Taking a while to fall asleep at night

[Chloevalentine]

It's been taking my 17.5 mo lo a long time to fall asleep at night lately. Routines the same nothing's changed. Tonight he was in his crib for 40 mins before he fell asleep! Not complaining or crying just sitting up looking around tossing and turning. His easy is usually :
7/730 wake in morning ( this can be as late as 8 am or sonetimes he's up for a little while in crib around 6 but falls back), nap is 1230-2/230 and I will wake him at 2 hrs if he's not up then he's in crib around 730. What can it be? I always feel bad when he's awake in crib so long.

[creations]

Could be the start of the 18 month regression, it's a very common time for sleep disturbance. There are half birthday developmental leaps, language leaps and all sorts which LO is working on so he may actually be fine just chilling out in his bed thinking over all the wonderful things he's done in the day before drifting off to sleep.
The general advice is to try to stick with your routine and ride it out. The disturbance may get worse before it gets better (ie he may not continue to be happy for that 40 mins or there may be other disturbances). The best thing is probably to just know about it so you are prepared and know that others go through the same.
There's a support thread here
18 month sleep regression support thread - Part 2

[Chloevalentine]

Thanks for the info! It always seems to take him longer to fall asleep when he goes to bed later which seems odd to me. If he's in his crib by 720 he's usually asleep by 730 but if he's not in crib until 730 or later that's when it takes him a while and isn't asleep until 8 ( last night almost 820). Maybe it's just a coincidence

[creations]

Maybe put him in bed at 7.20pm then?

[Chloevalentine]

We had the same issue today at nap. He slept until 8 this morning which is late but probably since he didn't fall asleep until after 8 last night then nap he went in at 1240/1245 and didn't fall asleep until after 1 and slept until 220. It's just odd for him especially at nap time to take so long to fall asleep. Tonight he will be in crib by 720 we will see how it goes

[creations]

You may need to wake him in the morning to keep your routine on track. If he falls to sleep late this means he loses a little sleep that night by you waking him in the morning rather than letting him sleep in, but it also means he will be ready for his nap and has more chance of staying on track with his routine. If you let him lie in too many times, leading to later naps, this can lead to later and later nights.
I've only had to wake mine once or twice, and I'm not saying there is harm with the odd lie in here and there, that's fine, but you don't want him shifting his entire routine yk? So I would prob wake him if he sleeps in again.

[Chloevalentine]

Good idea! He went into crib at 720 last night and fell right to sleep! And is just waking now his usual 12 hrs. So odd that when i put him to bed later he has trouble falling asleep lol. Hopefully he will be back on track today with nap too!

[creations]

Sounds like he gets a little OT and then has difficulty relaxing immediately.
We all have 'sleep windows' and if we pass them we may have to wait for the next one to come around before we can drift off to dream land.

It's great you know him so well that you can identify he needs to be in in bed for 7.20pm to get his best sleep