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Calling all EW, short napping toddlers - come and make me feel better

5 replies

Suchanamateur · 10/08/2013 12:17

DD going through a particularly grim stage at the moment (18 mo) although has never been great. I am prone to anxiety as it is and I know she is currently sleeping a lot less than she is 'supposed' to - despite me doing everything in my power to persuade her. But objectively, when I can drag my head of my sleep deprived and anxiety ridden fog, she seems fine - pretty happy bar the usual toddler frustration and random clinginess, and developing fine.

So I need to rewire my brain with stories of others whose little ones sleep much less and are totally fine, even if their parents aren't... Hearing about my friends baby at the same age, who naps for 2.5 hours, sleeps 12 at night and has to be woken in the morning is not helping.

Anyone's toddlers also sleep significantly less than a 2 hour nap (whats that?), and for whom 11/12 hours a night is a far off pipe dream? (Obviously this might be a bit of a biased survey as you're unlikely to be perusing 'sleep' unless you aren't getting enough!).

OP posts:
Middlesexmummy · 10/08/2013 12:20

Hi , my dd is 17 months and has recently dropped from 2 naps to 1 nap which is only an hour ..... She seems to sleep longer if she s at home and has been active in the morning ( swimming , park etc) at night she still wakes up at 4-5 am for some milk ( I know I know ) ......

okthen · 10/08/2013 19:15

At that age my dd slept 7pm-5am (groan) and had 40 mins nap a day.
I fretted about it a lot, even though she seemed and was absolutely fine.

Soon afterwards she started sleeping 11 hours at night and 2 hours in the afternoon. When SHE was ready.

(Oh and now aged 3.6 she has gone back to a 5am wake up with NO NAP. But is fine! So am trying not to worry)

Some kids, at some stages, just need less sleep, I'm sure of it. The books and 'rules' can send a person mad!

teacher123 · 10/08/2013 21:48

Hello again! Right-DS is currently being ok, but still not reliably doing anything iykwim, so I can't relax and enjoy it!

However on the hen do I went on last weekend, the majority of us had toddlers. ONE of them has the incredible sleeping baby, 2/3 hour naps in the day, has to be woken in the morning at 9am etc etc. EVERYONE else agreed that anything from 5am was fair game, and that reliable extra long naps were not happening. Isn't there a regression at 18mo? They're learning a billion things a day, DS lies in his cot practising his words before he can switch off at bedtime.

Suchanamateur · 11/08/2013 11:29

Thanks all - I just needed some reassurance rather than comparison and lots of 'shoulds'. DD is my second, and DS wasn't/ isn't a great sleeper either, so I really should know better than to let it bother me. But it does.

okthen - fingers crossed she heads in your DD's direction! Although my DS - 3.4 - also doesn't nap and regularly wakes in the 5s.

teacher123 glad to hear your DS is doing ok. Did you enjoy the weekend away?? Good to hear your proxy experiences of your toddler mum friends. And yes, there is a regression at 18 months although I'm thinking it hit us pretty early. Part of the problem is that with DS, I knew lots of people going through the same thing at the same stage - not really the case with DD, and those I do know have annoyingly good sleepers!

OP posts:
teacher123 · 11/08/2013 12:17

Yes weekend away was awesome and have another one next weekend for the actual wedding Smile.

Like you I require REASONS for all things that DS does. As my laid back DH points out, sometimes I wake up in the night and need a quick cuddle, or a drink of water, or I take an hour to drop off to sleep, it is unrealistic for us to expect our pre verbal toddlers to be robots who run like clockwork. Everytime DH tells me this, I outwardly agree whilst on the inside I'm shouting 'but WHHHHYYYYYY?!???' You don't appreciate your own autonomy regarding sleep until it is taken away from you!

And I woke up at 6am everyday as a child and never slept in past 8am even as a teenager. I now understand why my mum used to get pissed off!!

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