Still having NWs at 18 months.

[Kay Dee]

How are things going Jem?

[Jem88]

Yesterday i totally lost track of time while i was at my dads with LO, so she did a 7hr A before her nap! she didn't seem tired and wasn't yawning at all but she did wake after 40mins during her nap crying and it took me 5mins to settle her back to sleep and it was clear she was very OT which i knew she would be.

Yesterday went:

6.00pm - up
1.15pm nap
3.00pm - up. 1.5hr
8.00pm - bed.

She woke 4 times last night but i only had 2 go in and resettle her twice the other 2 we're just little cry outs. I've noticed for the past few days she's sleeping better if she has a 5-5.5hr A before bed rather than the 6hr she was wanting/doing about a week ago.

Will try this today and see what we get tonight.

6.45am- up.
11.50am - 1.20pm - 1.5hr
7.00pm - bed?

[Kay Dee]

My DS preferred a shorter A to bed too. So we did 6hrs in the morning and 5hrs in the afternoon. Something like:

7am up
1-2.30pm nap
7.30pm bed

Good luck for today!

[Jem88]

Last night she slept really well with only 1 wake up and a little cry out and i'm not even sure why lol.

Yesterday went -
6.45am- up.
11.50am - 1.20pm - 1.5hr
7.10pm - bed. 

She then slept a full 7hrs 40mins and woke at 2.50am where i had to go in and re-settle as she was stood up with her blanket as if it was morning but she went back to sleep fine. She then cried out 40mins later but i didn't need to go in. Then up for the day at 5.45am.

I'm going to try a longer A time today before her nap and then a short A before bed and see how she sleeps tonight.

I guess i know she can kind of sleep through but i'm not sure why she does some nights and then doesn't for a while as apart from last night the last time she slept more than 4-5hrs was the 15th a week ago. x

[clairebear79]

Is she teething atm?  I found wakings at that time of night were usually teething related.

Glad to see her routine is looking a little more settled.  She doesn't look so OT now.  I think nudging her nap a little later is a good idea & will probably encourage a consistently later wakeup time.  Just do it very slowly so as to avoid her getting too OT, & keep the A time to BT at around 5hrs, 5.5 absolute max & I think she'll be fine.

Good luck.x

[Jem88]

I'm not 100% sure on the teething, she has all her teeth through now apart from the top right molar which is half way through. She's had a snotty nose for the past 3 weeks but doesn't seem ill.

I'm going to try this routine today and see what happens tonight. And hopefully we'll get a wake up after 6.00am tomorrow. x

5.45am - up
11.45am - 1.15pm - up.
6.30pm - bed.

[clairebear79]

I'd hazard a guess the molar will still be causing some discomfort.

Routine for today looks good.  If it works out ok I'd probably hold consistently for a week & then push her nap & BT 15mins later til you are at something like

Up: 6.30 ish
Nap: 12.30-2
Bed: 7pm ish

[Jem88]

Hmmm last night wasn't too great, but we did get a 12hr night with a wake up at 6.30am.

She was asleep for 6.30pm, did a little cry out at 7.00pm, 9.10pm, 10.50pm, then woke at 11.05pm where i had to go in and lay her down she then slept until 4.00am where i had to go and lay her down where she slept until 6.30am.

She was unsettled until 11.00pm but then slept okay after then - maybe a little UT? i'm not sure.

Seeing as she woke at 6.30am i can now do the above routine and have her in bed for 7.00pm and hope she settles before 7.30pm. x

[Jem88]

I noticed that not last night but the night before where she slept 7.5hr and only had 1 wake up she did a 5hr before her nap and then 5hr 50min before bed. So i was going to try that today so i put her down after 5hr for 12.00pm but she woke at 12.30pm moaning then crying so i had to go and resettle her, she then stirred 15mins later but settled herself. I guess she's maybe UT?

Will wake her at 1.30pm if she doesn't wake herself before then and have her in bed for 6.45pm and hope she settles for 7.00pm. x

[Jem88]

I had her in bed for 6.50pm and she took an hour 20mins to settle! and finally fell asleep at 8.10pm. She was chatting and messing about the whole time. So now i'm thinking she was maybe UT at nap time which caused the wake up and then UT at bed time due to the 12hr night and good night before last? x

[clairebear79]

Hi Jem.  IME OT wakings occur in the first few hours after bedtime & tend to be little cryouts where DS settles again fairly quickly, but just sounds a little unsettled, whereas UT would be faffing around at bedtime for ages, or long chatting NW or EW. So...I think last night the wakings before 11am sound more OT not UT.  I also think today that if she were UT at naptime she wouldn't have woken at the 30min mark (30min naps were always a typical sign of OT for us) and if she were UT she wouldn't have resettled at all & she'd have woken happy.  BT however could have been either - UT from short AM A & 12hr night previous, or she may still be OT.  I think the night may give you a clue - if she wakes repeatedly in the first few hours after bedtime I'd say she is OT.

I honestly think atm your best bet is to try a routine consistently for a couple of weeks rather than switching between longer morning/longer afternoon every couple of days, as what happens today isn't necessarily just based on what happened yesterday, it may be the cumulative effect of the last 4-5 days IYSWIM?  If you change things too often you can end up not really knowing which thing is or isn't working.  I know its easier said than done though - I am also guilty of not always being consistent, but I will say it really does help more when I am.

[Jem88]

I do need to be more being consistent as i guess that's probably where i go wrong most of the time.

So last night she settled at 8.10pm, woke at 10.00pm and 3.55am. She then stirred and moaned a little at 4.50am where i went in to see if she had kicked her blanket off but she wasn't awake. She was then up for the day at 6.35am.

I guess i need to stick with maybe 6hr a before her nap and then have her in bed for 5hr a and hope she settles before 5.5hr for a few days/a week and see if that helps? x

[Kay Dee]

Yes, best to give any routine change a good week or so to see if it's working before reassessing

[Jem88]

So today we had a 6.30am wake up after bedtime being 8.10pm. So we did this routine today:

Up: 6.30am
Nap: 12.30-2pm
Bed: 6.50pm

I had her in bed for 6.35pm thinking it was maybe a little too early but she didn't cry and chat and mess about like last night she just lay quiet and fell asleep after 15mins. x

[Jem88]

Hmmm, she didn't really wake up as such but she did stirr and moan every hour-ish. She stirred at 6.30am which i thought she'd then start chatting but i had to wake her at 7 as she was still asleep. 

Would you say she was OT or UT? I'm not sure. x