18 month sleep regression support thread

[caz2107]

Well I knew we'd pay for the long nap, he was wide awake at 5.30 this morning altho no NW's! He hasn't seemed too bad on teething front today so his mood had been pretty good apart from obviously  a bit tired, he had a pretty solid 1.5hr nap over lunchtime and fell asleep by 7.15 again tonight so just got to wait and see what is in store tonight 

Calebsmummy - sorry to hear he has a tummy bugs, lots of get well vibes your way, but sounds like your making good progress now 

DD chews on her lovies in her cot and otherwise anything she finds that she knows she shouldn't have, particularly pieces of rubbish she finds in the park, for example, an old pen today

I know its not a good thing but I'm SO pleased its not just my LO that does that, I'm sure he just does it to test how quickly I can run across the park after him

[SpecialKiwi]

Argh, if its not one thing!  DD (and I) have had a terrible night, she's come down with a raging temp and is really ill, poor little poppet.  So we were up every hour at least, then up for the day at 6am, although shes just gone down for a nap at 8.30am as shes just miserable.  Off to the docs this morning as we're in the middle of a swine flu pandemic here and its really hitting hard.  I soooo hope thats not what it is!

So any sleep training/routines are going to be out the window until shes better! 

[babybarr]

I think with 18mths your not only getting the "sleep regression" but you're getting those AWFUL cannines too when very often they need a little more sleep.  It does all seem to happen at once.

Hang in there girls, you WILL come out the other side, I promise.

[*Jo*]

oh SpecialKiwi, so sorry to hear she is ill!! its no fun is it?? we are holding off the 18 month vaccines until hes completely through this, no need to add more to the mix!!

anyway as for us, i managed to get a 2 hour nap out of Caleb yesterday, Wi/Wo just isnt working, it usually always does after only one day so after a week of it and no naps i decided that I needed to get this kid some sleep no matter what i do to get him there! So yesterday he went to sleep (he found a dummy!! one that hasnt been used since he was 5 months old eewwwwww but he wouldnt let it go so fell asleep with one, usually he doesnt even fall asleep so i let it be) then he woke at the 50min mark and I went in and patted him back to sleep, he was asleep within 3mins and then i just held my hand on his back for the next hour!!!
I decided that this really is a regression adn it seems its right back to Newborn status!! I had to do this kinda stuff when he was newborn, so I kept my hand on his back and just observed... well he jolted ALOT so i kept the pressure on, a few jolts were so hard that he actually lifted his whole head up and looked at me but then i did a pat or two and he was back to sleep again. so it was a 2 hour nap in total. i felt it was worht it to stay in his room to help him get that sleep. and then he slept 12 hours last night without waking!! and i think he only woke because he had diarrhea again
so heres how our day went yesterday

awake: 5.35am
Nap: 10-12
bedtime 5.30pm - awake at 5.30am today

Hes so tired at 4 hours A time but i cant do 2 naps or we get a 10 hour night (plus we have to drive him in the car to get the 2nd nap) yet you cant do one nap on a 4 hour A time either

Yes Laura, this is a very unfair time in their lives!

[SpecialKiwi]

Phew, DD doesn't have the flu!  Instead she has her very first ear infection, but in both ears, as well as a lovely pusy throat so she is now on antibiotics.  Her temp reached 39.9degC this morning just before we went to the docs!  Scary stuff.  Antibiotics and ibuprofen are already kicking in and she had a huge 2 1/2 hr nap this afternoon and was pretty perky all evening, and went straight to sleep when we put her down at 7pm.  Fingers crossed that tonight is better than last night!

Gosh Calebsmummy, that really does sound like serious regression.  Good work on getting 2 hrs out of him though!  So how does the regression theory work?  Do they somehow forget how to put themselves to sleep so you need to completely retrain them?  I hope it doesn't end up being too much hard work for you.  Is he still sleeping/going down well at night? 

[*Jo*]

hes doing fantastic at night, Ive heard its not so much a regression in how to fall asleep but rather that their sleep needs drop or something but for some reason weve had real issues, the thing is hes been sick for two months before all this so maybe its just all that as well... who knows!

Today we only got a 1 hour 15min nap and I had to pat him back to sleep at the 40min mark but at least hes actually going to sleep now, it was complete nap refusal for awhile there and I was afraid we woulndt get it back to normal! one thing we started doing was having conversations with his teddy about sleep, so we would say "Oh Teddy, you slept all night last night, how wonderful! Im so proud of you, you must feel so good, you have so much more energy to play with Caleb now!" or "Teddy wants to sleep with you Caleb but he likes to sleep all night and doesnt like to be woken up, so if he sleeps with you then you ahve to sleep all night, if you wake up adn Mummy and Daddy are asleep then just ask Jesus to help you go back to sleep, he is up all night with you and will give you a cuddle" we did that last night and just before bed we tucked Teddy into Calebs cot and we got a 12 hour stretch so it might just have worked!

I tell ya what, these kids take in far more than we realise!

[babybarr]

I think their sleep needs drop a bit and also you kinda find that their A times don't quite fit what they really need.  So they want less sleep but can't quite stay awake for the longer stretch.

[*Jo*]

well weve made alot of progress here, we are having 11 hour nights and 1 hour 20min naps which is alot more than we were having last week, our only issue is that the 11 hours is stuck at 6.30-5.30am so we are just going to gently move it forward. but its tricky because as Laura said, the sleep needs drop and but then the A times dont fit! so its hard to get him to stretch a little extra to try and move the day forward because hes already haviong a tough time getting to that bedtime as it is.

The whole "Teddy" thing is really working. when we got a 11 hour night with no wakings I told them both how proud i was of them etc and then today he did a 1 hour 20min nap all by himself (I did W2S at the 30min mark for this) I didnt need to extend his nap at all. I was out at the time but when i got home i said to him "teddy called me on the phone because he was so excited and proud of you for having a long nap! I told him taht I was very proud of you too"
So at night time we give Teddy a cuddle and we tuck Teddy into the cot then I say to Caleb "Teddy's in bed, Now its your turn" we turn off the light, say our prayers, have cuddles and I whisper "now Teddy is already asleep so we must be very quiet and go to sleep quickly, I will see you in the morning sweetheart" and he goes straight to sleep, none of this hysteric crying at naptimes and bedtimes that weve been having.

[babybarr]

Great progress Jo!!  Well done Teddy!

[ireneee]

Jo, I am so glad that you found something that is working
Hurray for Teddy

[SpecialKiwi]

How is it all going now Jo?  I hope you've managed to put this phase behind you.  I'm having the major guilts, my little girl has been waking up earlier and earlier to start the day, which is getting exhausting.  This morning she woke at 4.35am, we tried WI/WO for 10mins which only wound her up, so hubby persuaded me to leave her to cry, as it wasn't teeth, she didn't need changing, she'd had a drink etc etc.  10mins of torture later (I NEVER leave her to cry (tantrums aside of course), it was horrible), she went back to sleep and slept without a peep until 6.30am!  Couldn't believe it.  I did feel slightly better when she woke up happy as larry without any obvious lasting effects, but I hope we don't have to do much more of that.

[*Jo*]

we are doing ok, we still have these 5/5.30am starts and only a 45min nap in the day with bedtime at 6.30pm. we cant seem to shift it any forward. However we have been having better success with Wi/Wo, this morning he woke at 5.20am and DH did Wi/Wo for 10 mins and he went back to sleep till 6am.

I wouldnt advise leaving her to cry, even if she did fall back to sleep, i wouldve gone back in at least once or twice just to reassure her, I think your little girl is the type that needs less intervention with Wi/Wo but still needs you to go in nonetheless.

With Wi/Wo Caleb gets wound up as well, but then he just suddenly stops and it goes quiet, he doesnt sound like hes winding down to fall back to sleep he goes from crying his lungs out to instant quiet, one morning it took 30mins of Wi/Wo but he went back to sleep at 4.30am. I would advise still working with Wi/Wo as opposed to leaving her to cry completely

[babybarr]

Specialkiwi - I agree with Jo otherwise you may end up breaking her trust and then you'll have a greater problem on your hands.  Try and listen to whether it's a temper cry or an I need you cry and then you can decided whether to go in or not!

[Tweakster]

Just a Q about WI/WO...DH is worried that it will seem like we are taunting him by going in and out again...maybe he won't be reassured but see it as a game or as something mean we are doing...does that happen?  Anyone find that?  I think we hit the sleep regression early quite frankly.  17 mths tomorrow and back to EW again!

[caz2107]

Hi Wendy, I have found that I can't use WI/WO with DS, he either thinks its a game or gets more upset every time I leave, basically I think it just pee's him off! 
we find that after initially calming him by putting a hand on his back or similar, then by sitting in his room just with a leg/foot in view so he knows we're there and can talk to him if needed works, and then when he is nearly asleep, slip out but leave door ajar till he's fully asleep...
saying that tho, reading the boards a lot of people have a lot of success with WI/WO so maybe it depends on each LO, maybe give WI/WO a go to see how he reacts....sorry just realised that this probably has been no help at all