A day in the life of your 15-20 month old

[Mummagumma]

DS is 17 months now. We have a routine, but it seems quite different to other babies I know. If things were going well, I'd take the "whatever works for your family" attitude, but sleep and naps are awful (currently typing with one hand and rocking pram to maintain nap - we do this every time or he wakes distraught, unable to get back himself) and I feel maybe we should restructure everything.

Groups and activities often seem to be 9.30-11.30 - I can't see how we can do this kind of thing until he's down to one nap, so how do other people manage? I wonder whether he should eat his meals earlier, but it's great having dinner as a family. Maybe go to bed earlier (but then I'd have to go to bed earlier too - after the first 90 mins he needs me next to him unless I want to be up & down stairs every 20 mins). Anyway, it's like this:

8.00 wake (half an hour flexibility each way) and BF in bed. Romp around with Daddy.
9.00 Breakfast.
10.15 Start nap routine then sleep for one hour.
11.30 Awake. Breastfeed. Play etc.
12.45 Lunch. Then play, park, walk, etc.
14.45 Start nap routine, then nap for one hour.
16.00 Awake. May BF. Play, etc. Snack at about 17.00
18.30 In The Night Garden (so I can cook dinner).
19.00 Daddy home, dinner all together.
20.15 Bath, Bboks and BF.
20.45 Attempt to persuade to sleep.
21.00-21.30 Asleep.
(then wake 60 million times during the night, but that's another story).

So that's my and DS' day - now tell me yours.

[Pinkjenny]

Erm, my ds is 17mo also...

His routine (in his words) goes like this:

6.15am Wake up and sing in cot until someone picks me up. Barge into my big sister's room, wake her up, climb on her bed, smack her on the head and steal her dummy
6.45am Bottle and porridge. I like toast too, especially grinding the butter into the carpet.
7.00am - 9.00am Alternate between playing, climbing on the furniture, crying to stand on the windowsills to see the birds, and whinge a lot. Steal sister's breakfast, and try to feed mummy her breakfast
9.00am Bottle and nap
11.30am Wake up
12.00pm Lunch - Insist on feeding myself, throwing food all over the gaff, try to escape from the highchair, then proceed to eat everyone else's lunch and steal their cutlery to stomp about with, threatening to stab myself in the eye and necessitate a trip to A&E
1.00pm - 4.00pm Play. Annoy sister, empty all kitchen cupboards, dance to any music that I can hear, look for birdies, eat lots of snacks, whinge a fair bit
4.00pm Tea. See 'Lunch'
4.15pm - 6.00pm Whinge a lot because I'm getting tired now.
6.00pm Bath. Turn the taps on. Over and over and over again. Drink lots of bathwater
6.45pm Bottle
7.00pm Bed

HTH

[Pinkjenny]

Although my ds is a wonderful sleeper (and the cutest thing EVER), my dd is 4yo next week and has never slept through the night. So I'm not being smug, believe me.

[Firawla]

i have a ds 16 months, doesnt really have a fixed routine though maybe because he is my 2nd one so has to fit in with our other activities, and he is down to one nap per day generally

if you did want to do the morning groups etc, then what about just try to stretch him out till 11.30 then let him have one longer nap? may not work but worth a try? and then possibly bring bedtime forward. mines bedtime is a lot earlier so that is how he copes on 1 nap, otherwise he wouldn't

waking up time varies anywhere between 6-8
breakfast about 8 or 8.30
if we are going out in the morning for a group then leave house about 9.30
otherwise if we not going til afternoon put for a nap about 10.30 sleeping til around 12
if we go out then come back and have a nap at 12, unless we are out whole day then he will normally wait til later or go without nap
lunch at 1ish, but varies a bit eg if we need to be out for 1 then will feed him at 12 or if he's asleep will give at 2 or 1.30 when he wakes up
afternoon if we went out in the morning then normally just play at home, or maybe go to parks or shopping
dinner at 5pm but will give any time from 4.30 really if he is getting too tired/whiny
bathtime around 5.30 or 6
in bed any time from 6pm-7pm unless we go out and come back later

& snacks are just at any time he looks hungry, dont have a routine for it
so overall not really a proper routine, rather than schedule activities around his naps or routine i just make him fit into our plans really, but he seems okay on it he does not mind as long as he gets sleep at some point and an early night

[LeMousquetaireAnonyme]

most of pink sounds very familiar, so I won't repeat it

if lucky 6 am, up and bottle (1/2h both way)
7h breakfast
7h30 school run (1h15 round trip)
9h shopping/cleaning with me...
10h park or baby group...
11h30 lunch
12h nap
13h30 school run
14h park
16h Tv and play with big sister
17h30 diner
18h bath
18h45 bottle
bed time between 19h and 20h

[LeMousquetaireAnonyme]

mine is 15 months

[Sirzy]

DS is 17 months, we have always been flexible with routine but his rough routine is

7am wake up - milk in cot
7.30 - up and dressed
8 - breakfast
8.30 - 12 - playing/out and about
12ish - dinner
12.30 - 2 - nap
2- 5 - playing
5 - tea
6.30 - bath (if bath night)
7 - story and bed

Bed can be any time from 6 but settling at 7 at the moment.

[baabaapinksheep]

My DD is 18 months.

7am - wake up, drink of juice/milk while I have a cup of tea
7.45 - 8 - breakfast
8.30 - get dressed then play with big sister/ shopping/ see friends
12.30 - lunch
1 - nap
2.30 - 3 - wake up, have a snack and play/ go out/ help clean etc
5 - dinner
6 - bath
7 - bed

The days she is at nursery it is the same up until 8am, and from 6pm.

[25goingon95]

DD is 16 months old and her day goes like this:

6am - wake up and have milk/nappy change
6.30am - play and TV with sister
8am - breakfast
8.30am - school run
9.30am - play or out and about with me
12ish - lunch
12.30pm - nap
2.30pm - awake and play
3pm - school run
4pm - play with sister while i prepare tea
5pm - tea
6pm - bath
6.45pm - bottle
7pm- bed

[MrsHerculePoirot]

DD is 17 months too she can wake up any time between 645 and 830, but an average day goes like this... sometimes she will have two naps, other days just 20 minutes depending on what we are doing.

7am wake up - chat to self in cot
730/745 - get up, get dressed go downstairs and have bottle of milk, play
play until breakfast is ready
815/830 - breakfast
900 - play, 'help' mummy in the house, get ready to go out
9.30-10.00 - go out to some playgroup/swimming/shopping or play at home or in garden
12.30 ish - lunch
1.30 ish - nap
3.00 - wake up, play, 'help' in house, go to playground/park/walk down the road
4.30 - snack
600 - dinner with daddy (if home, if not he has his later warmed up!) and mummy
6.40 - bath if bath night, if not just play downstairs (usually dance to in the night garden!)
7.00 - nappy, bodysuit, grobag, bottle then bed (sometimes straight to sleep, sometimes I chat to myself for up to 45 minutes!)

A friend of mine has just bought her DS's bedtime forward from 9.30 to 8 pm (he is 2) and she says it has worked wonders on his behaviour/napping...

[noblegiraffe]

20 month old, same routine as when he was 17 months:

6:30am wake up or be got up
6:45 breakfast
7:00 get dressed, brush teeth
7:40 out the door to childminders
Morning usually consists of playing and a big walk. An hour's nap whenever he's tired, usually before lunch, but sometimes after.
12:30 lunch
1:30 gets picked up
2:00 snack, go to shops/library/play in garden/mooch around
5:00 go for a walk/park
6:20 Night Garden
6:45 family dinner
7:20 bath (alternate nights) get ready for bed, read books
7:50ish fall asleep, wake maybe once a night

Are you sure your DS needs 2 naps? He might be so bad at sleeping because he's just not tired enough. I know how much unwelcome advice you get when your child is a crap sleeper because god knows I've had enough of it, but I know my DS wakes up less often when he is got up at 6:30 and isn't allowed to sleep longer than an hour in the day. And he has to be properly walked at least twice a day too. When he's allowed to sleep in because we don't have to get up for work or he doesn't have 2 long walks (actually walking, not just in the buggy) then he's a nightmare at night.

[Mummagumma]

Thanks all of you - it's really interesting to see what other people do. Maybe we should try and get him doing one nap; he took a bit longer than the average to drop down from four to three, and three to four, so I haven't been concerned about it too much, but one nap would free up a bit more of the day. I'm impressed that so many of you have the 7 'til 7 thing working for you.

DP has been reading these posts this afternoon and we'll have a chat this weekend and see whether we should make some changes.

[quickchat]

So do you romp around with Daddy while he is there , sorry I had to get that in.....

I have a 17 month old.

She gets up around 7am
breakfast 7.30am.

I have a 4 yr old in nursery so she may or may not get a morning nap.

Sometimes she just has a morning nap but refuses another, sometimes she has both and sometimes (not often, she will hold out until lunch time).

Lunch around 12-1

tea around 5.30pm then bath, milk, story bed between 6.15pm-7.pm depending on last nap.

Naps and meals are not set in stone.

I have to say that you are dragging your day out abit and I suspect he is over tierd. Id try and get him fed earlier and up earlier so that he can nap before he is over tierd. I think this may be the reason you are having problems settling him.

Hope that helps.

[Tigresswoods]

pinkjenny

[SybilBeddows]

mine's 18 mo.

what is a nap routine?

8.00 wake up and shout 'Porridge! Porridge!'
8.05 Eat porridge very slowly. Drop big lump of it. Look confused. Say 'Where porridge?'
8.45 Cry when big sister leaves for school
8.50 Watch CBeebies/play/follow Mummy around
10.00 Shout 'Nana! Nana!' in Mummy's ear till she gives you banana
10.15 Find somewhere new to smear end of banana
12.30 Climb onto keyboard and say 'Lunch' firmly to Mummy and make mumsnetting impossible till she gets your lunch
1.15 Nap
3.15 Go to get sister from school
3.45 Snack
3.50 Follow big sister & brother around
5.30 Tea
6.00 Milk and CBeebies
6.30 Bed

he's a dc3 so he gets ignored a fair bit.

[FlightofFancy]

DS is 16 months and routine like this (though I work, so this is influenced also by nursery routine).

7am ish wake up, straight down for breakfast (has refused milk for a few months and demands food ASAP on waking)
7.15 breakfast
8am leave for nursery (or play at weekends)
11.30-midday lunch (usually a snack inbetween)
12.30-2.30/3pm nap (usually 2 hrs, only longer if knackered - always wake him by 3pm)
3.30-4pm snack/light tea at nursery
6pm dinner
6.15 bath
7pm bottle and bed

He dropped his second nap at about 13months and really doesn't seem to need it anymore. Sometimes has an early bedtime by 6.30ish at the weekend if particularly busy day or lunchtime sleep has gone wrong.
If we're going out for lunch at the weekends we can tweak routine by putting him down for nap mid morning (if we're lucky) and then a quick catnap after lunch to top up. Can't imagine him going to bed any later than 7 though.

[Laugs]

I have a 17 month old DS and he's up between 6 and 7am, sleeps 11-12, then goes to bed at 7. He usually comes into bed with me at some point in the night (still sleeps in our room) but not until I'd have been in bed anyway.

We do seem to have slotted into a 7am-7pm routine, but not intentionally. When my DD (4.5) was little we always waited to have dinner as a family, and I really miss that now. However, DS is wild if he eats after 5 and DD needs to get to bed earlier too now she is at school. I always have lunch with the children and I eat with the kids probably 3 nights a week and with DH the other two. We all eat together at the weekends.

Is he still feeding through the night? I stopped BF 2 months ago and, honestly, it's made an enormous difference to DS' sleep. I had breastfed DD until 19 months so would have like to continue a bit longer, but DS just seemed to feed for comfort all through the night. I woke up exhausted.

[Mummagumma]

Yes, he's feeding a lot at night at the moment (nibbling for comfort - not really feeding much). I'm not opposed to the idea of stopping BF soon, however, it's the best/only way to silence him and get him back to sleep quickly. He fell asleep by 9 tonight, woke 10.30, and it took about three mins small feed and spooning to get him back to sleep. Lately he's been waking about 8 or 9 times over night. I am usually exhausted! Thank god I'm not working - I don't think I'd cope.

[AngelDog]

IIRC something like 50% of 18 month olds still nap twice a day (or need to) so if he was late dropping other naps I'd guess he'd be late dropping to one nap. My DS was slightly early going from both 3 to 2 and 2 to 1.

The frequent waking may be developmental - there's a developmental leap at 75 weeks which messes up sleep for a few weeks beforehand.

You could try an earlier waking/bedtime and see if that helps - it does for some, but not others.

My 16 m.o. DS's routine is roughly:

07.00 awake (although it's been between 5 & 6.15 the last few days)
breakfast
play while I do laundry
maybe out for a quick walk or trip to supermarket
snack
11.30/12.00 nap
13.30/14.00 wake up
lunch
out shopping or to see friends
17.00/17.30 dinner (we all eat together as DH comes home early)
19.30 asleep (often is later though, especially if nap is later)

I find that feeding / not feeding at night makes no difference to how often my DS wakes, so I just feed him every time he wakes as it's quick & easy. :)

I struggled to get to any activities in the morning when he was having 2 naps, and I've struggled since he went to 1 because he was originally needing to nap at 11am. Everything here is from 10-12am, and I could only go to 30 mins of toddler group before having to leave to get home for naptime.

[LeMousquetaireAnonyme]

I forgot to add that my schedule is very flexible, and nap doesn't need to be in the cot (pushchair, carrier, friends floors) you can still go to group and let them fall asleep. so you can have coffee and biscuit and a chance for a chat.

when she was napping around 10h I would walk to the playgroup and she would fall asleep in the pushchair on the way. she would still have a bit of play at the end.

[Iggly]

We dropped DS to one nap at 18 months because sleep started to go a bit mad. It's settled down since although he does sometimes still need one if he wakes early.

When he had morning naps, they were at 9 so could get to 10am groups. I wouldn't go otherwise.

His routine

5-6am wake, BF
7am breakfast
9-10am snack, maybe nap maybe not.
12pm lunch
1pm nap for 1.5-2 hrs
3pm snack
5pm tea
6pm bath
6.30 BF
7pm asleep

Morning activities will be groups etc, afternoons a bit more chilled - playdates etc if with nanny, household stuff or gardenia etc if with me!

[Ciske]

This is for DD 19 months, who has only one nap a day. She sleeps through at night. No BFing. Nursery stick to a similar routine as we have at home, so that works out well.

6-7am: wake, breakfast
7am - 10.30am: play
10.30ish: snack
12.30ish-14.00ish: nap (but this can easily move up an hour depending on what we're doing and how tired she is).
14.00-16.00: more play.
16.00: snack
16.00-17.30: play
17.30: start of bedtime routine: bath, milk/fruit, then Waybuloo/In the Night Garden.
18.45ish: Goodnight Upsy Daisy. Goodnight Iggle Piggle. Bedtime!

[Laugs]

Oh Mummagumma, we were in that 'feeding 8 times a night' phase a couple of months ago. I feel your pain! It was like every single time he stirred he expected a nipple right there to get him back to sleep!

Would he take a dummy?

This is the reason I introduced the bottle to be honest. I just couldn't take the broken sleep any more and had begun to resent breastfeeding. I used formula to start with, but you could just try him with warm cow's milk (that's what I've moved DS on to now. Far less hassle!). He still comes into bed with me in the middle of the night but usually just has a bottle of milk at bedtime and that is it. A month or so ago he was also having one around 2am.

Maybe you could continue feeding him in the day (if you want to), but try and get him to not associate BF with waking in the night?

Also, have you tried taking him to morning groups and found he's too tired to enjoy them, or have you just stayed in because of his nap? I found with mine that if he is somewhere enjoying himself he is happy to miss his nap and have it later on.

[giraffesCantDanceWiOotBuckie]

6.30-7 wake

7.30-8 breakfast

dressed and ready

play in house, maybe some painting or something or just potter

out about half 9 to toddlers/library

home for lunch at 12

take big sis to nursery at 1 then home for nap

after nap then go out somewhere

then pick sister up, go to park.

dinner at 5

play. bath

bed 6.45

[Knackeredmother]

Routine?!! What's one of those? Lol
Those of you who get your lo in bed at 6.45-7ish, if you work when do you see your babies?
Most people aren't home before 6, for me more like 7. I would never see my kids if they went to sleep at 7, not that they ever would....
Op, we operate a routine similar to yours (ds is 17 months and dd 3.5). Ours runs on a much later scale though as there is no way my kids would sleep at 7 and if I'm not working we are often still out and about at 6 or go out for tea etc.
My ds also breastfeeds through the night and my dd did the same but it did stop around 2. My son also only has one nap a day which is always in the pushchair/sling/car - perhaps that would work for you too?

[Iggly]

Knackered I see DS in the mornings. He's usually in a better mood then too! We tried later bedtimes when I was on mat leave so DH could see more of him, but it was a disaster - he naturally wakes early so a later bedtime did not help him at all. I work three days so it's not too bad. Plus we figure while he's young, his sleep is very important - plenty of time for late bedtime when he's a few years older.