It’s a sleep one (19 months)

[ShutterHaze]

My little one is 19 months and her sleep has never been great. We’ve had a few spells of her sleeping through but she still doesn’t reliably do that. More often than not, she wakes at least once a night and can either take an hour plus to get back down or we have a disturbed night co-sleeping. I’d kind of thought it would eventually settle and certainly by 18 months. In your experience, will this resolve itself without sleep training?

Of limited use but - do you give her a feed to get her back to sleep? If so, explain that it will no longer be forthcoming. DS woke for a feed every night and I'd absolutely had enough by the time he was a similar age. Following advice on here, I told him there'd be no milk at night any more, he'd have to wait until morning, then when he woke I refused and pretty much ignored him. Took two nights I think.

She hasn’t been fed at night for around six months. That definitely led to an improvement at the time and we’ve had periods of her sleeping through since, but it’s not lasted!

What's her daily schedule like?

Wake up between 7 and 7.30, nap for around an hour and a half starting around 12.30/1, bedtime around 8pm. Been on one nap since around 9 months (pretty low sleep needs…), although clearly still needs the nap!

I am just thinking if she might need a bit longer wake window after her nap. My DD is very low sleep naturally so she has always needed a bit longer wake windows than average for her age.

This is helpful - thanks. How long was your DD’s pre-bed wake window at this age? It’s so much harder to figure out when they don’t follow the typical wake windows, which my DD never has!

How about an earlier nap about 11.30 to 1pm?

After her nap more close to 7h. I keep following her cues so sometimes she goes to bed late but I cannot make her to fall asleep before she is naturally ready. And I don't want to force us to stay in bedroom for hours waiting for her to get tired.

I have two not great sleepers. My eldest started sleeping through just before she turned two but she dropped her nap at this point too. My 14 month old still doesn’t sleep through but certainly has longer wake windows (and a shorter nap) than other toddlers her age. We have recently weaned from breastfeeding and moved her into her own room. I’m hoping that will help her sleep soon.

Thanks everyone. I think I’ll have a play around with the timing of her nap and hope for the best!

I have two not so great sleepers. My 6yo still wakes in the middle of the night for a quick cuddle 😅 but does go back to sleep pretty quickly. My toddler wakes in the middle of the night as well but rarely are up for an hour, it’s more a quick cuddle/bf and then back to sleep so perhaps your nap and sleep times need a bit of tweaking? I didn’t sleep train and gradually their sleep just got better and more predictable, but it’s a bit two steps forward and one step back at times.

The frustrating thing is that it takes ages to get her back down, but it’s not that she’s awake - she stays asleep as long as she’s being held (you literally pick her up and she falls straight back asleep 😂) but she wakes up on being put down and won’t go back to sleep! 😅

Oh I see. Yes, mine do that too. I got them a toddler bed/single bed and slowly got them used to falling back to sleep next to me while cuddling in their bed, and then I slowly make my escape. Worked much better than trying to put them down or back in their cot.

This is something I’m really keen to try but people always say to try and keep them in a cot as long as possible (I’m not sure why?) which is making me a bit hesitant

I’ve put my 14 month old in a single bed with a bed guard- it works well for getting her back to sleep in her own space. My now three year old was in a floor bed at this age and she used to just potter into my bedroom when she woke in the night and jumped into bed with me for a cuddle.

They’re probably worried their toddler will stop sleeping through the night and start walking around when they’re supposed to be sleeping. But yours isn’t sleeping well in the cot anyway so there’s no point keeping them in there! (That was my thinking anyway 😆)

Ha! VERY good point 😆 I think this is the way to think about it!