Routine at 18mo

[ellesabe]

Hi all,

My dd is struggling to get herself off to sleep at bedtime at the moment and I'm not sure whether ot's because she's having too much sleep during the day or not enough!

So, what is your routine for your 18mo dc? How much sleep do they have?

Our average day looks like this:

7:00 - Wake up and milk
8am - Breakfast
10:30 - Snack
12:00 - Lunch
1pm - Nap for 1.5 hours
2:30 - Milk
3:30 - Snack
5:30 - Dinner, bath, In The Night Garden, stories, milk, teeth
7:00 - Bed but sometimes doesn't sleep until 9pm

That routine is similar to my DS who's 18 months next week. He sometimes sleeps before lunch, sometimes after, for 1.5-2 hours. He normally goes down really easily no matter when he's slept or for how long (we have the odd day when I have to keep laying him down but not often) but he went through a stage of waking at 5.45am! Luckily he seems to be out of that now and is sleeping closer to 7.00am.

He is my second, is DD your first? Because I think he's been used to sorting himself out right from day one because I couldn't keep running to him with a toddler as well.

I do remember DD having a phase at about 16/17 months of screaming when I put her down at bedtime and I ended up having to sit with her for a while but I never knew why and it soon passed and she's now a good sleeper.

Is she happy and playing or is she grumpy? Could she be teething or going through a separation anxiety phase?

It's hard isn't it because you never know what to do for the best. Most of the time these things turn out to be a phase but it's difficult when you don't know if or when it's going to end.

My (almost) 18mo routine is similar though flexible (as I'm sure yours is)
He usually wakes 6.30-7. Nap is between 1.5-2hrs after lunch
Bed around 7pm.
There is a sleep regression at 18mo, so perhaps this could be a factor?
I did have a cople of weeks just over a month ago when ds would not go down after goodnight (milk etc) he would scream and then need to be brought down. Though would be clearly exhausted 10 mins later and go down without a word after this.
I wonder if they are just testing boundaries?

My 18m old's routine is practically identical. He goes to sleep fine at 7pm and probably sleeps a little longer for his nap than your DC. Could it be the lighter nights? Could you darken the room more?

Bedtimes of late have been horrible here. Lots of tears. He's decided he's not ready to go to bed. He doesn't have set routine as sleeps in the car/buggy when he feels the need. Bed is usually around 7 tho it seems to be creeping towards 730.

Interesting about the regression.

Maybe I'll read up on the regression a bit as that could explain it. I leg her have a longer nap today (2.5hours) and she still didn't go to sleep until almost 9pm.
Maybe it's the lighter evenings but she has blackout curtains do I'm not sure what else we can do.
I got dh to go in and give her another bottle in the end...

Small child here has the following:

Wake up around 7 - 7.15
First breakfast around 7.30
Second breakfast around 9
Outside for walk / play from about 10.30 - 11.30
Snack
Nap for anything between half to two and a half hours
Lunch after nap
Play & more walking
Snack
Dinner around 7 - 7.15
Sit on potty, brush teeth and story (only bath about twice a week)
Bed around 8 - 8.30
Generally asleep by about 9, but doesn't get taken back out of bedroom once in bed

If very tired we bring the dinner & bed routine forward half an hour, but this doesn't happen very often.

My just 21mo has the following routine during term time (DH and I are teachers)

5 - 5.30am Wake
8am - 1pm With CM: walks the school run then goes to a group, walks back and has lunch. I pick him up at 1pm
1 - 3pm Nap
3 - 5pm I take him out to the woods or park, or we read/ play at home. One day we have swimming.
5pm Dinner
6.30pm bath etc in bed for 7pm

So my DS has 1.5hrs less sleep than your DD because he wakes up infernally early and TBH we are also considering cutting down his day sleep because it's taking him longer and longer to get off to sleep at night.

It is quite dependent on how much exercise I can get him in the 3-5pm slot. If he is able to spend 1.5hrs up in the woods, or on swimming day, he goes down quite easily. Perhaps you could consider really trying to wear your DD out in the afternoon? Is she walking? If not she may well sleep better when she does.

However, in the holidays DS brings his day sleep forwards (of his own volition) and usually sleeps 10-11.30am-ish. This is actually much better as there is more of a gap between day nap and bed time and he goes down much more easily. If you are at home with DD perhaps you could tweak the time of her day sleep?

My DD (now 2 but it has been the same for a while) has between 1 hour 20 ish and a 2 hour nap during the day and then goes down about 7pm. However if she seems really awake we'll let her stay up a bit later. It usually takes around half an hour from starting her milk, doing story and the settling her with her music box on and the going back in 3ish times to wind that up and resettle her before she goes to sleep (sometimes it is longer). I agree if she has done lots of exercise that process is quicker.

Very similar routine for our 21 month old DS and he naps for similar amount of time too. I don't think that is too long. If he gets more exercise in the afternoon he definitely goes to sleep faster.. Seems to work for us anyway! If he goes to sleep later, we figure as long as he is happy, don't mind if he is playing with teddies in his cot.

Perhaps the problem is that we're struggling to tire her out enough then as she's not walking yet...yet another reason to pray for those first steps then!

I have been having EXACTLY the same problems. I don't think it's too much sleep in the afternoon as my DS is knackered at bedtime but as soon as the door's shut and he's in his cot, he starts whooping and singing and talking to his teddies and generally taking AGES to get to sleep. And recently, yes, he's been crying when I leave the room which he had stopped doing at 4 months. But I think there he's just testing boundaries to see if I'll go back in.
I think he's excited and over-stimulated by all his experiences in the day and he's sort-of reliving it. Maybe yours is the same? I put him down early now - 6.40pm- so even though he takes ages to get to sleep, he will generally have nodded off by 7.30pm latest but 7pm would be the ideal as we have morning starts anytime from 0600-0645.

Ah, not walking - any chance you could make a swimming pool / park visit a regular late afternoon thing? That way she'd get some physical activity in and if it's frequent, then hopefully it wouldn't result in too much 'processing' later in the evening.

That's a good idea. She had a good romp around in an enormous sandpit at the park this afternoon and it sounds like she might be asleep now. She also had her lunch after naptime today instead of her afternoon milk. Hmmmm...we'll see what tomorrow shall bring!

Doesn't sound like too much daytime sleep to me. DS is also 18 mo, sometimes he still has a short morning nap, plus a long afternoon one, sometimes he sleeps from 1/2pm for 2 hours (yesterday was 3 hours!) He generally goes to bed at 7.45-8pm and sleeps for at least 12 hours if left to it (except when he's at the CM we have to wake him at 7.30am). At weekends and holidays he will sometimes sleep till 9. I reckon he's just a very active toddler who needs his sleep. That said, we never, ever, have problems getting him to sleep at night or nap during the day (we put him down when he's tired). Not sure if that helps or not!

Fingers' crossed!

DS is the same age and has pretty much the same routine but we put him to bed at 8.30 - 9pm as this is when he is tired and sleeps. I know it's not for everyone but it has saved the stress of trying to make him go to sleep earlier.

I have a 17 mo and yours is very similar to our routine.

These light nights can be a pain, like right now she has had a bath and is watching Night Garden but she is still wide-awake, if it was darker then she would be snuggling up and be half asleep by now.

18mo:

DH and I both work part-time around each other, and share the childcare between us.

Up between 7 and 8am. Usually has a breastfeed for a few mins, but not always.
Clothes on, breakfast within an hour of waking.
We usually go out mid-morning, and he has a snack out, between 10-11am.
Lunch around 1pm, followed by nap usually 1-2 hours. Sometimes breastfeeds on waking (unless I am at work, of course).
Play at home or out again. Snack around 4pm.
Dinner 6.30-7pm. Often watches In The Night Garden while eating.
8pm - bath, PJ's, play for a few mins, then teeth, stories in bed, and still breastfeeds to sleep. Usually down in the cot 9-9.30pm.