AIBU to be dreading 18 month sleep regression?

[Napdamnyou]

DS has always been a crap sleeper and until a week ago I would get up and BF and resettle quite a few times a night...midnight, 3am, 4.30am...and then up at 5.30am for the day. However, he has just started sleeping much better at 17.5 months and now goes til about 4.45am or even 5am without BF or me coming in.

He has always been noticeably worse during the danger times eg. 4 months, developmental leaps such as starting walking, crawling, etc etc. I keep heating about the mother of all sleep regressions at 18 months which can drag on til 21 months and is linked to language acquisition and a big brain development stage and am dreading it. Hear of babies waking up for hours at night, refusing to settle, wanting to play from 2am, refusing naps and so on.

After a year and a half of shit sleep and then recently getting more than 4 hours stretches, I am really, really dreading it going shit again - whilst doing everything I can to ensure good routine, tire him out, feed him up, and so on. Do all babies really go mad at 18months or is there hope. And have you any tips?

never heard of this, DS slept through by 10m and I don't remember any change at 18m. He always woke early but defo slept through

Don't dread it, it might not happen! Most children don't seem to have read the book about when they are supposed to sleep well and sleep badly, it is nowhere near guaranteed that 18 moths will be a difficult age sleep wise.

Both my children were awful sleepers until about that age, really hard work, but since then they have been perfect. It's only on the very odd occasion that one of them is ill that they have been awake in the night.

I've never heard of the 18 mth sleep regression. I don't remember ds, now 3, changing his sleep pattern and dd, 19mths, hasn't changed either. Sometimes she sleeps through and sometimes she doesn't. She used to regularly be awake for 1-2 hrs at night but that has got better since we got them both sleeping in their own beds. So have hope, it may never happen

Didn't have an 18 month regression with either of mine, not heard of it either. There is hope for you yet.

Never heard of one at 18 months, DS is 19 months and he's just started sleeping longer!

Hurrah, so it is not a given. I know some babies are good at sleeping and don't seem to regress at all but DS as I said has always been dreadful and I guess I am wondering if others with crap sleepers found 18 months was a bad time or whether I can dare to hope that having discovered self settling at night he will actually manage to keep going with it, or just go bats again.

He does seem very cheerful and enjoying life at the mo. Tiring himself out charging everywhere, eating protein and veg and fruit and a good diet. Am sure this all helps and obviously illness, teething etc play a part but when he is perfectly healthy, well exercised, stimulated and cheerful during the day yet still crap at sleeping it does make me weep into my tea. Sick of having to go to bed at 9pm to get any sleep at all and dying to have more of a life instead of being jet lagged and shaky. The last week of proper sleep has made me almost hysterical with gratitude and hence the utter horror of Going Back There.

We didn't have sleep regression in my day, so don't worry about it !!

Never heard of that! All mine went extra wonky at 4 months. DS1 regressed to the ninth level of hell at 20 months but that was when I'd just brought home twins = and needed his sleep to regress like a hole in the head!

Never heard of sleep regression until recently. My 6 year old must have missed them all!

Around 18 months, I had to start dragging DS out of bed like a grumpy teenager at 8am so I could drop him off at nursery. He's always been a good sleeper (although just saying that is bound to have jinxed things) so I've never noticed any regressions. He's had occasional blips that have never lasted more than a few days but usually those could be attributed to colds and teeth.

Nearly 21 months old here and no sign of it at all. 11 hours a night, every night.

Baby Goo has started waking a little earlier, but I've put that down to it being sunnier/ hotter. I don't think it's a given at all :)

Good God, you nearly gave me a heart attack napdamnyou - I have a crap sleeping 17 mo and never heard of 18 mo sleep regression. If he gets worse I may have to shoot myself. Glad to see responses saying this is not universal! I do have an older one and don't remember a problem at 18 months, just the first year or so not that I'm bitter at fate having dealt me two shit sleepers

Actually 17 mo seems to be sleeping a bit better at night in the last few days, although extra tantrummy so maybe tha's worn him out. Good job we love 'em so much.

DD had a 18 month regression but then slept through for about 6 weeks was still great though even if coincided with DS's arrival

Goodness, my DD never conformed to any so-called sleep regressions. I only ever read about them in books or on Mumsnet. Her sleep was affected by teething, illnesses and nightmares - in other words the usual. She sleeps great at 4 and has done for a very long time.

I have a poorly sleeping 16mo and will be distraught if it gets worse for a regression - 3 hours of broken sleep on friday night and now have a cold - I am devestatingly exhausted

Just trying to think back (they are 14 &9). No - they were fine at 18 mos.

Both slept uninterrupted from between 1am - 6am at around four months old, with waking up outside of those hours, but I got 5 hours straight (yowwzah!)

I seem to remember at around 10 months, both went through a phase of waking, and needing help to resettle - we went in to pat and reassure at decreasing frequencies, until they learnt to settle themselves...

But after that - they were fine! No 18 mos problems. Both dropped their daytime naps at 18mos however, despite my best efforts - and we had a horrid witching hour around 5pm, when they were tired - but when they went to bed at night, they slept through - perhaps mine were cogitating and developing instead of afternoon napping, but kept their night time sleep? dunno...

Courage mes braves....

DD was a lousy sleeper but I didn't notice a specific 18m sleep regression. I suspect they get a bit more unpredictable after 1 anyway because the developmental leaps become more spaced out. It occurs to me that we did have a completely unanticipated 23m sleep regression though.

Good news is that once she got to the point of managing to sleep through to somewhere between 5 and 6 for 5 most nights each disruption was much more shortlived. Obviously we still get the odd disturbed night when she is poorly or learning to walk/talk/fly. But unlike the horrors of the poxy 4 and 6m regressions it no longer means weeks and weeks of unpredictably appalling sleep. The next night is quite often fine.

Also now she is older, if she is strangely wakeful I tend to just go with it, turn on the lamp in her room, and curl up on the floor and doze whilst she potters about singing and playing with her trainset. Much easier than soothing a crying child back to sleep and normally once she is ready she comes over to snuggle and go back to sleep again.

I have never heard of a baby going mad at 18 months! And I know lots of babies and kids. Generally the babies who didn't sleep through initially, started to sleep through about a year (or two). With the very rare odd child not sleeping through aged 4. Mine are all different ages now and might wake for illness, a nightmare, to wee, teething or for a drink of water but it's so rare - maybe once every couple of months or so?

DS still not sleeping through at 18 months although I have noticed a very small improvement of late.

If what you say is true I may just go insane.

AlbertoFrog I'll be joining you in the sanitorium

I will update this thread when he turns 18 mo in a week....

DD turned 18 months today and slept in until 6.30am for the first time ever. Maybe the regression can work in reverse.

Never heard of it. My two didn't get it.