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16 month old 'napping' at bedtime

1 reply

Sleepdeprived1234 · 10/07/2012 10:57

Im getting to my wit's end with DS's sleep! He's never been a good sleeper, but a few weeks ago he started trying to climb out of the cot and hurt himself falling back into the cot (landed on his face but no major damage done thankfully). We decided this meant it was time to take the sides off his cot as it seemed the safer option.

We expected a few difficult nights, especially as we had to move his bed around to a different part of the room so there wasn't anything for him to hit his head on if he fell out of bed.

We tried a bed guard but he struggled to climb back into bed if he got up, so we have taken that away and just put a quilt on the floor. After a few bad nights he is sleeping ok in the bed and seems to have got used to the new layout.

Problem is, he is waking about an hour after bedtime, and is up for about 3 hours! He goes to bed around 7pm, we haven't changed anything to do with his daytime nap (he just has one 2-hour nap, and has done since around his birthday). How do I stop him waking up? He is wide awake for these 3 hours, it's literally like he's had a nap and is refreshed. If we leave him in his room he plays for a bit then gets upset at being left, he happily cuddles up to us in the lounge but won't settle bac to sleep until around 11pm!

Am now thinking we will just have to put the sides back on the cot, but not sure if this will solve our problem or if he's now got himself into a routine of it! How do we stop this, it's driving me and DH mad!

Sorry this is so long!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
omama · 10/07/2012 20:45

What time is his nap? Sometimes the timing of it can affect how tired they are at bedtime. I actually think the waking is more likely to do with his newfound freedom though. TBH IIWM I would avoid bringing him out of his room into the lounge, otherwise he may soon cotton on that if he wakes at night & creates a fuss that is what you will do IYSWIM? I would either

put him back in the cot - perhaps in a sleeping bag (I find that a pretty effective barrier against trying to climb out!)
or
leave him to it in his room provided he is safe & can't hurt himself & perhaps ensure there is nothing exciting eg toys for him to play with, maybe black out the room so he knows night is night
if he is crying for you then I would go in, remind him its sleepy time (but absolutely no other interaction), put him back in bed & leave. If he is still crying, go back in & repeat. And so on until he sleeps. If you keep it up for a few nights he should gradually learn that bedtime is for sleeping & that there is no 'reward' i.e. attention from mum/dad or coming into the lounge if he gets up.

HTH.x

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