18mo Bedtime shenanigans and/or EW for MONTHS. NOTHING WORKS!!

[Mackjack]

He fell asleep at 20.20 last night. Did his usual thing this morning where he woke at 5.50 whinging. Laid down as soon as I went in his room. Went quiet for a while then was up at 6.15.

Just put him down for his nap at 11.40 and he is whinging, blowing raspberries, has chucked everything out the cot and is banging the cot against the wall interspersed with the odd quiet minute.

[Mackjack]

I went back into his room once and told him to lay down, it's sleepy time. I did not given back what he'd thrown out of his cot. He continued to sit there whinging. I could see on the monitor he is shattered - yawning and head lolling about. So I sat outside his room repeating our sleepy phrase and hes just gone to sleep after 30 mins.
Usually he's good at naptimes but more and more we are getting the same behaviour as at BT. What I did just now is better than the shameful shout fest I did last night but I need to get to the bottom of his behaviour - I can't be doing this every sleep time! !!

[deb]

Sometimes it's just developmental and all we can do is wait for it to pass. 

Meanwhile, as much physical activity during the day as you can get it (I always found that swimming brought on great sleep!), especially outdoors with lots of bright daylight, and as low-key after supper/6PM (that was our family's guideline, anyway) as possible, without ANY screen time after supper either (blue light from TV/computer/device interferes with melatonin production) might also make an impact.

[Mackjack]

Thanks Deb. Right - am going to try to run him ragged this afternoon and will pull the plug on the TV. I try not to let him watch too much but it's hard sometimes when DD is always putting it on.

He just cried out at the 30 min mark - classic OT sign I think. ..

[cath~]

Yeah, I agree with Deb. Sometimes it is *just* developmental.

IIWM I'd prob be inclined to stick to normal routine unless you think he's getting a buildup of OT, in which case I'd try to do EBT for him to catch up.

Hope the physical activity helps this afternoon!

[Mackjack]

3.15am and I'm laying in bed trying not to cry. For one reason or another I failed to get him out for exercise yesterday afternoon. He woke from his nap unhappy sfter 1hr 45 - still tired but couldn't get back to sleep.Had to go out in the evening so my DM put him to bed. I told her to go for EBT due to unhappy nap WU. Amazingly he messed about for 15 mins but was asleep at 6.30pm.

2am and he woke. Went in and he seemed very much awake - wanted a drink and then laid down. Keeps sitting up in his cot and moaning. When I go in,  he just seems v awake and wants a drink. No crying. He doesn't seem tired. So after all this time of me thinking 'at least we're not getting NWs' am I faxed with this now??? What do I do tomorrow? ?? Cut the nap? I don't even know what time nap to aim for anymore let alone BT.

[Mackjack]

*faced*

[deb]

Just on the off-chance that his teeth are bothering him, can you try pain meds before sleep times and see if it makes a difference? Around this time Josie was waking at 2AM every night for about 3 months (crying for OraGel for her teeth); I got to the point where I had a syringe of meds ready to go when she woke. (It wasn't till much later that it occurred to me that I could have tried a "dream med" but by then it had passed.)

[Mackjack]

I'll give anything a go but tbh he just seemed awake and UT last night. It went on from 2-4am. Then he woke again at 5.45 but after I went in he went back down til 6.45

[Mackjack]

Today I put him down for his nap slightly later as he got up later than usual this morning (6.45) although it was a broken night.  He was asleep by 12.20pm no problem at all. I'm only going to let him have 1hr 30 - partly because I'm terrified of another 2hr UT waking like last night and partly because we need to go out. Does that sound a good idea? .Then I thought I'd do BT at 6.30 - early enough to compensate for the shorter nap and/or if he messes around like normal it's also early enough that by the time he's stopped messing about it won't (hopefully) be stupidly late.

Any thoughts?  Would you do the same or not? ?

[deb]

Worth a try! Fingers crossed for you! 

[cath~]

Hugs for the long NW.  Hope it was a one-off.

does sound like it could be ut. 

How did it go with the shorter nap? I do agree that's worth a try if the NW was ut.

If he's got developmental stuff going on though then that could also be a cause.  However , I think a shorter nap is worth a try to rule out ut.

((Hugs)) you're having a tricky time of it atm

[Mackjack]

Well I capped the nap at 1hr 30 and then took him for 2 hrs of running around like a loon at soft play in the afternoon. He was asleep just before 7pm, brief wu at 3am for a drink then back to sleep til 6.45!!! Amazing but I'm definitely not counting my chickens yet...

Today I put him down for his nap about 12.15 - later than usual as he WU in the AM later than usual (I think 5.5 hrs A time in the AM seems to be about right).  He messeD about a little for his nap but was asleep by 12.45. I was going to cap at 1hr30 again but he woke himself happy at about 1hr 20. 2hrs of running around in the park this afternoon and I'm going to try BT just before 7pm again....

[Mackjack]

Also meant to say he didn't fuss at all at BT last night....

[deb]

Sounds good - now to make sure it's not just a one-off.