18 mth old sleep issues!

[sianie]

Hi all!

Any thoughts from any you on a recent problem would be much appreciated!!

Our 18 mth old daughter (who has slept through the night pretty much since 6mths old) has started either resisting going to bed and/or waking during the night .....when she starts crying we don't rush in (previously when she has woken in the night she either chats to herself or cries out and then puts herself back to sleep). She is put down to sleep awake around 7pm-ish and usually sleeps through til 7am. Last night it took us 2 hrs to get her to go to sleep (we did PD as she stands up in her cot), as soon as we went to put her down/ leave the room she grew hysterical. Weirdly, her daytime naps don't (as yet!) seem to be affected, she has 1 2hr nap between 12 ish and 2 ish.

Although this issue doesn't seem to happen every night it is becoming more and more frequent over the last few weeks.

If anyone has gone through a similar issue it would be great to hear from you!!

[jordiwes]

It seems like it could one of two things to me:
1. Teeth. Have you tried giving her pain meds before bed?
2. Decrease of sleep needs. 14 hours in 24 is quite a bit for this age, but you know best. Can you push the nap to 12:30-2:30 and have bed time at 7:30 or 7:45 to see if that changes anything?

[clazzat]

In our house that sort of refusing to go to bed would definitely mean OT - is she going through a growth spurt or making some big developmental leaps at the moment?  Could also be teething - the combination of discomfort and needing a bit more sleep could be causing it.  Perhaps if pp's suggestion doesn't work you could try a slightly earlier bedtime (maybe 6.45) to see if that helps.