Going on forever: 15mths old up for 2 hours every night

[Catharine]

Hi everyone,

I'm at a loss as to what to do. My dd is 15mths old has a good routine, naps (once a day for 2 hours) well & she's asleep at night by 8pm, but she is up from 1amish to 3amish every night. I've tired:

1. Leaving her until she cries for a few mins then going in (stops when I pick her up & rock her to sleep). However when I put her down she starts to clap her hands and talk jibberish, so I leave her & then she starts to cry & I let her cry for longer until it gets to 15mins then it works (she must be exhausted from all the crying). By then its almost been 2 hours anyway.

2. Patting her in her cot (she's very still & appears asleep but whinges the moment I stop patting her). It still takes 2 hours.

3. Give her a bottle (she's still up for 2 hours)


The patting is not working, my back is killing me from patting her for 2 hours. She's distrupting her own, dh's & my sleep every night and its not the way to live.

Up to this point I have not been consistent because I didn't want her to be upset but with a 2nd child you know that they can "train" us much as we can train them. At the moment if feels like I'm on reacting to her and not being proactive enough to teach her to settle on her own. I think I'll be ok with a gradual withdrawal method.

Any thoughts?


Thanks,

Catharine

[Layla]

Catherine, sounds like she's used to some sort of attention from you in the middle of the night, so I would stop the patting and the rocking or feeding (especially since they are all ineffective) and either do wi/wo or the gradual withdrawal method.

With gradual withdrawal, you sit by her side until she's asleep and then move towards the door every couple of days.... but if she's playing around or putting on a show for you, then I would probably go with the wi/wo method

Also wondering when she went down to 1 nap and maybe that nap is too early in the day or too late in the afternoon, which is causing these nightwakings? What does her daytime schedule look like? When does she wake & what time is the nap?

The inconsistency has probably not helped much... so from now on, I would pick a method & stick to it!

hth a little & let me know how you go
Layla

[Catharine]

Her routine is pretty consistent:

awake- 7am
breakfast & milk- 7.30am
snack- 9.30am
nap- 11.30am
awake- 1.30pm
lunch- 1.45pm
snack- 3pm
dinner- 5.30pm
snack- 6.30pm
bath - 7.30pm
bottle & bed - 8pm

She sleeps through to 1amish and that's when it all starts.

I've been thinking about pushing the nap to later around noon & give her lunch before but she's gets so cranky & tired when I've tried it.

[Layla]

Catherine, I think she's awake for waaay too long in the pm. 7hrs is quiet a long time for a 15mo.. so I would start pushing out that nap until her A time is close to 5-5.5hrs and no more than 5.5hrs before bedtime

So your day would look something like this:

7am - awake
12.30-2.30 - nap
7.30pm - bedtime

Try adding 15-20mins every couple of days but in the meantime put her to bed for the night earlier.... no later than 7pm until her nap is closer to the middle of the day!

hth & let me know how things are going
Layla