18 month sleep regression support thread

[babybarr]

Sharon what sort of day does your Lo have?

[marlowsmom]

Laura,
Her schedule was...
Awake 530am (if she STTN)
Nap 1130/12 to 1/130pm
Bed 730

But I was pushing her here and there and it all caught up to me.   I failed to realize that I should have moved her bedtime to 630/7

I tried for weeks to get her down for two naps but now if I give her a 20 min snooze in the am then I can't get her down for a pm nap.

Now she is
Awake 530
Nap 1030 -12
Bed 630/7

I know.   The afternoon A isn't doing her any favors.    A CN is out of the question.   She will not do it even in the car.

I've resigned to the fact that her A is about 4.5 to 5 hours right now but it was at 6 before she fell apart.    I've tried the 20 min am and the only day I got her to take a PM nap she had a 2.5 hr A and it was a struggle to get her down.

I know that if I could get 2 or 3 days of her taking two naps with early bedtimes then she would be good but every day is a struggle.

Then there is days like today.   I scheduled DD1 doctor appt at 1020am over a month ago b/c at the time Marlow was wide awake.   I couldn't cancel it or else I'd have to wait another 2 to 4 weeks to get back in.

[babybarr]

Have you got a thread going on the toddler sleep board?  I would say try sticking with a near 11am nap and a 6/6.15pm bed and see what happens.

[marlowsmom]

I did and the general advice was to get her to bed early since 2 naps wasn't working.     I continued to post but people stopped responding.   
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=177647.0;all

She STTN last night but woke at 530.   I can attempt a 20 min nap at 10am but that hasn't always worked lately.   I looked back on my posts and on Sept 8th she took 2 naps but I didn't post what times she went down.   I know her middle A was 2.5 hours and I remember that she was a bit OT when she went down.    I think her first nap was at 10amish.    I may give that a try today even though I've been trying and have only succeeded once.   
Do you know the supposed definition of insanity?   Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome.    That's how I feel with this 2 nap business.

[Tweakster]

She's teething or not though?

I would start the lights on a timer or pick up a gro-clock or something similar.  Her nights are good IMHO, I don't think with a bedtime that early you can expect a later wake up - 10.5 hrs is pretty typical for a lot of kids really. 

I also think her 10:30 nap is too early, there is no incentive for her to stay in bed longer in the morning.

If it were me, and oh how it is lol, I would not do 2 naps.  I just don't think it's helping her now.

[marlowsmom]

She's got something going on with her upper molars (I believe) but I don't see anything anywhere yet.   

It's 10 am and I just put her in the crib to see if she will fall asleep.  I'm giving her 10 min to see what she does.   If she isn't asleep in 10 min then I'll get her out.    Before we went to a solid one nap a day she was sleeping an 11 to 11.5 hr night.   That was rare.   Her nights have always been 10.5 hours on average.     

If she doesn't fall asleep here soon then I'll put her back down at 11/1115 am.

[babybarr]

I agree with Wendy, stick with the one nap at around 11am and see what happens.  I remember those going insane days trying for 2 naps that just wouldn't happen!

[Tweakster]

Keep us posted, I think eventually you can just start tacking some time on to the nap, i.e. move it to 11:15/11:30 then forward.  With good nights she should be able to handle that.  Then you can move bedtime out.  You'll get there.  But just like me, you may only ever get 10.5 - some kids are built this way despite our repeated attempts to shake it out of them lol

[marlowsmom]

PHEW!  She went down at 1130 and slept until 1pm.   I'll still aim to get her into bed by 7pm tonight.  

She may very well be a 10.5 hr a night and a 1.5 hr nap kid.   My DD1 was a solid 1.5 hr napper and never changed to a longer nap.   

 I also think that I worry about her "not getting enough" night or day sleep b/c I see so many other Mom's talking about how their LO sleeps 12 hr nights and 3 hr naps.    It makes you question if your LO is getting enough sleep.

[babybarr]

I personally would probably aim a bit earlier, 6hrs is still quite a long A time. Maybe 6.30pm?

[marlowsmom]

I can aim for 630pm.     Tomorrow we are leaving for vacation and we have a 5 hr drive.   I know from past experiences that she will short nap in the car.   I'm hoping to be on the road by 1030 or 11am so she will sleep then we will break for lunch.  Hopefully she will conk out in the car again later in the afternoon.   

[Tweakster]

Guys, I just want to know what I should do with bedtime.  Do you find it's better to stick to a set bedtime regardless or flip-flop it around depending on the day?  I am wondering if our moving bedroom around is hindering not helping.  We are still getting those short nights.  Last night was my ooops, after he did a 3 hr+ nap which we even had trouble waking him from, I let him stay up, I was curious to see when he'd get tired and crash, in the end he never yawned, never gave any sign of being tired, but kept falling and cracking his head on things :-/  Which led to a quick sashay into bed and he was out by 8:20.  Well 4:30 a.m. rolls around and he woke crying then went back to sleep until 6. 

Today we had our first 2 nap day in about 5 months, both in his crib, that's how tired he was!  I won't make the late bedtime mistake again!  So all those who say your kid wakes early because you put him to bed too early, I invite you to come over and witness what we go through!

[babybarr]

We tend to stick with bedtime within 15mins.  Partly due to not being able to get him in bed much earlier but even at weekends we don't tend to stray far from that.  Given that we know Finn likes routine I would be really reluctant to mess with times too much.

I am wondering if our moving bedroom around is hindering not helping.

I assume you mean bedtime

[Tweakster]

lol yes I do mean bedtime

See this is what being up at 4:30 does to a person!

Well he did just over 1.5 hrs for the second nap so we are doing a 7:30 bedtime.  I think I agree, within 15 mins seems to give us the best results overall.

[JayLeigh]

ARGH, I am jumping on here. I am not sure if this is what it is but DS will be 18 months in a week. After months of STTN without a peep DS has resorted back to NWs. Usually in the second half of the night, last night at 1:45am (changed his overflowing diaper, he was talking jibberish to me, and fell back asleep in about 10 mins) and 5:30 am where he tossed and turned till 7, slept for a half hour and was up again at 7:30!

We did have colds in the house this past week which we are all mostly over.

Typical schedule is
Wake: 7:30
Nap: 12:45 - 3
Sleep: 8pm

Just can't figure out these NWs! Could it be sleep regression? He often whimpers in his sleep then wakes full out crying or screaming. Sometimes fake crying to get us to come in the room :/