ADVICE/HELP..!!! Toddlers sleep pattern...................oh and impending arrival of a newborn...

[SHHHH]

DD (19 months)is usually such a good sleeper and I think I may have spoken to soon or taken her for granted .

A few weeks ago it started with her waking everyday bang on 4am, not crying but singing and chatting and playing her musical mobile. I left her to it as usually she went back off to bed. She would sleep from 7pm-7/8/9am. I asked for mner's advice and as told she would change, she did and all was ok...for a while....

We now put her to bed as usual at 7pm and she chats, sings etc till 8/9/10pm... Obviously if concerned we do check on her BUT thing is she seems happy and content. DH worries as he feels tight leaving her alone like this as feels she is bored etc. Thurs night we brng bher downstairs for 20 mins till we all went to bed and she did then go straight off....

Last night was bed at 7.30pm and she never dropped off till 10pm then woke at 12am, dropped off after 30 mins, woke at 4am, dropped off after 45 mins and we think woke again at around 6am........DH ended up getting up with her at 7ish....

What has changed or what are we now doing wrong...?????????? Due to size and mobility I haven't been attending baby gym or groups or venturing out for walks etc BUT if dh is home early he has taken her for walks/runs esp at weekeneds in an attempt to burn some of her energy...

I am 38 + 4 and think she may be aware of change..anyone offer advice on what to expect once ds2b arrives as well...??? Is she likely to turn us even more so into zombies by waking possibly every 2 hours along with ds2b..????.

I can see why you're worried!!!!

For what it's worth, we have had similar with ds (24m) and I am 12 weeks preg. I think our little ones are aware when Mummy is different and I do think that them doing less in the day must have an effect on their sleep.

You don't say how much your dd sleeps in the day. Maybe she just isn't tired in the evening, so not dropping off til later?? We have started limiting ds's sleep to 50 mins in day and that has helped. Also we are ignoring him in the middle of the night and a couple of times he has slept through.

Apart from that, check all the usual ( cold/ hot/ is anything waking her at 4am / teething) and good luck!

THANKS BM, forgot to say dd does have an afternoon nap which does vary (some days yes some no) and are usually around 2 hours as I leave her to wake herself..therefor sometimes its 1 hour....We did think yesterday that maybe we should reduce her sleep in the afternoon but thought maybe she was a little to young..???

Also as im with dd 24/7 as dh works long hours its ideal for me to allow nap time for me . BUT dh finishes on fri so maybe its an ideal time to trial it...

TBH she may have teeth comeing through so another ideal was to calpol her up tonight..otherwise no idea what wakes her as there is nothing we know that happens around 4am, also its now much more varied iykwim....

Bbaies..!!! .

TOTALLY know what you mean about needing the nap time for yourself!!!!!!

But actually if I wake ds he is less grumpy than if I let him nap as long as he wants, which does help motivate me to wake him.

Good luck for tonight (-:

DS 23 months and had to drop his nap from 2 hours down to 1 hour 15 mins to counteract the same problem as you. I also had to make his bedtime 7.15 instead of 7. Made a huge difference to his sleep. He still wakes during the night at random times usually 11 ish and 4 am ish because his sleep is lighter but 99% of the time he just turns over because he's more tired than he was previously. Hope this helps.