NWs - 18 month sleep regression or routine tweak needed?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Yeah I am the same...so much easier to not have them walk - E has finally taken to climbing out of the cart at the store and wanting to walk while we shop. DH usually takes the kids out after supper and at daycare they go out a lot but I am dreading winter!  With a night that short I think capping is at least worth a try.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Hmmm...  I don’t know where we are at the moment.  I’ve been capping J’s nap to 30 minutes for 3 days now, and simultaneously pushing bedtime back 15 minutes to 7.30 in the hope that he’ll shift his WU to closer to 6.  I’m not sure how it’s going…  The first and third day he’s woken up at the same sort of time as usual, thereby only doing about a 10 hour night, which is a bit shorter than usual.  But the second day he slept til 6.10, doing about a 10.5 hr night, which is a bit longer than he was.  The NWs have stopped, so I guess there is some improvement, but I kind of expected WU to have shifted by now.  I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but the day before we got the later WU, he had lots of physical activity, but I can't fit that amount into every day as standard....

What do you think?  His mood is good, right up til bedtime.  Do you think he could be UT at bedtime still?  Should I try and cap further?  I kind of thought I might give it a full week of 30 minute naps and the later bedtime, but do you think that’s worth trying or would I already have seen an improvement by now if I was going to?

I’m also thinking his last molars are on the move and when the last lot and his canines came through we had short naps and EWs, no matter what I did.  I’m half wondering it’s worth capping at all it if it’s teeth.  I guess I won’t really know if it’s teeth or the 1-0 unless I try some things out!  Any thoughts on next steps?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I think I would hold at the 30 min nap for a week or maybe even two so long as his mood is good. 10/10.5 straight restful hours might be enough for him...E does great on her short nights if they are unbroken sleep vs broken by nw's.

As for physical activity - we are looking at ways to do more inside so when winter hits we have some options there, like a small slide, tiny trampoline and those fabric tunnels. E's xmas list will be all things like that!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

OK, will do, thanks.  As it happens, nursery let him nap for 1hr 10 yesterday so he probably caught up on all that missed sleep in a nap instead of seeing if it pushes over into his nights    But his mood was exactly the same as it has been on a 30 minute nap, and he still did exactly the same night (with the addition of a brief NW at 4 which we don't get with the capped naps), so it might be that nap length isn't having a massive impact on his nights anyway.  I need a good run of capped naps really to see if any tiredness builds up and affects his nights at all.  I'm still wondering if teething is causing the EW, in which case I just need to find the napping approach which at least doesn't give us NWs as well. 

At least these are the last molars and he tends to do them all in one go, and then we're done with teething FOREVER!!!!     Although by the time that's over I suspect we'll be well into the 1-0, so I'm not getting excited about lie-ins yet....  They're coming one day though....  One day....

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Hahaha! Hopefully we will get lie ins when they are teenagers at least! Argh to daycare, but I guess knowing that it resulted in the same night is something at least.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Things are looking up here I think.... After 5 days of capping at 30 minutes we finally got a lie in til 6.30am And even better he's done 10hr 45 minute nights since.  I'm hoping it sticks - til he changes again, anyway!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Yay! Hope it lasts for a good long while!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Me too Though he's still fighting naps a bit,  so I feel NNDs coming soon....  Mind you, some days at nursery he's only napping 15 minutes and then doing a normal bedtime and good 11hr night so we're nearly there anyway.