Author Topic: Sudden bedtime drama for 15 month old  (Read 1028 times)

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Offline sycorrell

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Sudden bedtime drama for 15 month old
« on: May 05, 2006, 15:33:08 pm »
My daughter has been a good night sleeper for a long time - since about 4 months we have been able to put her in bed awake and she falls asleep on her own.  We used shh/pat for sleep training and we used it if she was a little fussy.  She is on a good eating/nappng schedule overall.  But -- This past week she has been a nightmare at bedtime.  Sitting up, standing up, screaming for about an hour before falling into an exahusted sleep.  Today she started doing it for naps as well, although it was very short.

For the most part, she is still taking 2 naps.  She held on to a third nap for a long time so I assume she will hold on to two for a while as well.  She is clearly tired at bedtime but cannot settle down.  Shh/pat is not working at all.  In fact, sometimes I think having my husband or I in the room makes it worse because she tries to reach out for us through the crib rails.

She has been getting a lot of teeth although that does not seem to be bothering her too much.  Even when we give her pain relief, it does not seem to make bedtime easier.  She has been going through a lot of developmental changes - learning to walk, etc. 

I am not sure what to do to help her get back on track.  I sat next to her crib for almost an hour last night, shhing her and laying her back down when she stood up.  When I finally left, she cried for another few minutes then fell asleep.  Is this separation anxiety?  Does she need a stuffed animal or lovey?  Or do you think it is all the physical changes?  My husband and I have never been big into the "crying it out" method but I think we might need to go there, at least letting her cry a bit and checking at intervals.  Any help would be appreciated!
Stacy C.
Mother of Julia, born February 9th

Offline imsmum

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Re: Sudden bedtime drama for 15 month old
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2006, 16:16:08 pm »
If you being in there seems to disturb her by all means try the walk in/walk out method.  There are lots of good posts here on this board about the method. 

It could be developmental, my lo went through something similar around naptime a while back and I had to use a modified walk in/walk out.  It also helped to push her nap back a bit.

Also this may be the precurser to switching to one nap.  Sometimes they can't sleep even though they are tired because their natural schedule is changing, so the 2 naps which always worked well now starts to be a problem especially around bedtime since they are tired but can't sleep because the afternoon nap is too late to let them go down well.  What is her schedule like? Any changes lately (other than resisting sleeptimes)?

My younger dd held on to her 3rd nap until she was about 9 months old but then switched to one nap when she was around 16 months old.


Offline sycorrell

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Re: Sudden bedtime drama for 15 month old
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2006, 19:01:47 pm »
This is her basic schedule - it can vary a bit in the middle depending on how long she sleeps in the morning:

6:30 am - Wake and play in crib
7 am - milk
8 am - breakfast (yogurt, fruit), then play time
10 - 10:30 am - morning nap
11 am - noon - wake time somewhere in here, milk
12:30 pm - lunch
2 - 2:30 pm - afternoon nap
3:30 - 4 pm - wake, milk and snack
5 pm - juice
6 pm - dinner
7:30 - bedtime routine and in bed at 8 pm

She has had days where she has only napped once - usually she either does not nap in the am or her morning nap is late and she sleeps for 2 - 3 hours.  When she takes 2 naps, they are usually at least an hour each, sometimes longer.  I have wondered if she was ready for just one nap, and some days she seems to be, but others she clearly needs 2 naps.  Since her afternoon naps in general do not go too late or too close to her bedtime, I did not think this was an issue.  Maybe she will just flip-flop between the two for a while?

Other changes - getting lots of teeth (but again, she does not seem to be too bothered by that) and being much more active/starting to pull up/makes moves toward walking.  She was a late crawler (13 months) and will probably be a later walker (she is not walking yet at 15 months but making big moves towards it).

Thanks for the help.
Stacy C.
Mother of Julia, born February 9th

Offline imsmum

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Re: Sudden bedtime drama for 15 month old
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2006, 20:33:10 pm »
It does seem like she is at the beginning stages of transitioning to 1 nap, and your right she'll probably flip flop between the 2 for a while until she starts taking one nap more often than not.  But in the meantime you can expect some disturbed sleep times.  You may want to restrict theafternoon nap to no longer than 3:30 just to avoid bedtime battles and to preserve a decent bedtime.