18 month sleep regression support thread

[stardust599]

Thanks :-)

Shes still so unhappy and not eating a thing either but not ill.  She bit me earlier and I checked her mouth and tooth no17 (big bottom molar) is bulging below the gum.  My poor lady, her canines only broke a week or 2 ago!, I capped about 1.55 (2.40, gave extra.10mins) and she wasnt too bad but exhausted by 6pm.

PD 15mins ago and still wired in her cot bouncing away and shouting oh wow.  hope its not too long.  I gave calpol and nurofen yesterday and last night which is the only thing i can think of.different.  Normally use teething powders but have none left. Could meds have this hyper effect on her?

[clairebear79]

Oh dear hun.  I don't think the meds would do that tbh.  I think a lot of it is just down to their age (i.e. developmental).  I don't know if you remember, but we also had all this craziness for a couple of months & then it suddenly stopped.  Of course teething can also upset things, but I think you may find those 2yr molars will take quite a long while to come in.  My DS got his canines at 13 months, and his molars started bulging just after Christmas when he was 16.5 months.  He is now 21.5 months & there is still no sign of the molars but they do play up on & off, as they shift about under the gums.  Hopefully your DD won't be like my DS though & hers will cut soon!

Just keep in mind - tomorrow is a new day! 

It is for us too as we have to start capping at 1.5hrs now, there's no holding it off.  I tried pushing his nap later to 1.30pm in an effort to make sure he's tired enough for bedtime & he's most definitely not.  He's up there faffing around right now.

[*Kara*]

Faffing babies stress me out!

DD has been so much better now that I have pushed her nap back out - thanks again Claire!  Happiness has been restored!

Yesterday:
WU 559am
Nap 1220-230pm ( I woke)
BT - PD @ 728, sleeping 731pm STTN

Today:
WU 550am (ARGH!) but, went back to sleep until 615am!
Nap 1227 - 230 (I will be waking her)
BT 730pm

SO MUCH BETTER!

[clairebear79]

Yay glad to hear it Kara!  Give it a couple more weeks & see if the 2hr capped nap does the trick. 

If she starts waking earlier than 6 on a regular basis I would probably push the nap 15mins later again.  A 1pm nap seemed to get us on the straight & narrow after this regression & his A to BT stayed the same at 5hrs.  This meant a slightly later BT of 8pm, if we'd have wanted to keep the earlier BT (7.30pm) we'd probably have had to trim the nap by another 15mins.

[*Kara*]

Thanks Claire!

Her nap was at 1240pm before so I wouldn't be at all surprised if it heads closer to 1pm in the near future!

[Mama_Mia]

Kara, I'm glad things are looking brighter for you.

I have a mess again. M sttn last night then refused his nap again today. I put him down at 1:30 but he just played until it was time to get up. I was going to do BT at 6:pm but its 6 now and he is just getting out of the tub. I am hoping to have him in bed at 6:30. I KNOW we will have another LONG nw tonight now. I dont mind him skipping his nap but I need to figure out how to avoid the long nw when he does skip it... Any suggestions?

[stardust599]

Eek. We still got EW.

LO asleep by 7.30. Restless but no wakings. Very restless from 4.45 then up by 5.30 and wouldnt go back to sleep. In a reasonable mood although tired. She didnt have any lunch or dinner yest so maybe hungry.

Thinking i will have to do earlier nap today or we will never get past the OT. Wish this would just go away, I'm dreading doing EW with DD and also night feeds with baby!

[Mama_Mia]

I'm in shock, M went to bed at 6:30 last night and sttn. Either that or I slept through him talking/crying. He woke at 6:35 this morning so he got a good 12 hour night. Now to see what happens today.

Stardust.. I hope things straighten out for you. I would bet the ew was due to hunger. Did you try giving a bottle at 4:45?

[lily528]

Wow I don't understand my baby girl anymore. We get back on track and it all goes downhill. It's like a cycle.  Doesn't seem to STAY on point. Last few days I am getting 6/6:30 wu's which I feel bad about complaining compared to some of u ladies :/  but being use to 8/8:30 this plain old sucks. We also have occasional nap refusal!  Maybe 4 times in the last month. Today she was up at 6 and this is what I'm thinking ...what if I just pushed to the usual 1 pm nap?  I feel like moving her nap up due to the EW is kind of encouraging it...any thoughts?  

Kara this is working for you I see huh?  I NEED her back on track :/




UGH!!! pushed to the reg 1pm nap time (7 hr A) and she slept 1 HR!  she made it to 1pm no problems at all..happy as a lark... whimpered a bit and more or less went right out...she woke crying...i tried to let her go a bit but she was getting really upset...so she's up!  in a fine mood now but an hour is no good with a 6 am wu  should I still with it and bring her to her usual 8pm BT?  I don't know anymore...

[clairebear79]

Melissa - did you consider pushing her nap later?  Is she still generally napping for 2hrs?  If so I would say you need to start cutting it down hun.  We are about to start capping at 1.5hrs.  I don't like doing it, but it is necessary, b/c his nap is stealing from his night.  He either wakes early or he takes forever to settle at bedtime.

WRT moving the nap earlier due to the EW - if you feel the EW is down to her being overtired it can help in the short term i.e. for a couple of days, but if you do it for longer you are right, it will encourage her to keep waking earlier.  Your best bet is probably to shoot for around 6hrs A, so nap at say 12 & then in 3 days time push it 15mins later, so 12.15 & so on until you are back where you want it to be.  I think if you want to get back to your 8am WU's you need to be aiming for her nap to be more like 2pm and probably capped at 1/1.5hrs max, or she'll not be ready for bed at bedtime.

WRT today, I'd say her nap was an OT nap at 1hr, which I'm sure you already know.  I would probably pull BT earlier to around 7pm & hope she tacks on overnight. 

HTH.xx

[lily528]

Thanks clairebear yea I hope she does..I put her down at 7:45 last night and she woke at 6...so I'm gonna pray she tacks it on we are going to have an even earlier waking  

you said to think about pushing her nap later than 1...but you also mentioned doing a 6 hr A before nap...which should I be focusing on you think?  like her norm for a while there (after not waking at 8 anymore :/) was 7:15...so should I do nap at 1:15?  should i just be doing a 6 hr A from whenever she wakes up (being that its been so damn sporadic these days) or pick a set nap time and cross my fingers?

[clairebear79]

Would you be happy to stay with a 7.15am WU for the short term???  If so I would probably just try gradually getting the nap back to a 1.15pm start, and then gradually cut it back so cap at 1h 45 to start with & 8pm BT, see how she settles/when she wakes.  Give it at least a week before you assess whether its working ok.  If she still takes ages to settle or wakes early still then I'd push nap to 1.30pm start but wake at 3pm so its cut back to 1.5hrs & keep BT at 8pm.  I think doing this it will give you the best chance of a later wakeup time.

WRT set nap v 6hr A, you are ultimately aiming for around a 6hr A with your nap 6hrs from your ideal wakeup.  But I have to say I find the set nap works better, its so much more consistent.  See when she wakes tomorrow, if 6am again I'd do nap at 12-12.30 latest, capped at 1h 45 & an earlier bedtime.  Then tomorrow push the nap 15mins later.  So its a set nap but shifting later every 3 days IYSWIM?  She might get a bit OT while you do it but hang in there & it'll come good.

xx

[*Kara*]

Melissa - it worked right away with Alexandra!  She was sick a couple weeks ago and had her DTaP booster shot too... all that led to naps being earlier and an EW resulted.  We got into the famous early start, early nap, early BT... and again cycle.  I just had to push hard and stick with it a couple days and we were golden   I do min 6 hrs A time before nap...

This is us now:
Wake 620am (was 625am today!)
Nap 1230pm - 230pm (capped)
BT 730pm. 

She settles well and STTN...

[lily528]

kara, so do you think I should do the 1pm nap no matter what her wu time in the morning is?  this was our day

6am wu
1pm-2pm nap
?  BT

do YOU think I should bump up BT to 7pm for tonight or try to get her to reg 8 pm bed time?

[*Kara*]

I would do BT at 7pm tonight   No later for sure.

As for pushing her nap in general - I pushed Alexandra as far as I could the first day (our goal was back to a 1230/1240pm nap from an 1115/1130am nap that we were doing)... she got to 1215pm the first day... She had been doing a 2.5 hr nap and a 10 hr night and was a mess... it was a tough push!  She did 6 hrs 45 mins A time after a 10 hr night!  Then I let her nap 2 hrs 15 mins (our goal was a 2 hr capped nap)... since her nights were so short and she was certainly OT, I didn't want to cut if too fast, KWIM?  She slept 2 hrs 15 and I woke her... BT 5 hrs later... she slept 10 hrs 20 mins that night... then I did the same nap time and length for another 2 days... then pushed her to 1220pm with a 2 hr 10 min cap.  BT 5 hrs later (it was held at 730pm).  She started to do 10 hrs 40 mins so I am capping her nap at 2 hrs today... she made it to 1230pm today as she slept until 625am this morning.  BT will be 730pm and her nap will now stay at 2 hrs until she starts to wake earlier again... then I will cap it at 1 hr 45 mins.