16 month sleep issues - baby due in 2 weeks!

[magicmoo]

Hi everyone

My boy is 16 months and has been (except when teething) a great independent sleeper.  His day looks something like this:

0630 - wakes but we leave him til 0700
0700 - up; milk; breakfast
1000 - snack
1145 - lunch
1245 - nap
1430 - wake up from nap
1500 - snack
1700 - tea
1815 - tv with older brother
1830 - bath with older brother
1900 - bed

This was working great until recently.  He is taking an hour or more to get to sleep every night, a mixture of groaning with intermittent screaming thrown in!  I go to him, rub his back, tell him it's bedtime and leave again but only if the screaming becomes fairly constant.  Otherwise, I leave him to it and he does get there by 2000 usually.  He is also an early riser though and so is getting maybe 10.5 hours max each night.  He naps beautifully and drifts off within 10 mins or so with little fuss.

Any ideas?  He has just started at nursery and is not yet settled there and he does have a canine breaking through but this sleeping problem has been going on for a while now.  On nursery days, he comes home after lunch but that means he doesn't go down for his nap til nearer 1330 and he gets 1 hour or 1 hour 15 only.  It seems to make no difference.  The truth is, everybday, he is buzzing, full of beans at bedtime and doesn't seem remotely tired!  Different story in the morning when he really seems ready for a snooze.

So do I cut the nap?  Or Change bedtime?  Or something else?
His older brother does 7am til 7pm beautifully and really needs to be in bed by 7pm or else he is very cranky!
Baby 3 is coming next week and, whilst there are no quick fixes I know, I would welcome any suggestions.


Thank you

[katie80]

The truth is, everybday, he is buzzing, full of beans at bedtime and doesn't seem remotely tired! 

This sounds like OT to me.  My guess is that with starting nursery and the canine coming, he's gotten OT with the shorter naps and longer settling at night. 

Do you wake him up when he naps at home or does he wake naturally?  On the days he's home, I wonder if it might help to give him a nap a little earlier, like 12-12:30pm and let him sleep 2-2.5hr to catch up.  On the days he's at nursery and only doing the shorter nap, I'd bring bedtime earlier to 6:30pm. 

Are you medicating for the teeth? I know you mentioned it's been going on longer than that, but they can cause disruptions while they're moving down and not even cutting yet.  Also, it may be worth trying to cut the tv before bed, if possible.  It can be really stimulating for LOs and cause them to have trouble settling.

(((Hugs))), hope you get something figured out at least a little before baby comes!