17 mo -- late bedtime and EW... HELP !!!!

[nuchi3]

Hi,

It seems that as my LO gets older he sleeping less and less and less... Went from over 11 hours (night sleep), to 10 1/2, to 10 to 9 1/2 in the past few weeks. He wakes up crying EVERY MORNING, rubbing his eyes, yawning and more crying (actually wailing...) I feel like his 1 month old again and am at my wits end..
Here's his current routine :

5:45 - 6:30am : waking crying (actually cries in his sleep but it eventually wakes him up)
8am : breakfast
11:30 : lunch
12:30 : nap (anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours)
6:30pm : supper
8:15 : in bed (BUT, it can take him anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour to fall asleep)

He goes to nursery 5 days a week so I have no control over his daytime activities, sleep ect...
I did notice that if I give him a little bit of warm milk upon EW he actually falls back asleep in my arms but as soon as I put him back to bed, he starts crying. I've noticed that he whines a lot in the morning and is actually hyper (never was like that before). I know that he's getting into an OT cycle but do not know what to do anymore !!! Since daylight starts very early someone suggested to put really dark curtains (I`m going to buy some TODAY !).
He's not teething and a bedtime earlier than 8pm is impossible due to our work scheduales. Actually, he always (from 2 months of age) went to sleep bt 8:15-8:30pm and had no trouble sleeping 11 - 12 hours.
Any input would help at this point as I don't understand what is going on ! (why does he wake up so early CRYING EVERY MORNING !!!)
Thank you so much !

[skatty]

Are you sure he isn't teething, crying in the sleep and EWs are a big teething sign and he is around the age when the 2nd year molars start moving around though they don't start popping until ages after  He does sound very OT by bedtime, that is a really long day, can he go to bed earlier? If he only takes a 45 min nap he is having over 7hrs A time which would definitely cause his body to go into an overtired state which means his body has a chemical response that stops him being able to fall asleep easily. Oh I just read you can't get him to bed any earlier, that is a toughy then! Does his routine include a bath, if so I would skip it if it means he can be in bed earlier. What i would do is try work out why he suddenly became so OT, first thing I would get up around 4.30am and dream feed him a dose of pain meds to see if it helps, if so then you know it is teething, if it is not then can you get the nursery to work on his nap? Definitely get the windows darkened, I actually find pinning doubled black fabric around the wall of the window works best, light creeps in around the sides even with blinds, failing that we have used black bin bags when we have travelled and they work really well too!

Keep us posted, Katt