NIGHT WAKINGS AT 17MTHS

[wilkes]

My LO's sleep pattern has completely gone crazy and we just don't know how to deal with it / rectify it.  He is 17mths old and the night wakings have been going on for months.  Some nights he will sleep through and some other nights he will be waking up for about 1 - 3 hrs at a time. We tried the controlled crying method but withdrew this as he made himself physically sick and it frightened the hell out of me, so we adopted the method of sitting in his room with our back to him and our head is down and eventually he will go back to sleep. (I understand that this reassures him that we are there)  Will this phase pass or have we gone completely wrong somewhere along the line, because he used to sleep through and wake up a happy bunny and now it's not happening. I have noticed that when he is at homes with us he will sleep a lot better in the day and at the night, so could he be constantly overtired from nursery? His routine is as follows, bearing in mind he is at nursery full time:-

wakes up 6.00am
Breakfast / milk 7.00am
Lunch 11.30 / 11.45am
Sleep 12.15 (only will sleep 30Min's at nursery)
snacks 3.00pm
Dinner 5.15pm
Bath 6.30pm
Bed 7 / 7.15pm

At what age does a child stop having a sleep in the daytime? If anyone could help me it would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Kimberly®]

I would say overtiredness is a BIG factor. 30 minutes is just not enough daytime sleep. What does the daycare do to help him sleep longer? he really needs it. LO's need daytime sleep till they are close to three, even after three for many. Your LO is way to young not to have a nap.

[Layla]

I agree with Kimberly. The av nap time is 1.5-2 hrs so he really needs a longer nap. I would actually bring the bedtime forward, to even 6pm for about 4 days to let him catch up on sleep and this might even extend the nap length. Don't be afraid that he will wake at 4am ready to start the day. The more sleep he gets at the front end of the night, the better rested he will be.

If he does wake at night, I would use wi/wo or pd. Here's a link to sleep training methods for toddlers: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63896.0

It must be really hard especially if he's not sleeping well at the nursery and he's there full time. If they cannot successfully extend his nap, he should definitely be going to bed for the night earlier than 7pm

Good luck & let us know how it goes
Layla