Night waking - 18 month old

[llawrence83]

Please help!

My daughter is 18 months old and has never really slept through the night. At the moment she is waking for between 1-4 hours every night, she will shout, sing, play and occasionally cry.

She naps12:30-2 approx every day and goes to bed between 6:30-7
Wake up is any where between 6-8 in the morning

Usual routine is
7 wake up/milk
Breakfast
Play
Snack around 10
Lunch 11:30
Nap 12:30 - 2
Snack
Dinner 4:45/5
Milk
Bath
Bed

Will always self settle for naps and bed time but once she's awake in the night that's it!!
Please help!!

[cath~]

Her routine looks pretty good tbh.

How do you deal with the NWs? Do you stay with her the whole time? How does she fall back to sleep?

How long have these long NWs been going on for? What were the NWs like before?

There is a big dev leap around 18 mos which could be contributing.

Sorry for all the qns - just trying to get the whole picture

[llawrence83]

I've never been able to rock her to sleep so I have to leave her!
I go in if crying for a while but only to shush and let her know it's night time
This period has been three weeks now, but we had it for several weeks at 12 months too, she just goes back to sleep when she's exhausted. Last night was two hours, lots of listing /counting etc, I left her until she cried, then went in to let her know she needed to go back to sleep. She woke at 6:30 and wouldn't go back so she only had 8 hours sleep

We're exhausted! 

[cath~]

((hugs)) hun that does sound tough

sounds like it's developmental to me TBH and I think you're def doing the right thing - only going in if she's crying.

the only other thought I have is maybe the NWs could be partly UT...  Would you say she is high, low or average sleep needs?

[llawrence83]

She's very sensitive to sleep, id say she needs a good amount as she is quite little but doesn't keep still all day! . we try to be flexible with bed time depending on nap times and respond to whether she is tired or not. We've also tried calming everything down earlier so she doesn't get over stimulated

[cath~]

Mmm Sounds like the NWs prob aren't UT then and it's developmental.

Hope they improve for you soon!

[llawrence83]

Still haven't managed to get past this, have the odd night of full sleep (by that I mean I go in a couple of times but not awake for hours) but still having a lot of nights awake 2-4 hours at a time!

Please help!!

[cath~]

Is everything else the same since a month ago - eg routine, food etc? How is her temperament during the day - have you noticed any changes?

The 18 mo sleep regression (related to dev changes) can go on for a few weeks so it might be that you're not quite out of it yet.  Some ppl also find that after the 18 mo sleep issues/ dev changes they need a routine change, often pushing the nap a bit later helps. You could try that and see if it makes a difference. Or some find capping the nap helps too, although not all los are ready for that.

[llawrence83]

Pretty much the same, talking a lot more so could be a bit developmental.

Woke her from nap today after 1.5 hours, put to bed usual time but took a lot longer to settle, possibly a bit OT

Going to keep capping nap at 1.5 hours, that should give 4.5-5 hours in the afternoon

It's been about six weeks now! If I push nap later do I change bedtime?

[cath~]

I would only change one thing at a time or you'll get in a pickle.

If you're trying capping the nap then I'd try that for at least a week before you assess it.

If you do try pushing nap later, then to start with, no, don't move BT.  Most ppl find that the longer morning A time overrides the shorter pm one and LO is still tired at BT.  However, as lo gets older it might be that BT moves later (unless you cap the nap) until they are old enough to drop the nap completely.

At this age there's really not one right way of doing things and it can be a bit of trial and error to find what works best (shorter nap vs later nap) for your lo.

Hth