Struggling with 14mo

[Chosenbyyou]

Hi

I’m still struggling with my 14mo DS.

Early waking were half killing me 4.20am so I have tried for a few nights letting him nap later and putting him to bed at 10pm.

He slept in til 6 woo hoo but was so tired today his first nap was so early it bought his second nap forward and we are back to an earlier bed time (8.30).

He fights all sleep and wakes in the night a few times and gets up too early. He is always grumpy. I can get him drowsy with a back rub and can even go out at the end and he will ‘self settle’.

My life is so dull as I’m so tired and go to bed at 9pm every night. My work is suffering (work 4 days pw) and I’m generally unhappy after 14 months of this.

I don’t really know what to do except keep waiting :(

Anyone else in this position or have any advice?

I have a 14mo sleep hater too! Though I’m afraid he’s never been an early riser but he went through a phase of not wanting to go to bed until 10 every night so I dropped him down to one nap and this has helped. It took a week or two to get used to and he still has two naps every now and then (usually when he can’t help falling asleep in the car or bus) but it’s working about 90% of the time! Worth a try?

Hi @BorahT

Thanks for your reply! Yes I think the two naps are causing us problems.

Can I ask what time your little one gets up and when the nap is? Today mine actually got up at 6.30 but went to sleep at 10pm (woke twice in night) despite me trying to get him to sleep much earlier.

I am also still feeding a bottle in the night but he drinks it all every night.

Thanks for your response xx

You need an earlier bedtime, not later. Sleep cycles on average 4 hrs. If they wake at 4.30 they really need another 4 hrs but wake up instead because it's 'nearly' morning.

Instead, you need them starting a new cycle about 2am which means bedtime of 6/6.30pm.

Give it a try - plus make sure not too long napping in the day, about 1.5hrs max in the afternoon.

Thank you Fusionchef.

That sounds like a good idea. Will try to get one nap and an earlier bedtime. The late bedtime isn’t really workable as I can’t get anything done at all when he goes to sleep at 10pm - I am trying to pass a course which I can only do in the evenings.

If I could get one nap and an early bedtime that would be amazing. Nursery seem to be better at getting one nap than me cuz they keep him going.

Thanks for your help :)

Well I have managed to get him to sleep at 7.45 this evening so hopefully that is better.

Didn’t quite manage one nap but did a short first sleep which bought the second one earlier.

Hopefully things will start to improve and it’s better than 10pm! X

It’s still a bit random (I don’t have him on too strict a schedule either), but I usually aim to have him in bed at around 7.30-8, then he usually gets up between 6.30 and 7, then a nap about 12-1, depending on how co-operative he is! The length varies, he had a two hour nap yesterday and wouldn’t go down until 9.30 last night,so another vote here for a short nap, but I think it’s probably something you need to play around with. For the first few days I had to work hard to keep him going to midday for his nap but he’s pretty happy now and is ok with the adjustment!