used to be a very good sleeper now waking up at night (18 month)

[briansprincess]

My 18 month old used to sleep really really well and now for 2 half weeks he has been waking up at night 2 or 3 times most times  he will go back to sleep on his own with out Dh or I going in and if dosn't settle all we do is go in lay him back down cover him up and hes ok. He also has been waking up early as well. I posted a couple weeks ago and somepeople suggesed that he was staying a wake between waking up and going down for his afternoon nap so I adjusted somethings but things are still the same nothing changed and we gave it a week and half. So now im asking for some more help I don't know what to do he used to be such a good sleeper and a happy little guy, now hes gummpy because hes not sleeping good.

Here is his first routine.

wake-8:00 and breakfest
11:30-lunch
12:00-nap 2 hrs
2:00-wake up
5:30-dinner
7:00-bath, story, brush teeth.
7:30- in bed


and here is the new one with some changes.

7:30-wake eat breakfast
12:00-lunch
12:30-nap 2 hrs
2:30-wake up
5:30-dinner
7:00-bath, story, brush teeth
7:30-in bed

Anyhelp would be great thank you.

Crystal

[Izzy-B's mommy]

Your 2nd routine sounds the same as our's here at home, and it sounds good to me.   

I would say it's probably just a phase and if you just keep at what you 'were' doing that 'was' working, then things will fall back into place. 

I say this b/c I too have a really good sleeper and each time she gets abit off course, I tend to get all anxious about it, but each time if I just kept really calm (on the outside  )  And just kept doing what works for us (which was go in, reassure and tuck back in, and then if I would have to go in more times, then I would keep words to a minimal, if not any words, and retuck)  eventually things just always fell back into place for me.   

Although, sometimes I did have to change things.  2 mths ago I took away her soo-soo.  It didn't bother her nighttime sleep, but she stopped napping.  After 1.5mths of this, she said to me on day while getting ready for her nap "can I take my sippy cup for nap?"   So, I said "okay Isabella, but you have to have your nap, or tomorrow mommy won't let you have it again"  ~ well, she napped, and since then it's been 'prettygood'. 

Has anything changed in his routine?    Sometimes she gives us a hard time and when we sit down we realize that we'd been skimping on her nighttime routine, then when we fix that, she gets back on tract.

Just some things to think about!

Hugs... I know how frustrating it is when sleep problems come up

[Florencia]

Hi Crystal!

Your new routine looks pretty good to me. I think Tracy's advice is really good too. Just keep at what you're doing if he's not too distressed when he wakes in the middle of the night and is not taking too long to go back to sleep. HAve you ruled out other type of discomfort such as teething or an illness? If he's napping fine and going down easily to sleep at bedtime I don't think is a sleep training issue but a discomfort one. Have you checked his room temperature, the sheets or something that might be contributing to his wakings? If everything's fine, then just keep consistant at the way you're dealing with the wakings cause they're likely to slow down once everything's in control. I'm sorry I can't come up with something extra, it just looks that everything's fine by looking at your schedule and the way you deal with the wakings.

If you think something else is up, the please post your thoughts on this. HUGS!!! and HTH!

[Lucysmom]

Hi -

Just wanted to say I have been following with interest this thread as my 18 month old dd is having nightwakings and it has been going on for quite a while (over a month).  Usually, she is a great sleeper.  Now she is up at least once and these days it is usually in the early morning.  When she is up, she is up for a LOOONG time.  However, if we put her in bed with us, she often will go back to sleep.  We are no longer doing that but instead she is up for 2 hours and then sleeps for like 40 minutes and then is up for the day.  Her naps are now all exactly 1 hr 30 minutes.  She is getting her eye teeth and we are giving motrin at bed and that usually would do the trick to get her through the night.  Now, no such luck. I think I will call the pediatrician and see if the dosage I am giving her is still correct.  The only thing left to try is to give meds again when she wakes and pray that she goes back to sleep.  I have not been offering a morning nap for a long time (since August) and she was doing fine on that schedule.  Her naps were always 2 hours or longer. 

The routine that we had that worked great was

6:30/7 wake
12:30 nap
2:30/3 wake
7:30 bed

Obviously, I feed her but did not think it important to include! 

Now, I am putting her to bed as close to 7 as possible, and just doing the afternoon nap.  Should I offer a tiny catnap in the morning since she is now getting like 10 hours of sleep overnight instead of 11 or 12?  And her naps have shortened?

Can it really take this long for teeth to come through and to cause such chaos?  She has all of her teeth except her eye teeth.  Her molars are in and they did not cause her a lot of discomfort.

Ok, so now I feel terrible that I have totally hijacked this post!    I am soooo sorry!!!!  But any input would be great.  Dh and I are sooooo tired and our patience is wearing thin.  THANKS!

[imsmum]

If my dd has a bad night I usually try for a slightly earlier nap than normal and a slightly earlier bedtime and it fixes things within a day or 2.  If your lo is waking 30 minutes earlier on top of night wakings there might be some cumulative sleep deprivation that perpetuates itself when you.

[Florencia]

Melissa, If Lucy already has her meds dosage and it's been more than 6 hours but less than 8, you can try and rub some oraljel on the gums. If it's been more than 8 hours i beleive it's safe to offer the motrin again, but it's worth to ask the ped about this. And yes, many lo's around here have experienced much more discomfort when teething eye teeth as opposed to molars. Other than that, caroline's (imsmum) suggestion about bringing nap and bedtime forward 30 mins should help her catch up on lost sleep. Sleep is cumulative so one day of bad sleep might affect following weeks, so you must offer as many chances for sleep as you can, respecting your routine as much as you can (hence, i wouldn't recommend a second nap, just offer the same structure, forwarding the schedule from 30 to 60 min as needed).

HTH and post back if you need aditional info!

[Lucysmom]

Thanks Imsmum and Florencia!

I will do what you both suggested about moving nap and bed times 30 minutes earlier.  However, last night she actually slept through!!! 

I heard her at 4:30 start crying, and as I was heading down the hall to tend to her she got quiet.  So I laid down to see what happened and she fell back to sleep.    I was prepared to give her more motrin as her last dose was at 7 pm so that is 9 hours and according to the dosing instructions that is fine.  She does not like anyone to put their fingers in or near her mouth so I have never managed to rub orajel on her gums.     Causes major freak outs!  Today I did sneak a finger in to try and feel what was going on with one of her eye teeth and when I pressed on the gum there she clearly told me it hurt!  Poor thing! 

I think the reason why she slept better last night was that somehow her nap was longer than 1 hr 30 mins yesterday (no idea why it lengthened).  So she was tired before bed but not overtired.  Also, I raised the temperature in her room a bit as dh noticed her little hands were a bit cold the day before when he got her up.

I can't wait for these teeth to come through!!!!!  They are taking sooooooo long in comparison to the others and they are soooooo much more painful it seems.  All of the other teeth, including her molars, were easy in comparison. 

Thanks so much for your reassurance and insight.  I really appreciate the feedback!