my tired out shouty little man

[scarlettsstars]

Hi everybody, hoping someone can offer some insight here as to what I'm doing wrong! DS is 12 months old and has always been quite wakeful. In an attempt to get him to sleep we've fallen into a few bad habits and bedtimes are getting a bit traumatic. I used to Bf him and then when he was either asleep or good and dozy bob him in his cot and beat a retreat. We weaned him off breastmilk and onto bottles and he's now on cows milk. Our bedtime routine now is
5pm home from nursery
snack and a drink
530 play with rest of family
6 ish bath
6.30 into PJs
story
bottle of milk in cot
night night DS.

Only lately, everything post bath is done to the accompaniment of screams, he's desperate to get into cot, falls asleep easily usually after a bottle. Wakes 45 mins later, screaming.I go in and he's red faced, sat bolt upright, terribly upset. Gets a second bottle. Goes to sleep. This is getting completely fraught, and I'm desperate to be able to comfort him, he seems so stressed out. What am I doing wrong? any advice gratefully received

[Doingeverythingican]

I can't offer any advice but my DS 11 months does pretty much the same, he is tired and ready for bed but cries/screams his head off I then rock him until his calm ( and pretty much asleep otherwise he just screams again) then he wakes at. 11 or so screaming again DH going in makes it worse! So we end up co sleeping just to get rest?
A friend suggested night terrors?

[Littlef00t]

Is it worth trying to get him to bed a touch earlier?

[scarlettsstars]

thanks both. It is almost certainly part of over tiredness, little foot, you're right, but we can't get him back from nursery any earlier, he's ravenous post nursery and then has a post tea 'rush' so I can't get him in there any sooner (plus I'd never see him ). Night terrors, doingeverythingican? gosh, that's a scary thought! I hope they don't kick in at all anytime soon!

[CuteLittleToes]

Does this happen on non nursery nights too?

[scarlettsstars]

Hi Cute, sadly yes it does. He's only not in nursery at weekends but even at weekends he wakes reliably and is upset. I want to stop giving him this second bottle- especially as I'm convinced that downing an entire pint of milk in the early evening is contributing to him getting up at 5.30 every morning- but he's so upset and patting, cuddling, singing, etc seem to just make him angrier!

[WorkingBling]

Oh dear. B difficult with nursery. Ds still does this if he's too tired at bed time. We worked out that he is really asleep during the pre bit and wakes up terrified because he doesn't know how he got to bed. Can you try making play time and bath time combined and a bit longer and then still get him to bed even just 15 minutes earlier?

[Happy36]

Are you putting him down a bit early?

Perhaps a bit more fresh air will tire him out.

Our kids were always made more alert by bathing so we never did them anywhere near bedtime and still don't (they are 3 and 6 now).

The hotter weather and longer daylight may be a factor too. I would say try a later bedtime first.

[bayrans]

Maybe he's overstimulated too. I would cut the 'playtime' to more relax time and cut short the length of his bath plus no toys or splashing. I know this sounds harsh but it worked for my little (still bloody terrible) sleeper!
It did help with the screaming whilst getting dry/dressed and waking after 45mins.

[CuteLittleToes]

I really don't have any experience to offer but maybe you should take a look at his naps and try to shuffle them? I.e. not enough/too much, too late/too early...