18 month sleep regression support thread

[JLSPAS09]

Reading all of this scares me to death because our LO has 4 molars coming in ALL AT ONCE so her sleep and her disposition are nightmarish right now. AND I'm due with Baby #2 in 10 weeks. Ahh, I'll be back, I'm sure.

[LAMMum]

It's a relief to see that others are experiencing similar stresses with their 18 month olds....hugs to all of you first off!  My LO's sleep regression started mid Jan when he got gastro bug then a cough/cold which kept him up at night.  When he recovered he continued to wake at night and my husband and I brought him into our beds most nights as we thought that was the better and quicker way to get him back to sleep....which it's not b/c our LO nearly kicked us out of bed each night with all his rolling and squirming!!!!

THen...to top it all off, we've travelled to Australia to Canada for 6 weeks so his days and nights are turned around and now we figure....why try to fix anything now since we're going back to Canada in a few weeks, so when LO wakes at night he's right in bed with us. 

Anyway, I feel I'm determined tonight to get my LO to fall back asleep in his own bed tonight and get him back to where he used to be before all this crazyness!!!!  He used to be such a good sleeper and we got a little too comfortable with it and thought we had it all figured out...wow were we wrong!!!!!  Fingers crossed!!!

[Kiwi_one]

Good luck, LamMum! I think a lot of parents in your position would also feel justified in waiting to fix issues until all the travel is out of the way, but on the other hand sometimes dependencies get worse the longer they continue. It's tough to make those calls sometimes.

We'd also gotten into a pattern after sickness (since November!) of giving DD a bottle when she didn't settle herself for sleeps and last night was our first night of being prop-free. And it does feel good to have an independent sleeper

[LAMMum]

Good for you Kiwi one!  It does feel really good when your persistance pays off!  Our nights have gotten better and he is sleeping through the night most nights or when he wakes, he has gone back to sleep in his own bed.  My biggest challenge now is settling him down to sleep for naps but especially for the night.  I do a wind down following dinner with bath, bottle, books, cuddles then night night.  It all goes well until we get to the point where i lie him in his cot and he screams for half an hour to 45 mins!!!! It is exhausting!  I think it may be seperation anxiety.  At first I thought it was OT, which is might be, but I try putting him down at 7:30 so I think that's early enough.  I feel like no matter what time I put him down, he's going to scream until 8:30 anyway.  grrrrr, I am sure this is a phase which he'll get through...I hope!

[roseola]

Marking my spot...sleep in starting get wonky!

[ConorsMum2009]

Hi girls - i was directed in this direction as i have a 10mo DS who is also experiening frequent NW and EW 5 am the past few weeks....!

Im wreaked, as he is teething but most of the teeth have cut through its the 5 am wake up that's killing me!! Im going to try white noise in his room tonight as i will try anything at all!!

He goes to bed fine at 7 pm no bother, he stirs approx 10 pm and then at intervals throughout the night! Usually a soother sorts it but then we have nights when its meds and a couple of hours of hair pulling out!!

This is a quick post!

But sleep dust for all tired parents out there - looking forward to our sucess stories

Claire xx

[LisaK1]

Hi there, marking my spot as sleep going wonky here with 17 mo refusing afternoon nap but first nap is still about 10am.....getting increasing early wakings, today was 6.20am which is normally fine but as the clocks had only just gone forward overnight it was a 5.20 waking so only 10hrs sleep....

[Kiwi_one]

Reclaiming my spot. That first night of bottle-free sleep was also the last. We managed to have her take only water in the bottle for a while but have gotten back into a pattern of milk at BT and NWs, which has gotten a little crazy coming up to the 18-month mark.

Is it a developmental thing that their sleep goes wonky at this age? DD is in the midst of her vocab boom and starting to put words together. She's often really scratchy during the day, too, and gets upset whenever she realises we're in another room. SA?

[babybarr]

Could be canine teeth?  They usually sprout at around 18mths too and can cause havoc!

[roseola]

Hi Lisa and Claire! I hope these links help!


http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=163278.0

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=41952.0

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=112443.0

[LisaK1]

Thanks Nini - spotted the first one but not the other two threads.  L

[nursemeg01]

Oh--glad I found this, even if just for the support. My 19 mo DD spends her naptime playing in her crib and talking to her lovey. If I put her down early, she plays in there until she is OT, and if I put her down OT, she refuses to nap period. I can't seem to find the magic time window. This has been going on for over a month now. Right now I have a manic baby who is way OT but I cannot APOP her at all. We have a few NW but thankfully they are short in duration. She also can't make it past 5:30 pm without a major meltdown, which is difficult since I don't get her from the nanny (3 days/week) until 5:30. I am totally at a loss for what to do.

[jakobsmommy]

Help! how did i miss the WI/WO Intro time!!!!!!

we progressed from light pressure on jakobs back and ssshhh to sitting in a chair in his room about 3m ago...hes 17m.  I think we ended up leaving things late because he stopped sucking his thumb as his molars started coming in (about 3m ago too) but nevertheless he was still usually asleep in 10 mins.

wake : 6.30 (out of cot at 7am)
nap : working toward 1pm now unless we go in car around 11.30 after a busy morning. i can lift him out of car and into cot no probs atm. usually get 1 - 1 half hr
sleep : 7:15....sleep for 8:10 today

a month ago when his molars were all having a go together he started banging his head up the cot and wailing (awful blood curdling sound) and now he just talks....pretends his 2 'blankies' are talking (one is a flat bunny, one is a blanket with a winnie the poo attached)...wedges his blankies in the cot sides and generally messes about.  taking 45 mins to settle

i started to walk out of the room if he began talking etc 3 nights ago and walked back in if he cried (this is backward wi/wo i think from what people have described?) and lay him down then sat down not facing him on the seat...if he talked i repeated the process.  if he stays quiet i stay there and walk out when hes done his big sigh and lay quietly for 5 mins.

this is really eating into our night and DH gives up after 10 mins and leaves him crying so its down to me.

he is very clingy when im in sight, but i can go to work weds and thurs and he waves happily, blows kisses and doesnt get upset at all.

he is becoming super spirited, wont even sit still to read a book or watch tv on my lap, in fact hes like a jack in the box.

i think its developmental/ sep anxiety and teething thrown together.  he may be OT...but wouldnt be if he went to sleep at 7:15!!!

any help and insight much appreciated

[lilybug25]

Hi I was "sent"(hehe) here as my daughter is taking forever to get to sleep at night, no crying just playing for up to 2 hrs. She has been sick off and on for 3 months and now has a horrible rash that even the doctors don't know what it is. It's finally starting to heal but 90% she runs around in just a diaper as clothes rub the spots and it bugs her. She is also bringing in teeth left right and center, she has 5 (i think, could be more) coming in right now which one is a 2 yr molar. So I have a nacked, teething rashed up 17 month old that won't go to bed at night!

[lilly_kitt]

Hi

Can i join in, Tyler is 18 months and after 13 months of no sleep, did some sleep training and we had about two months of blissful sleep.  Then he caught a cough, we went on hols and he's moved up a class in nursery and he turned 18 months.  Now he's a nightmare for napping and NW's.  I've resorted to milk and meds as I think its his canines and its the only thing that will help him settle.  I'm frsutrated that after all the hard work and he was sleeping beautifully its all gone wrong !!.  Today he had 10 mins in the car and I can usually just move him straight to his cot, not any more its now my 2nd attempt at putting him down for a nap.  Dont think its going to happen today and am dreading tonight as hubs is on nights !!!  Why at 18 months does it allo go TU

Help....

Sarah
xx