20 month old only sleeping 9 hours at night

[badkitty]

I'm worried that my 20 month old DS is chronically sleep deprived! He gets put to bed around 7.30 - 7.45 and often takes an hour before he goes to sleep (he doesn't usually demand a lot of attention during this time or anything, is just busy standing up and moving around the cot). Then he sleeps well but wakes up 5.30 - 6 (normally closer to 5.30) no matter what time he has fallen asleep or how much of a busy day he had the day before. So typically he is probably only getting 9 hours of sleep a night. He has one daytime nap, around 1.30, and will never sleep longer than an hour (sometimes less). So I really think he is not getting enough sleep. He has also recently started being in an absolutely horrible temper when he wakes up from his daytime nap, I suspect because he is still knackered.

Any suggestions as to how to get him to sleep longer? We have tried blackout blinds which have not made the slightest difference, tiring him out with swimming and stuff in the day also no difference.

He normally has dinner about 5/5.30 and milk before bed, don't know if this is a normal routine for his age?

Sounds just like my DS2. He is just 2 and has also started walking up in a horrible temper from the lunhctime nap. I don't think this is a sleep deprivation thing but more an age thing cos DS1 went through this from 2-3 YO and now at just 4 he is fine when he wakes up if he nods off in the car or something.

Nothing I do can make DS2 sleep longer - we have tried it all - black out blinds plus black out curtains, door open and closed, nightlights, later bed times, no lunchtime naps or more naps....piriton

He does go to sleep quite fast when he goes to bed at 8pm but he will wake throughout the night and by 6am we are all officially up. His lunchtime naps are just 40 mins at best (was always like this even as a baby) when DS1 could nap for 2 hours+.

In my (unscientific) exprience from my 3 and friends you either get a good sleeper or a bad sleeper and boys are generally worse than girls. The only thing that keeps me going with DS2 is that by about 2 and a half he'll be able to communicate better and I can buy him one of those lights so he knows when he can get out or bed.

Luckily DS3 looks to be a sleeper.....he's just gone off for his third nap this morning .

Sorry this post isn't more helpful - I suppose I'm just sympathising cos we're all sleep deprived too in this household.

is he still teething? or does he have an undiagnosed ear infection?

my ds used to sleep so much better with a dose of nurofen just before bed at that age. he had cronic ear infections and would toss and turn without it.

i dont advocate drugs allthe time but if its intefering with sleep it is worth a trial and a visit to doc.

Have you tried an earlier bedtime? I know that when they are tired it can take longer to drop off to sleep which may explain why he is awake an hour after being put in his cot. If he went to bed earlier then he would still probably wake up at the same time but would have had more night time sleep and so be better rested.

I second the earlier bedtime. It's counter-intuitive, but it certainly works with my son - the later he goes to bed the more likely he is to wake during the night and the earlier he's up in the morning.

I third the earlier bedtime :-) If he's going to wake up at 5.30am no matter when he goes to sleep, you may as well put him to bed earlier - try giving him dinner at 5pm and stories around 6.30pm then bed by 7pm. Even if it takes him a while to drop off, or even if he wakes up an hour later, or even if he still wakes at 5.30am - at least he'd have gotten more sleep. I've actually heard people say that when they've put their children to bed early eg 6.30/6.45 their children have woken later.

Your child could also be teething - those back molars take a long time to come through - my DD is 2.3 years old but her back teeth are still working their way out and making her extremely irritable during the day.

Thanks everyone. I think he is still teething judging by the amount of chewing on the side of the cot! I will try earlier bedtime, problem is I work 4 days a week and can't normally get back much earlier than 7, so normally the nanny keeps him up till I get back to see him, however probably suddenly seeing mummy at that time is quite exciting so understandably he doesn't then want to go to bed. Not that he is any more inclined to go to bed on my days off though. So perhaps I should tell her to put him to bed before I come home if I can't be back early :(

Try it for a week or two - I know it will be hard not seeing your DS before his bedtime but you need to see if it works... Good luck! (And teething is a problem still for many toddlers).