every 5 mins.

I am getting really upset with it as I have no idea what has caused her to suddenly start screaming at bed time.  Is this normal at this age?  Does anyone have any ideas, or solutions???

Thanks very much for your help
xxx

[becky1969]

18 months is a common age for sleep troubles.  It may be the canines starting to come in.  Those buggers are even worse than the molars for most kids, and the pain starts long before the teeth are visible.

You might try some pain meds before nap and if that doesn't work, then I'd try putting down for nap about 15-30 minutes earlier.  Often when kids are teething it can really make them more tired than normal.

Alternatively, she may be ready to stretch her A time! The time before nap looks really good for her age, but perhaps she usually has longer A times than most? If that describes your DD, then after you've experimented with the teething angle above you can try extending morning and afternoon A time by 15 minutes every couple of days and see where it gets you.

But my money is on the teeth/being OT.  That is usually what we see at the 18-20 month range.

Let me know which it is!

[Liza]

Hello,

Thanks very much for your reply.  She does already have her canines - she only has the last 4 molars to go, so it could be those - I'll try the meds option, but once she is asleep, she is sleeping through, and normally if she is teething, her whole nights sleep is disturbed.

As for the A time, if we are out and about in the buggy or car in the morning, she falls asleep, even if we are out as early as 9.30am, so does that mean she is tired, or do you think it is just the rocking motion that sends her off.  The problem is, if she has a nap in the buggy or car, even just 1/2 hour, it seems to revive her enough not to want to have her proper nap, and she might end up just having that 1/2 hour, and then I put her to bed about 6pm.  This isn't very often, but sometimes is unavoidable.

For her bed time routine, we have bath, book and the play her musical bear whilst we have a cuddle.  Before I used to be able to put her in her cot and she would just lie there until she drifted off (usually max of 10 mins), but now she just screams.  The other day she fell asleep in my arms whilst the musical bear was playing, but as soon as I moved her she opened 1 eye and started screaming, whereas before she would just close her eyes again and go to sleep in her cot.

I'm not sure what to do for the best - should I just carry on with wi/wo (it was 45 mins last night)

Thanks again xxx

[becky1969]

Yes, if she's falling asleep in buggy or car she's tired.  By the time a child is a toddler, they don't fall asleep in car/buggy unless they are genuinely tired.  And you'll find over the next few months that no matter HOW tired she is, she probably won't sleep in car/buggy at all!   

I suspect she's OT which is why you're getting protest at bedtime.  Try 30 minutes earlier.  The other thing that *may* be happening is SA (separation anxiety).  BIG SA phases hit at 12 and 18 months.  We've got stickies about SA in the FAQ section you can check out.  But I still put my money on being OT, esp. if she's falling asleep at 9:30 in the car.  She's probably just fighting those molars and it's making her sleepy; or she may be going thru a growth spurt.  Molars, BTW can take ages to come in.  So even though you're not seeing them yet doesn't mean they aren't moving around in her mouth and causing disruption.

[Liza]

Thanks very much for your reply.  I tried the meds last night, but it didn't make any difference.  I think that it might be seperation anxiety perhaps then, if this is a big thing at 18 months.  I'll take a look at the FAQ. 

Do you think I should carry on with wi/wo every 5 or so mins, or is there something else I should do?  Actually, perhaps that question is answered in the FAQ section.

Thanks again, it's really nice just to be able to talk to other people sometimes and realise that you're not the only one who goes through it xxx

[becky1969]

You might still try an ealier bedtime just for kicks.  Sometimes a growth spurt will make them sleepier than normal. 

Yes, check out the FAQ for how to proceed when SA is playing a part.