2 year sleep regression? Difficult to settle and up at 4.45

[Bugaboom]

Ds is nearly 2. Around the 17 month mark we had a sleep regression where it took ages for him to settle in evenings then he would be up at 5am often after a few night wakings. That lasted three months. Now I am worried it is happening again. He won't let us leave the room at bedtime so end up either holding him or lying on the floor beside him for 45 min. Then he is awake at 4.45am. Nothing seems to help him go back to sleep.
He loves his nap and we wake him after 1.5 hours in an attempt to not impact his night sleep.
Any tips? I have to say that he is always an early riser but usually before 6am not 5! I'm 18 weeks pregnant, working and could do with a bit more rest!

Sounds like we are having the same problems! I feel for you, especially when your pregnant - bet your shattered!
Is your little one in cot or bed? X

Still in his cot. Hasn't tried to climb out so want to keep it that way! He has plenty of room as it's a cotbed

Snap! Hope someone gives us some useful advice!! Good luck xxx

I went through this DS was about 22 months and I was 7- 8 months pregnant. He was up for 3 hours every single night between midnight and three. It was just awful. I tried everything, naps earlier, ( which didn't often work as he was naturally getting later with his naps) , waking him after an hour, not letting him sleep past a certain time. Sad to say the only thing that worked in the end was totally cutting out his nap.

Like magic, he slept 11.5-12 hours a night. Now I give him a nap every few days but interestingly he doesn't get anymore sleep in a 24 hour period because he will go to sleep later on a nap day. Given the choice he would naturally kip for 3 hours every afternoon and then go to bed at nine. Thing is, that doesn't suit me because I need an evening to sort out baby and wash up, cook etc, and it's not going to work when he starts pre school soon.

Some days I feel like maybe I didn't do the right thing as everyone else still seems to have napping children, but they nap and it doesn't affect their bedtime.

I can only suggest you experiment with cutting it out for a week and see how it goes.

Hate to say it but cutting the nap was the only thing that worked here too. He's still sometimes tired at nap time and afternoons can be hard going unless I keep him pretty busy (and I daren't put him in the car or the buggy) but it's worth it to get 11/11.5 hours at night.

Same here imperial. You have to adjust daily life a bit so they aren't given opportunities to nod off for a few hours in the car at 3pm!

Thanks for responses! Sorry I've been slow to respond. He's ok once he's dropped off at night, usually sleeps through but was awake 4:30 daily last week. However we've discovered he will go back to sleep if only one us takes him into spare bed (won't sleep with me and DH). If it's after 5.30 though there's no chance. He naps at 11.30/12 and we wake him after 90 minutes.

I suspect dropping his nap will help but i can't face that just yet! Will bear it mind if he continues to be difficult to settle