18 month old staying awake til 9pm every night after clocks changed and I stopped bf

[southeastlondonmum]

I very stupidly stopped bfing my DD the same weekend the clocks changed. Before then she would sleep up to 3 hours over lunch time and go down no later than 7.30pm - often earlier. Since I dropped bedtime feed she has decided to stay awake crying/chatting or trying to put her toy animals to sleep and no manner of reducing naps, restricting animals, black out curtains has helped. She does sleep through unless ill or teething but seems v tired in morning but still wakes at 6.30 am. Ideas? She has a pretty tight bed time routine

I'm not convinced its anything to do with the breastfeeding or clocks (after first few days) IME thir sleep just goes bad at about this age.

18 month sleep regression? When does it end???
It's my fault- I was all smug I had got it sorted. Stupid, stupid!

We're all smug :)
My 2y6m old has been sleeping through since soon after her 2nd birthday - does that help?

we had 2 months of unsettled sleep that I can now only put down to 18 month regression. Great routine suddenly went out of window, I started trying allsorts to fix eg later nap & capping nap....and just as suddenly it has settled back down again. Although I will say our routine has changed a wee bit:

Was:
up 7.00am
Nap: 12.30-2.30
BT 7.30pm (but he'd started taking 30mins to fall asleep at bedtime & also waking at 6am)

Now:
up 7-7.15am
Nap: 1-2.45/3pm (capped at 2hrs max)
BT: 8pm

Can you post your DD's typical daytime routine (both then & now?) Might help us offer some suggestions.x

Can you try cuddling to sleep? I remember having to do that again with ds. Not needed now and he's 2.6.

Thanks for all your comments and thanks for being smug polar bear. Omama:
She was up 6 am, nap 12.30-3 pm sometimes longer, in bed 7pm, sometimes chats to herself til 7.30pm but always asleep by then then.

Now up 6.20 am, arses around in cot at 12.30-1pm, sleep 1-3pm sometimes longer especially at nursery, bed at 7, arses around in cot til 8.30-9, we go in a couple of times if distressed. Finally falls asleep on top of stuffed cat!

This will not be what you want to hear but my DD has never gone to sleep before 9pm in her whole 13 years (not months) . Slept through from said 9 pm til 5 or 6 am at 2 months, at 7 months started to sleep through 12 hours (ie til about 9 am) and has continued to sleep 12 hours a night (given opportunity :) ) so now sleeps 10pm til 10am when she can. Afternoon nap of about hour til about 3 years old then started nursery in afternoon so dropped nap.
My point being that everyone has different sleep patterns and nothing I have every tried will change my DD.
You may have to learn to live with this - but have you tried black out blinds as it could be she can't sleep if it's too bright out?
Good Luck:)

I'm sorry I didn't mean to be smug or make you feel bad. I meant were all smug when things go well. Comment about my dd was just if she can do it, they all can, hopefully things will change for you as he gets a bit older

I'd put her to bed earlier. Lights out at half 6 if you can. It sounds counter intuitive but it can work - short bedtime routine then early bed. Worth trying for a week.

Oh polar bear I loved your comment!!! Hoped your smugness might help me. Right, she is having her tea now and she is going to have a speed bath iggly!

Well in bed by 6.30- finally stopped faffing at 7.30pm so progress but she still spent an hour talking to the toy cat

good luck. if a week of earlier bedtimes doesn't pay off then iiwm I would go the other way.

We are doing nap 1-3pm & there's no way on this earth DS would be ready for bed at 7pm, so TBH I'm not surprised your dd is taking so long to settle. My DS (20.5 months) has an 8pm bedtime but in last 2 days he's still taken 30mins to settle again but is very happy & most definitely not overtired.

So I think its time to try cutting his nap back again. We had been cutting it already but increased it back to 2hrs after going on holiday b/c he's been a bit out of sorts (possibly teething). Round 2 here we come!

Best of luck Omama. Problem is four nights of the week I really need her in bed for 7pm as often need to pick up work in the evenings! Last night, in at 7.30 and asleep at 8pm which wasn't bad!