19mo won't settle at bedtime, then waking at 2am

[catgirl1976]

DS has never been a great sleeper but recently (last week or so) he has been a nightmare to put down at bedtime.

He has a routine (bath, bottle, wind down, story etc) and goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm depending on how tired he is.

He just will not settle. He is shattered, yawning, rubbing his eyes etc but won't go down. He talks and asks for this bear or that bear etc. If we leave him he cries. It is taking 1 - 2 hours to get him down.

On top of that he has gone from sleeping through from about 10 months (after a few nights CC) to waking at 2am. Last night he was awake for 2 hours.

Then he wakes early - anywhere between 5:30am and 6am, ready for the day.

He usually naps around 10 / 10:30 am depending on when he woke for anywhere between 2 - 3 hours. If he is a nursery (2 x a week) he only naps for between 1 and 1.5 hours and this makes no difference to him going down or staying down, so shortening the nap doesn't seem to affect him. He naps later at nursery as well, more like 11:30 - 12 but again, no impact on his going down / staying down.

He isn't ill or teething

Any advice would be great as I really am dreading another horrible night

anyone? :(

Is it because he is hot?

Or coming down with something. ?
I had this with my already hard to put to bed 8 month old. She started coming out with chicken pox a couple of days later. (Not a joy in heat!)

I don't think he's coming down with something but it could be the heat

His room is south facing and it is warm in there. If I open the window the noise from next door etc will keep him awake and we don't have a fan

He is just in a vest and I have tried to get the room cool and leave the door open for some breeze but maybe that is it

Hope your DD is feeling better

Teething?

Not teething. I think he has all his teeth now and I can't see any gaps or anything coming through

DH is putting him down now and he is screaming his head off, but he is clearly exhausted

He woke at 7am this morning (really late for him but he was awake from 2am to 4am) then went to nursery where he slept for 1hr 45 mins from 11:30 to 1:15. He is shattered and rubbing his eyes and yawning but is sounds like he is putting up quiet a fight with DH :(

There is an 18 month sleep regression, we are midst it too!

He wouldn't eat any dinner either. Maybe 3 spoons of cottage pie. Tried some other foods including (in desperation) trifle which he rejected.

Oh cereal :( I didn't know that

Let's hope it is short lived for both of us

His speech is really taking off now and I have been wondering if his little brain is buzzing a bit with a new stage of development IYSWIM

I think there's an 18 month sleep regression. We had similar behaviours when we hit the 14 month one. Could just be the heat though. My 18 mo DS had a hard time last night with it.

To me, it looks as though his nap is too early and also there is too big a gap between when he wakes up from his nap and bedtime.

Can you try tweaking the timings bit by bit so that he goes to bed earlier and that the nap is a bit later IYSWIM?

My DD is also 19 months old (I think I've seen you around on here before OP!) and she generally wakes at 7am and goes down for a nap at 1230 and sleeps for 2 hours. Then her bedtime is at 7pm.

Also, I'm not an advocate of CC but at this age, they are definitely starting to cry to manipulate. My DD sure as hell does this sometimes. We went through a phase a couple of weeks ago where when I put her down for bedtime, she stood up in her cot, shouted angrily at me as I shut the bedroom door. She cried for about 1 minute max before she gave up and went to bed.

If she had been tiny, I would have gone straight back in but now that's she's older, I figured that a minute can't hurt and me going back in would just interfere with her settling herself.

Hi showtunes

I think ive seen you on here too!

I will try moving the nap back and the bedtime forward

Hes still fighting going down :( been 40 minutes now. We sre doing a cc lite sort of thing, leaving him for two minutes (started at 30 secs) and then going back in but no sign of improvement yet. It really does seem like a battle rather than genuine upset.

Its horrible though

Hope you and your dd are doing ok

How was last night catgirl?

Watching with interest catgirl. Hope you had a better night.

DD (16.5 mo) struggling with early wake up - 5.30 - but then not settling for an hour plus at bedtime. Like she just can't switch off. She just does weird shuffling around and a bit of whinging and crying, for ages.. Maybe regression hitting early.

We're doing fine catgirl but DD is starting to be demanding now!

Also re-looking at your OP, I really wouldn't wait until he is looking tired as generally I find that that is too late and they get so overtired that they can't get themselves to sleep quickly. They do that annoying frantic: I'm sooooooooooooooo tired thing. I would pick a time and stick to it when it comes to bedtime.

Though this is purely based on my experience with DD and if she doesn't get put to bed on time, she starts to whinge.

Another thing to remember though is that they are now very different from when they are 10 months and I find going in after a couple of minutes too early as they have longer and better memories. They can hold on to the "I don't want to" moment now and sometimes coming back in too early means that they will start again with the same thought. Leaving him a bit longer especially if it's not upset crying might give him the time he needs to settle himself down. NB - I am NOT advocating CIO, if he IS upset, go to him.

Ha - it's a tricky age isn't it showtunes (but lovely!)

Last night we had partial sucess. DS still took 1.5 hours to go down, but he did sleep through till half five

Tonight, after dinner we took him for a run around on the green to see if some fresh air and exercise helped

He still put up a fight going down and we did the mini CC thing of leaving him 30 secs, then 1 minute, then 2 and he went down after 30 minutes which is better

Just got everything crossed he sleep through. Never thought I would say it but if he sleeps through I can cope with the 5:30 starts. Sleeping through and waking at 6:30 would be an absolute dream though!

Sending sleepy vibes to everyone elses DCs and hoping you all get a good nights sleep!

Just wanted to sympathise - I have an 18 month old who used to be a great sleeper but now won't settle and wakes up during the night. He didn't go to bed until around 10pm last night (!) and was awake at 2am for about an hour and a half. It's a nightmare.

Oh still :( It does sound like they are all at it at this age.

I suppose the good thing about it being a normal phase is it will pass!

Got him down within 20 mins last night (better routine and wind down) but he still woke at 2am and then got me up at 5am

Now I am at work trying not to fall asleep at my desk :(

18 month sleep regression, you say?

Argh, hope things improve for you soon, OP, and everyone else suffering with non-sleepy babies at the mo.

Sorry, no further advice to add I'm afraid, but glad to have found you all. DD must be going through this regression as sleep been slowly getting worse - both going down at night and waking early. She outdid herself by getting up for the day at 4.30am today. Blurgh, it's like those newborn days coming back to bite me again!

Perhaps this can be an 18 month sleep regression support thread :)

No one tells you about this before you have one!

Please don't hit me but I don't think we had an 18 month regression unless the week where she shouted at me when I left the room each night for a couple of minutes was it?

Hope everyone is having a better sleep now. I was wondering how many sleep regressions one little kid has to go through. My DS is now only 6.5mo, but I think he had one at 4mo and hasn't tuned back to normal even now...

I have just written a very similar query to yours!