19 mth dd in sleep spiral

[joannerose01]

Hi everyone,
I am finally admitting I need some help. I am sick of people telling me this is a "stage" and that she will grow out of it!!
My daughter is 19 months and has always needed her sleep, showing very clear tired signs. However after a bout of toddler virus's she is completely out of routine and I don't know what else to try - it has been a couple of months.
She is waking between 4.45am - 5.45am
Needing a nap around 10am which is getting shorter (was 1hr15, now 45mins)
Second nap around 2ish (usually a little over an hour)
Bed by 7pm

I have tried a later bed time (disaster), later single nap (11-12) but she just can't last and will still only sleep an hour. I have tried w2s twice but she seems to be sleeping so lightly that if I make the smallest sound she is awake and screaming. I have watched my angle/textbook baby turn from a great sleeper into a tightly wound up toddler. I know when I have broken my own rules and had her nap with me she has slept longer, deeper and woken up happy. Help!!!

Jo - Sophie's tired Mum

[catty47]

Ah 19 months - same as mine and boy are we having problems!

I would definitely move her bedtime much earlier - this is one of the ways of helping them sleep longer - you should find lots of threads on here about dealing with early risings.  I would give her tea at 5pm, heading for bath, story and bedtime by 6.30 or even earlier.

I would also gradually move her naptime later by maybe 15 minutes a day (I think I need to do this with mine - she woke at 4.30 this morning and never went back!  Absolutely pooped by 9am, but I managed to stretch her out till 10.30am!).  That way hopefully you will even out the distances between sleeps.  I do think that the early nap just encourages my daughter to wake up earlier in the morning, and makes a horribly long gap between nap and bedtime.

Try an earlier bedtime, maybe even 6pm - you'd be surprised how much difference it can make, but check out the threads on here for more advice too...

Hope this helps - I'm no expert - with an 11 week old and the 19month old I have really got my work cut out!

[Lana]

Like the pp said I would move bedtime up for now, like 6:30 or 6pm.

If she is waking that early I would do a 45min to 1 hour nap at 10 and then another nap at 2 for as long as sshe will nap. 

Is she going to sleep on her own?

[Florencia]

Hi Jo!

I'm gonna have to disagree with Lana and suggest you to go cold turkey with Sophie and try one nap a day. I know you mention you've tried this in the past with no sucess but she's old enough to be just in one nap a day and this might be part of why is she showing so wacky sleep cues.

So my first suggestion is going with an early bedtime and if she still wakes early (before 6 am) just offer a super early and brief catnap no later than 9 am. This catnap must not last longer than 30 mins and its purpose is only help Sophie to hold through a long morning without getting overtired. The goal is to have her napping around midday. The first few days she might nap shortly (1 hour or less) and that's ok cause her body will be adjusting to her new schedule. Keep the early bedtime as this lasts and when she's finally waking a bit later (say 6 am in the morning) stop offering the early catnap. To help her hold through the day offer high calorie snacks or even early lunch at her usual naptime (around 10 am) to boost her energy. You might be surprised that you won't need more than a couple of days to get her used to longer activity times. If you keep consistant with this new routine, she will start sleeping longer for her nap, and be really tired to sleep a good stretch.

Trying this schedule for over a week will let you try W2S with more success than in the past. I understand it is not working now due to her being overtired and hence having light sleep phases. We have to work with her body clock to make W2S work in the future.

Let me know what you think of this. Post back with additional questions or info on your case. HTH and good luck!

[joannerose01]

Florencia and all those who replied thank you so much. I have been offline the past few days and have been very anxious to see any advice. Florencia, I had a hunch that pushing her to one sleep would be the answer and over the past few days I have really tried to build up her day sleep (having her nap with me for a two hour stretch). Today she woke at 6.15 (Yeah) and I pushed her through to 11.30. She then slept in her bed for 1hr45mins (a record). I will put her to bed at 6.30 tonight and see what tomorrow brings. If she wakes early I will try the early catnap idea. I am lucky that she goes down without a drama and resettles herself overnight. I will keep you all posted on progress.

[Florencia]

So, how things have been going??? i hope everything's ok. Waiting to hear from you!