17 months, are these developmental wakings?

[Wiki]

Hi all,

Haven't posted for so long, Caspar is now nearly 17 months so this is my first time on a toddler-related board!

For the last month or so, we've been having him wake up literally every night (time always varies but between 12-5am usually) because he has seemingly tried to stand or walk in his sleep. He falls, thwacks his head, and screams for us. We got into a bad habit, ina way, of brining him in with us,where he goes to sleep pretty much straight away. Normally we then put him back in the cot. Thing is, now he starts screaming for us as soon as he wakes up, and won't settle (will scream for 30 mins with no noticeable calming) unless we do.

I'm mad at myself cos we did BW from 12 weeks, he self-settles for all naps and at bedtime, even at nursery he's fine, always has been. But now, this night time thing is a pain. But I've heard LOs can wake a lot for developmental reasons, and he's only been walking since Easter, so quite late. What's the best approach? PD has worked in the past.

His day:

6-7am Wake, 5oz cow's milk
8am Breakfast - home or nursery we keep to same time
11.30-12.30 Lunch
Sleep after lunch, usually 1.5-2.5 hours
4.30-5.30 Tea
6pm Dinner on nursery days (Wed-Fri) depending on hunger
7-8pm Bath, bottle, stories, bed

Any thoughts would be appreciated, might not be able to check again until tomorrow though!

Vic

[mari]

I think that pd and WO is your best approach but also an earlier bedtime might help as 8pm is quite late as he is up at 7am.  I'd go for something like this.


7am wake
12.30pm nap (2hrs hopefully)
7-7.30pm bedtime.

I know that it's not a huge difference, it's almost the same as yours, but that half an hour could make a huge difference.

I think that it is developmental so try not to do too much and make a big deal out of it, sorry if you are shattered and it is a big deal I know how hard it is, but you don't want to do any accidental parenting.

Also, if he has a short nap, do an  even earlier bedtime to help him catch up.
HTH

[Wiki]

Mari,

I'd really like to have an earlier bedtime but as he's in nursery 3 days a week (8am-6pm) we often don't get home until 6.15pm, so its hard to get him fed, have bath, stories and asleep by earlier than 7.30pm. I do try on the other days we are at home, its tough as he's now often awake at 6am, maybe time to put the blackout blinds up!

Last night he slept through, absolutely no sound, no standing, nothing, from 7.45-5.45, on half his normal milk and no dinner - go figure!

I will try for the earlier bedtime though, especially on days when nursery says he's only had an hour...its hard cos I want to spend time with him at night on those days I hardly see him!

Vic

[mari]

I know that it must be hard for mums who are out at work and trying to maintain a reasonable bedtime and wanting to see their babies after working all day.
Try to get your daycare to extend the naps as much as possible and enjoy your wind down time together and when you have him at home try to give an early bedtime to ensure that he can catch up.  At least try to get a happy medium.
Good luck.

[Wiki]

Thanks. Luckily at nursery he usually has 2-2.5 hours, I think he naps longest of all the babies. Some of the others only do 45 mins so I guess I am lucky in that respect. He's slept through the last 2 nights, so maybe we are seeing the end of the wakings...sometimes I swear BW has a real power, as by the time I post about a problem, suddenly the next day it disappears! 

[mari]

BW sleep vibes 

Wish they worked for me when I first posted.  It took ages for me to get to grips with the sleep training (no consistency on my part unfortunately!)  But when I got going there was no stopping us and thankfully the BW sleep vibes have been calling in this house ever since. 

Glad that it seems to be sorting out for you and glad that he sleeps well in daycare, that's half the battle.  Hopefully it was developmental.

[Wiki]

Unfortunately he now has a cough/cold/teething, so we are back to square one. Shame as he's been so healthy. Still, 3 sleep-throughs last week so there is hope!

Thanks for the advice,

Vic