18 month old, time to move to his own bed

[Florena49]

Hi everyone,
Its been a while sonce I have last logged, the knowledge I have gained whilst being a mod on here a while back has been fantastic and has helped me to navigate through baby sleep. My youngest is near on 18 months, i know its an interesting age and I can see a change in him, his behaviour, a bit of seperation anxiety etc and of course sleep.
We co sleep, he is bf, he naps duribg the day in his own cot no problem at all, falls asleep himself, i usually stand in the room.
We still look at A time for him, so his routine varies day to day, ideally i would like to have a set time for bt and move him into his cot also.
Just need a nudge on where to start with setting bt time really and generally what are A times for toddlers of this age.

[Scottishmummy]

Hi!

IME a lot of LOs do set naps and BT at this age rather than A times: Set naps for toddlers: Why, How and When

Actual times depend on wake up, sleep needs and other commitments e.g. Nursery/school pick ups but typically I see routines for 18mo something like:

Wu: between 6-8
Nap: starting between 12-1pm for anything from 1.5-3hrs depending on LO
BT: between 7-8, depending on wu time & nap length & sleep needs

As the link says, choose a nap time & BT and try not to vary nap start time more than 15mins and BT more than 30mins.  It can take a week or 2 of consistently trying to settle into the new routine.

Regarding moving from co-sleeping to own bed, I don't have personal experience but have heard of people using a gradual withdrawal approach e.g. In own bed and you on a mattress on floor, then gradually moving mattress further and further away until you are no longer in the room.

This link might also be helpful for you: Gentle Removal Plan

[Florena49]

Thank you, ill have a look at the links.
Getting him to nap doesnt seem to be an issue, but it seems that he needs a rather long A time before Bed, i haventried to settle him earlier, he wont settle unless its been 6 hours A time, or a bit longer, he will just lie next to me eyes open. Our day at the moment is something like

7
12.20nap-2
8.20bt

But it will move about depending on what time he woke up in the morning and what time he woke from the nap.