20 month old - sleeping was great now yucky!

[sezandmatt]

We have a 20mth old son who has been going to sleep no problems by himself since really young and sleeping through (yes we know we were lucky). Now however things have changed and he hates going to sleep at night - we used to have a good nightime routine and he would go to sleep without a squeak - now the same routine leads to lots of screaming and yelling when we leave the room. He has also had some nights when he's woken up (we normally count to 100 before going in) where he won't go back to sleep unless me or his dad are lying next to his cot!!
Things were going so well but now it seems to be a bit yuck!
We were wondering if this could be because his nap is actually quite late (he's at a childminder and she makes a record of his naps and it seems that sometimes he's going down after 3pm and not up till after 5pm) - maybe us then trying to get him into to bed at 8pm is just too soon.

Any ideas would be great!

Thanks
Sarah

[Florencia]

Yes you're absolutely right. As they get old, they need more awake time in order to be tired enough to go down easily. 3 hours awake time is enough for an 8 month old but I beleive that a 20 month old needs at least 5 hours. Besides, he can be acumulating overtiredness, since he goes down for his nap so late. What time does he wake up? By all means, try to move his nap backwards, depending on his morning wake up time, make it at last 6 hours after he woke. Then provide at least 5 hours after waking for nap, so he's tired enough to go down and stay asleep.

On an extra insight, I'd recommend you to stop counting to a certain number when he cries out for you. It is better to listen to his cries (is it a whine? is it a scream? is it an hystericall crying?) Go inside his room as soon as the cry starts to sound unconsolable and the type of cry that you know he's gonna need your help. That will show him that you'll be there for him whenever he needs you and will prevent any separation anxiety issues.

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Yes I think 3 hours is so not enough to be tired for a good nights sleep, dd has been on 5 hours awake time almost since she went down to 1 nap. Also agree with Florencia on going in as soon as the cry is unconsolable, try walk in walk out, there is a sticky at the top of the board, it does work, had to do it last week with my previously fantastic sleeper. Also I think they will go through stages where they don't go to sleep as easy as they used to especially as they are getting older and learn distracting tactics so you need to have your plan in place and stick to it, we almost went off track cos dh coudln't.