EW 21 months

[JCN]

Hi,
Our current routine is...

WU: 6:00am (this works for us due to my  work and childcare arrangements.)
Nap: 12:30/13:00 (pushed towards 13:00 more recently) for anywhere between 90mins to 2.5hours. I wake him at 15:00 regardless. Sometimes he wakes after 80mins and needs resettling.
BT 19:00

He was mostly STTN until a few weeks ago and is now waking any time from 5:00. I guide him back to bed & treat it as a NW. He does resettle easily but this waking is then repeated every 15mins or so until 6:00 when I get up with him. On the odd occasion he will resettle fully until 6:00.

He has black outs, a gro clock (which I’m not sure he understands).

I think I might need to tweak his nap but not sure how?

[JCN]

Update -

The EW have now turned into NWs. Last night was 10pm until 11:30pm and tonight started at 11pm and he is yet to settle back tonsleep and it’s currently 12:45am.

When he wakes, he sometimes cries or sometimes just stands at his door. He’s not appearing to be in any pain (doesn’t yet have final molars), he doesn’t have milk in the night so it’s not that. I thought perhaps some separation anxiety but the times I’ve given in and stayed with him a while, he’s no better settled and starts babbling away to me like it’s the middle of the day and smiling at me.

Please help! What on earth has happened???

[creations]

Hi there
Sorry you didn't get a reply yet.

To be honest I think this is a developmental language leap. It's the right time for it.  You could tweak the routine all over the place and still not solve the night time sleep disturbances you are experiencing.  It's likely that if you just stick to what you are doing (same routine, resettle at night when needed, use some verbal instruction to go to sleep, some extra reassurance that everything is okay etc) the developmental phase will just pass.  You might have a couple of weeks disturbance but (for most cases) you'll come out the other side and his routine and sleep will just suddenly return to normal and he'll have a bunch of new words to show off.

Often these problems are easier for us parents to deal with when we know the cause and know there is an end in sight.  I'd just wait it out and see what happens.  Maybe try to get yourself to bed an hour earlier so that you aren't as tired?

[JCN]

Thanks - he is very delayed with speech and if he was to develop some language after a leap then I’d put up with this more often.

But yes, good to know that it’s commonly a developmental stage at this age.


He is still getting used to having a side off his cot too, although the wakings and the removal of the bars didn’t go hand in hand, and I dont think he sleeps very well with the heat in the gorgeous weather we’ve been having.

Will keep plodding on with what we normal do and hope it passes soon.

[creations]

Has a health professional said he's delayed with speech?  I thought they didn't check until 2yo??

I'm wondering because I've known a few people (including me) who worried speech was delayed but it was more to do with language development coming in bursts instead of a little at a time.

[JCN]

Hi - I’m Back! we’re still struggling with EW - any time from 4:30/45  at the minute and no matter how consistent I am with putting him back in bed, it’s not helping. By 5:30 we reach screaming and tantrum stage because he’s frustrated and/or over tired and then he’s of course shattered by mid morning.

Ps: his nursery key workers have identified that he’s slightly behind with speech, and I alsonwork in education myself and can see it. He does use some words, I’m not overly worried. But not as many as other toddlers his age.

[creations]

Sorry to hear the EW are still happening and seem to have moved even earlier.
I take it you didn't suddenly get lots of new words out of him then.

Is the bedroom totally blacked out?  Early sunrise is a terrible sleep disturbance. Full total blackout could help, any crack of light can effect WU time.

Teething?

You could try later nap and later BT perhaps?  Shifting the day on to get him past that early morning?  Mine eventually had a nap 2-4pm and BT at 8pm, that was his last routine before dropping the nap, some LOs won't accept that short A time before BT but mine did, with a very long morning A time.

[JCN]

We did get a few new words...but no more than has been usual for the last month or so...

His room is completely blacked out, as it has been for his entire life. We use the gro blind, underneath blackout roller blind AND blackout  curtains. It’s like a cave in there! Haha.

I don’t think he’s teething... he has had all teeth aside from final back molars since he was 18 months. I can’t see any signs of movement of the others and he hasn’t had any other teething symptoms.

This morning at 4:30 he seemed to think it was time to get up and play!

He is already more than ready for a nap at 1pm, I think I’d struggle to get it any later. Plus, at nursery, he has to sleep from 1-2:30 anyway and there isn’t the option to move it later on the 3 days that he is there. But like I say, by 12:30/1:00pm he’s more than ready for a sleep. Same with BT, by 6:45 in the bath he is yawning and he self settles to sleep within 5-10mins of being in bed around 7pm.

Perhaps his language leap hasn’t finished yet. Or maybe it’s just a phase I have to work through. But it’s making for one grumpy boy! And one grumpy mummy!!

[creations]

Hmm.. not sure I have much else I can suggest.  Looks like you covered pretty much everything.

Have you tried an even earlier BT?  Just wondering if nap and BT can't move later to shift the whole day on perhaps an EBT could help him stay asleep later in the morning??

Have you tried a gro clock or lights on a timer to start to teach when night and day is?  He's still pretty young but I started lights on a timer young and although it wasn't instantly a success over time it really helped a great deal.  Mine did learn that if it was still dark he had to try to go back to sleep and stay quiet which eventually led to going back to sleep.  Initially I set up a timer light and an additional light with a remote control switch I could use outside the room, this meant that on the days he woke really too early he didn't have to wait until lights on because I could pretend lights on at an earlier time without going in the room.
It's a bit of a long shot and a longer term idea, sorry, can't think of anything else for a quicker fix right now.

[JCN]

Yes, we’ve had a gro clock in his room for a few months now - not that he takes any notice or understands! I think maybe I’ll have to just grin and bear this for a while. The night wakings are sporadic and worse some nights than others, we’ve also had some horrible nappies so could be teeth or a tummy bug. But WU is still sitting between 5:15 and 5:45 zzzz