Sudden sleep trouble at 18 months?

[NapaCab]

My DS has recently started to wake up every night, either waking up shouting and babbling around 2-3am or waking up for the day around 5am. He always had the occasional night waking due to teething, random grumpiness etc but now it is every. single. night. It is driving me insane. My DH works long hours in a stressful job and it's affecting his work at this stage because even though I get up to settle DS he still hears him as he is very loud. He's tired every day and it's causing tension between us.

I've tried putting DS to bed later but that doesn't work. He goes to bed at 7pm already so I can't put him to bed much earlier than that. He naps once a day for about 1.5 - 2.5 hours, depending.

The worst of it is that he is dog-tired every morning now and a complete nightmare with his behaviour as a result. Once he has his nap his mood improves a lot so it's obviously tiredness. Up until this waking started he slept through until 6:30 / 7 most nights. I thought it was just a phase he was going through to do with language learning as he babbles so much when he wakes up but it's showing no sign of ending... it's not teething anymore either because he has 16 teeth now.

His sleep now is worse than it was 9 months ago! Any advice / experience?

I can't offer much advice except to say that 17/18 months is a miserable time for sleeping and I am sure this is a phase. My DD did the same at 19 mths - awake for two whole hours in the middle of the night etc. by 21 months the phase had passed and from that point she has pretty much slept well (she is nearly 4 now)

DS is 17 months and I am bracing myself ...

I think it is linked to starting to talk. DD said a handful of words at 18 months. By 22 months she was chatting in little sentences. I just think their brains are on overdrive!

PS is his nap on the long side? What happens if you wake him after an hour? Is he napping too late in the day?

You could try and get him outside at every opportunity and let him run around. That can only help things.

Good luck x

Thanks Bumps - glad to hear that this passed with your DD at 21 months. I'm hoping it's just a phase with DS too and won't last too long. It's just so exhausting!

He does have a lot of physical energy so I take him to the park or to music / dance class every morning and that helps. His naps don't seem to make a difference. I've had days when he wakes up after 45 minutes and then still wakes up in the night. Actually the shorter his nap, the worse his night-time sleep seems to be! It's maddening... and it's not just my exhaustion either, it's the idea of him sitting up awake in his cot, lonely and babbling to himself for two hours at a time. Surely that cant be good for him? I would never get him up out of his cot though as that would set terrible habits and he won't sleep in with me and my husband anymore, not since he was about 9 months old so I just have to lie there in bed thinking about him being awake and alone. I hate it!