What went wrong?

[deckchariot]

nolejen - I had the same issues when we tried option 1 - and I stuck with it for a week, but Abby was having none of it.  So if you want, try it for another day or two (keep doing early bedtime) and see if he starts taking a pm nap.  If not, you may want to go with option 2.  How's today going?  In terms of the 2nd A time, if the am nap is short, then the idea is that the 2nd A time is shorter as well.  It may not work for your guy, so it's ok to go the other way.

cooper's mommy - if it's teeth, not a whole lot you can do other than try to relieve the pain - we use Hyland's teething tablets + tylenol or ibuprofen (tylenol day and ibuprofen at night).  Usually it's only 3-5 days that it's really bad.  Also, around 18 mos, sleep needs do go down a bit, so he may be headed in that direction (I know, sad to see sleep decrease....).  I never had luck going back to 2 naps, we tried it a couple times when she was sick, and it was a bust, so I personally never try that anymore

[nolejen]

J was up from 6:30-11:30 and was a happy camper the entire time. He then took a 2 hour nap. We let him wake up on his own. I don't know if he will take a pm nap or not. I guess it is worth a catnap try. If not, we'll probably  go with an early bedtime. Is that the right thing to do?

We also use the teething tablets and ibuprofen at night, esp if he wakes up in the middle of the night. We use clove oil mixed with olive oil to rub on his gums before bed. But I dont think I would do that in the middle of the night. He hates the taste and would probably wake him up more.

[coopers_mommy]

Hey nolejen - that is amazing for such a wonderful day so far!  Good job on the first nap, I think that you will reap great benefits from doing it like that. You could def try a second catnap, although dont' be discouraged if it doesn't happen.  I think on a day like this, a 6:30 bedtime would be great, unless you LO isn't quit there yet. 

Thanks for the advice on Cooper.  We'll just have to wade through this one like we did with everything else.    Thankfully he is in no pain when he goes to sleep and hasn't shown too many other signs of pain.  It's jsut the dang earlier waking. 

What does a normal 18 month old day/night look like (how many hours of sleep?)?  Should I cut the sleep at night or nap then?  I would hate to push his bedtime back even more (to 8?). 

[Sarahboosmom]

Hi I just want to add that when my DD was 10/11 months we were on the same path as you.  It took us until about 15-16 months to get into a solid 1 nap routine.  So it is a rocky road and option 2 was the only way to go for us.  DD HATES and I mean HATES being woken up from her sleep.  So doing option 2 with an EARLY bedtime (sometimes 5:30 pm!) worked well.  She usually would still wake up at the same time.

Yes there were days that she was just a complete crank but you get through it and eventually it works out.  Just don't give up!  Some days though she just had to have two naps adn still slept well, it was a balancing act.  Add into the mix that she went to day care 5 days a week where I had no control over the schedule and I only had weekends to work on it.

It is possible and it sounds like you are in that phase!  Good luck!  It will get better.  The other day you described was PERFECT!  Keep it up and don't focus too much on one part of the day going well versus the other.  Get happy over the small things.  A LONG nap is a great success and something to be happy about.  Don't focus too much on things that go wrong in a day or else you will be tweaking too many things at once.  Just focus on one thing at a time and keep doing it and the rest will fall into place I assure you.


The links to the threads that deckchariot gave you are AWESOME.  I LIVED on those during that time.  good luck!

[nolejen]

J didn't take an afternoon nap. We put him down at 6:30 (an early bedtime) and he went right down. Yay!! Another successful day. I love the little victories.

[coopers_mommy]

Good job nolejen!  You are really making great progress! 

DS was up for 2 hours last night in pain I assume.  His gums look pretty swollen today and only napped for 1:20.  It's an early bedtime tonight and I pray a normal wakeup tomorrow!

[deckchariot]

YAY nolejen - sounds like you're doing great!!!

sarahboosmom - thanks for your input  - Abby sounds just like your dd in terms of being woken up Glad to hear you navigated things well!!!

so sorry for Cooper's pain - if it makes you feel any better, Abby's had NWs the last 3 nights - she's cutting 3 teeth at the same time.  Another mom suggested to me that she gives tylenol when she puts her bub to bed and then does  "dream med" of ibuprofen when she goes to bed and that gets her dd through til morning.  So I think we're trying that with Abby tonight to see.

[coopers_mommy]

We have been giving Cooper ibprofen before bed, along with orajel and teething tablets (a little over the top I know!).  I thought about somehow doing a medicine in the middle of the night although have been scared that I'll end up waking DS too much and then it'll start a horrible cycle.  We might do that though.  He has been waking at 5:45 religiously for the last 2 mornings.  He went back down yesterday till 7, but this morning only slept till 6:30.  Bad nap today too....so I'm thinking an early bedtime it will be for tonight! 

Let me know how the "Dream med" goes.  I may be interested in doing that!

[deckchariot]

we actually forgot to try the dream med, she woke at 1:30 and back to bed in about 30 min, and the last 2 nights she's sttn - YAY!!!  Teething is just a nightmare!  And I don't think your med routine is over the top at  all  - that's what we do too

Forgot that you asked about a "normal" 18  mos routine....it's usually a 2 hr nap and 11.5 hrs at night.  Abby still gets a bit more than that.  Her routine is:

7:30 - wake (anywhere from 7-8 usually)
12:30/1 - nap (been closer to 1 lately)
3:30/4 - wake (been closer to 3:30 lately)
7:30/8 - bedtime

somedays, she even goes down at 1:30...so I suspect we're headed towards:

7:30 - wake
1:30 - nap
3:30 - wake
8 - bedtime

which looks like a pretty good routine to me, so I'm ok with that.  I'm not waking her from anything, just going with the flow...so I wouldn't cut Cooper's sleep unless you think the NWs are due to too much day sleep (but it looks like it's teething).

hth
michelle

[coopers_mommy]

The first routine was how we were going for  a few weeks there.  Dang teeth!  Cooper woke up last night but went back down after about 40 minutes.  The bad thing is that DH was doing WIWO to know avail.  He might have finally conked back out, but DH felt so bad if Cooper was in that much pain from his teeth that DH rocked him!  Part of me was happy bc we went back to sleep faster, but then I am a bit worried he'll get used to it.  I guess we'll have to wait and see once the teeth finally come in. 

Thanks for the routines.  I'd be happy with either if the naps and night sleep were solid! 

[deckchariot]

teething is just something to get through - we use a bit of AP then too, and sometimes we have to wean her off it with wi/wo, and other times, she bounces back just fine.  hang in there!!!!  Just do the best you can to keep to his "usual" routine and keep up with the teething meds.

nolejen - how are you getting on ?

[nolejen]

I have sooooooooo missed this forum. It has all gone to crap. Absolute crap. A week and a half ago, Jared woke up at 3 am signing "all done" and bouncing up and down. He refused to go to back to sleep, no matter what we did or gave him (we tried teething meds, gas meds). He didn't nap until 2 :30 that afternoon for 2 hours. He then went to bed at 7 but screamed for an hour. Ever since then it has been a nightmare.

He will scream, bounce up and down, play, roll around in his crib for an hour to an hour and a half every night. It doesn't seem to matter what time he went to bed, how many naps he has had, nothing matters. We have tried early bed times, later bedtimes, one nap, two naps. But still, he is up for an hour to an hour and a half. He is up every morning around 5:30-6. I am planning on trying wake 2 sleep tonight.

I have no idea what happened and what to do. Any advice?

[deckchariot]

w2s may help with that EW - I know some other moms who've tried that and it does help.  Not sure that will do anything for the bedtime issues - is he happy in there while he's not sleeping?  And then does he fall asleep on his own and sleep through?  It looks like you've tried  a lot - I'm wondering if it's too many changes and not enough time with one change to see how it truly affects his routine?  Can you post what you're plan is for his routine now and we'll work it from there?

[nolejen]

When he EWs, we try to push his nap back a little bit. He is "usually" up at 6, on average that is the awake time. If he had his way, he would be napping at 9:30. So we've tried to push his nap back to 10. It doesn't always work. If he goes down at 9:30, he naps for an hour. If he naps at 10, he usually naps for an hour and a half to two hours. More often than not, if he takes the later nap, he won't nap in the afternoon. Which leads to an early bedtime, which he will take an hour to fall asleep. If he takes an afternoon nap, his bed time is usually around 7. He will still take an hour to fall asleep.

 He is happy in his crib at night for the most part. He will start screaming and then will stop and start playing again as soon as we walk in the room. We don't WI when he is just talking to himself. We wait until he is doing the "need you" cry. But he will stop as soon as we walk in the room. And will start to play or sign "all done" and bounce up and down.

[nolejen]

This is what happened today.

He woke up at 6:15 (w2s didn't work this morning..sigh) and I tried to put him down for a nap at 10. He played for an hour without sleeping. He almost fell asleep at the table trying to feed him lunch at 12. So I put him down for a nap. It is now 1 and he is up. There is no getting him back to sleep. But if he takes a cat nap this afternoon, he won't go to bed until really late. Should I try to have him in bed around 5-5:30 for the night? I know he is going to be waaaay OT by this evening.