18 month sleep regression support thread

[clairebear79]

Oh how turning 18months throws things eh?!!!  I'm too late to help you with today sorry hun - what did you do in the end?  FWIW I'd probably have pushed O as close as possible to his usual naptime but keep an eye on him for him getting 'wired' & PD at the first sign of that.  I think the longer nap & the 5hrs A may work ok today but be prepared for a wee bit of OT as thats a long day for her.     

[stardust599]

Well, she fell asleep in the car from 10am - 10.45am as was absolutely shattered :-(  From 9am she was awful again!

Haven't been able to get her to go down again and don't think I will manage a nap at all.  So EBT just after 6pm I think, hopefully she pulls 12 hours for me but I just don't know!

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs SD
We too had a shorter night, just 11 hrs. I think nap is going o have to be capped at 1hr45... But will give this routine a few more days first.

[clairebear79]

I'll keep my FX'd for you!

Sara - how are things with Z?  All settled now?  Just seen your news on FB!!x

Things are ok for us now I think.  He slept til 7.15 (I woke him) & went down ok today at 1.15, up 3pm & STS at 8pm phew!

ETA: posted at same time hun. def try a few more days.  11hrs at night is ok yk, I probably wouldn't cap unless night is consistently shorter than that eg 10-10.5hrs.  And that said, you might find (like I did) that a later nap will help, so perhaps push it back a touch more.

[stardust599]

Sara - did not see your pregnancy ticker before!!!  Congratulations, are you as crazy as me :-D

Kept things very low key until BT routine, asleep for 6.25pm.  FX'd she pulls 12hours!  She has had a few call outs and restlessness but usually settles down and I don't hear her throughout the night.  Was hoping to go into town tomorrow (hospital bag shopping!) but looks like we will have to stay close to home to get back to nap time routine.

[ZacsMumme]

Thanks SD &and Claire Yea I'm abit mad,and a bit worried..2 boys may just be too much eeek.

Things are good Claire, considering we're cutting teeth ATM. Mind the pain meds are being used a bit! I'm kind of following Zs cues a little With these teeth....I had to PD for nap 15 mins early but he was telling me he was ready!

Good luck tonight SD

[stardust599]

Ugh, teeth, hopefully he will have finished by the time new baby comes along!

Well, 5.40am WU so that was around 11hours10mins night sleep.  She's been quite happy so don't think we are going to get much longer than 11hours for the forseeable future.   Haven't gone into town as I just know she'll fall asleep in the car (30mins journey) so will go after naptime today.  Going to stick as close to usual naptime of 12.30, maybe 15mins earlier if she's exhausted!  And cap at 2 hours and do BT by 7.30.

You know what girls, I have a sneaking suspicion we are going to have to cap at less than 2 hours at some point soon :-(  She just doesn't seem to miss the sleep like she used to!!!

[clairebear79]

SD - this is just what happened to us at the 18 month mark & I was sure we'd have to start capping pretty quickly.  I have to say the later nap has really helped us hang onto the longer nap though!  So do give that a try first!  We're just getting to the point of cutting back a wee bit more I think but still hanging onto that 1h 45 for as long as possible lol!

[stardust599]

Well, she was okay and in a good mood until 11am then really tired, she fell asleep on the sofa at 12.05 so was put to bed!  Woke after 2hours and she was pretty inconsolable for a little while then a bit of a grump but we went out for the afternoon to distract her.   Then she seemed to get over the tiredness by around 6pm and become quite "wired" so we ended up doing BT at 7.20 with 5mins of OT screaming.  I hope we can get rid of this OT soon, it's no fun and she switches between irritated and wound up then cuddly and tired.  Just wish we could get into a consistent little routine so she can start adjusting and get a little happier and more predictable.

[trimbler]

Wow - either this thread has just got really chatty or I'm just getting busy/stuck with late BTs but I'm struggling to keep up with you
Thanks for all your advice, I'm also thinking we need to eek that nap a little later, only he's never been good with A time stretches so I'm trying to take it slow... Tried to push a little closer to 1pm yesterday and today, but yesterday he woke after ~1h (resettled quickly with a little help) and he did the same today but never quite made it back to sleep. So just got him up at 2:30 and tried for 7:30 BT but he didn't get to sleep until just after 8pm. Btw that was with ~11h night (first time in ages!) and I didn't wake up until 7:23am and he was quietly babbling then so guessing he'd only just woken up! I still can't help wondering whether there's just a fundamental limit on how quickly he can get to sleep at BT - used to be 5-10mins max but now 30mins is great and it's often longer... Has anyone else found that with the 18mo regression? Looking into head massage on the spirited babies thread (yes I know he's a toddler but I'm still on there at the mo...), as he's just finding it so difficult to relax and stay calm at BT, however tired he is.

Ok general (((hugs))) to everyone else who's struggling, from my quick skim through it looks as if you're all getting good advice already and I'm so lost I don't have anything else to add!

Oh just one more question - because of these BT battles, I've been capping at 2:30pm whatever happens, but I guess once the nap does get to 1pm, I should let him sleep a little later to keep it at 1h 45mins? Haven't had the chance to do that yet as he's done an OT shorter nap anyway, but I'll need to decide what to do so I can tell his childminder on Mon... Just scared that if he ends up napping later, BT will get even later...

[clairebear79]

(((hugs))) Trimbler - it is tough isn't it?  I also had that fear that if the nap went later then BT would also get much later, & so I started to cap short, but in actual fact the longer morning means that he is much more tired & ready for bed at bedtime.   Now Oliver is napping at 1.15pm, I let him sleep 1h 45 & wake him at 3pm.  I wake at 3pm regardless of when he goes to sleep for his nap & then his BT is 8pm, so he's doing 6hrs A / 1h 45 nap / 5hrs A.  He is now going straight to sleep at bedtime & we are getting a pretty consistent 11h 15 night.  Up at 7.15am.  I do wake him every morning though or he would sleep longer.  It doesn't sit well with me, but I find if I do let him sleep in the morning then he's not ready for his nap & I end up guessing when to put him down & guessing how long to let him nap for & we get all in a mess!  So its better this way!

[stardust599]

Ahhh.  Well and truly OT.  I'm feeling discouraged and not sure what to do for the best :-(

LO woke at 5.30am so only 10hours sleep.  She is very OT this morning and has big dark circles under her eyes.  And behaviour is terrible as it has been the past week, tantrums, screaming and food refusal already as we always get with OT :-(  I can't leave the house after 9-10am as she falls asleep and we are getting OT screaming at most PDs or LO is falling asleep in our arms before we can PD.

I'm not sure how to fix this, each day LO is getting more tired, more OT, more unhappy and getting less sleep too.   Today will need to be a catch up day but TBH I doubt she will even catch up any today as the less sleep I am putting her down for the less she is taking on her own - it's like the less I put her down for the less she seems to need/miss when underneath she is OT and unhappy.

I want my bouncy happy little girl back :-(

I think I am just going to wait for major tired signs this morning, any eye rubbing etc. and fill her up with a bottle of milk and get her down ASAP and hope she takes a good 3hours to catch up.  If this works I can start again tomorrow hopefully.

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs, FWIW Z went through a stage just like this a month ago and it was teething and 18 mth madness really. I guess for us we were still having ok sleep so I knew it wasn't OT but I wouldn't rule out teeth, or just a GS/developmental jump as part to blame

[stardust599]

AAAAHHHHH.

We have something going on here other than OT.

Not illness, she's definitely not poorly.  Maybe teething :-S  Bottom canines are almost fully up but the top are still only just poking through so don't know if they could still be causing pain.  Maybe something developmental.  She is so fiery just now and demanding and just awful.  Her behaviour is absolutely ridiculous if she doesn't get her own way, I think I have been very soft and letting it carry on with feeling guilty over having a new baby.  Both my phone and the laptop have been broken by LO this week.  It has to stop! That's for another thread though whenever I have the time!

Yesterday

5.40am WU
12.00 - 1.55 Nap (woke self)
7.05ish Bed

NWs around midnight and 2.30 (settled herself within mins) and then fully awake crying at 5am on the dot.  Went in with a cuddle, milk, teething powders and meds just incase but she seemed okay - just screaming once I put her down as wanting to get up!  Decided this can't carry on so put her back down and tucked her in and started WI/WO.  Only actually had to go in a few times but she wasn't back asleep until 5.45ish.  Up for the day at 6.30am.

Still in an awful awful mood, I really hope this ends soon!!

[lily528]

wow so yesterday my dd did not take a nap!  AT ALL!!!!!  devastating and praying this is not a sign of things to come...she has been doing really well for the most part...aside from a day here and there where she shortens her nap or wakes earlier than usual in the a.m....she went down late the other night and woke about 3 hrs later...first nw in 8 mos!  def OT...totally my fault for getting her down late..she woke again that night but self soothed back to sleep w/o my help...then 2 days later she slept 8-8:30...a good 30-60 mins later than usual in the a.m....I did reg nap time figuring it was catch up from the other day (late pd and nw) but she just never went to sleep....so that night (last night) i pd early and she was asleep at 7 instead of her usual 8ish...she slept til 8:20 this morning..no idea where to go from here in fear we get another UT pd leading to NO nap again...should I pd for nap 30 mins later or even just 15 mins later to work with the later morning wu?  I am just not sure :/  she is too young to give up naps and like I said normally she naps with no issues..right to sleep and gives a good 2 hrs...so this can't be it...I'm thinking an UT bad timing nap...a mistake I dont' want to make twice!


ETA- so i went with a 15 min delay on the nap and she went right out..hoping for a good one and getting back on track!