18mo waking for hours in night - but not if he doesn't nap... drop the nap?

[PerUnaBomber]

He's definitely teething - had all 4 premolars come through in the last month and can see other teeth now appearing - but I'm due to go back to work (new job) in a couple of weeks and would like to see if the lovely 7-7 sleeper we had since March last year could be returned to us by simply dropping the lunchtime nap...

DS settles well at night (dinner, bath, story, milk, bed) and is usually asleep at or around 7pm. Since the start of December, coinciding with the big teething, he has been waking any time between midnight and 5am and will then shout 'Mummy, Daddy' or scream in his room until someone comes - we can't leave him to cry as the walls are so thin and I can hear the neighbours groaning when we do leave him for any length of time. So I usually get him and take him in the spare room where he will wriggle about quietly, but very much awake, for anything up to 5 hours (as last night) before dropping off and waking at 9am. DP can't take him in the week as he has to get up at 6am for his commute and doesn't get home until 8pm.

On Saturday we had a busy day and despite taking 2 hour-long car journeys, DS did not nap at all. He went down at 6.45pm and slept soundly until 8am (DP was on duty, the jammy sod!) but yesterday had the usual 90 minute lunchtime nap and was awake from midnight to 5am with me...

He's showing no signs of wanting a nap so far today so I'm tempted to leave it - though I do wonder when I will get anything other than MNing done! It's fine being this tired when I'm SAHM but when I start my new job I will be far less able to cope on so little sleep.

So, should I experiment with dropping the nap / shortening the nap / giving him milk in the night (which is what he asks for when he wakes, despite having almost 200ml at bedtime) / warn the neighbours and leave him to cry?

If it's teething is he in discomfort? Surely Calpol would help with that?

Not sure otherwise...I have a 16 mo who is also 7-7 or rather was. She is now a 9-7 and I am considering dropping the pm nap or shortening it considerably to 1 hour tops. However everything I've read seems to suggest naps are needed, but I'm not sure. My DD has always been a great sleeper (10-7 from 5 weeks, 7-7 from @12 weeks), so I am tempted to forget about pm nap unless she is visibly tired.

Am interested to hear other opinions.

Drop it - my DDs dropped theres at 17 months and 19 months. Easy bedtimes ever since, its bliss that they fall asleep within 2 mins of going to bed.

You're not alone I have the same problem! Think it is related to length of daytime nap I've been cutting it down and I think that might be the solution. Sigh to those blissful long quiet afternoons...

Yes, yes and yes!! Daytime sleep is so closely linked to nighttime sleep and yet it so often gets overlooked. If your LO has previously been a good sleeper and suddenly starts waking early in the morning, refusing to go to bed, or waking in the night - and there is no other obvious cause like hunger, teething or illness - then it's definitely to do with not needing as much daytime sleep.

Every single time we've had sleeping problems, we've cut the naps and the peaceful nights have returned. My daughter turned 2 in October and dropped her nap in November - however, she is now sleeping 7-8 (this morning, it was 9.20am!).

Sootysweepandsue, he gets Nurofen after his bath and then calpol when he wakes up, it seems to be a routine issue rather than a pain one as he stays awake for at least 2 hours in the night, regardless of when he gets the calpol. He never needs pain relief in the daytime before his nap, so I really feel the nurofen is more placebo than analgesic.

I will experiment with shorter naps this week; today he went from 1330-1420 (I woke him) instead of his usual 1230-1400.

Fingers crossed we get a few more hours' sleep tonight, thank you all for your ideas and reassurance