18 month sleep regression. literally losing my mind.

[Nannyplumshairstyle]

AHHHH I'm going mad.
DH is upstairs comforting our until now BFed to sleep 18 month old.
The past few weeks she has been really resistant of bedtime to the point she's not going to bed until 10:30-11 pm.
I've made loads of so called rods for my back through BFing to sleep, bringing her downstairs to play or watch TV when she doesn't seem tired but now she is an overtired wreck, Cranky, emotional and just not herself so tonight I put her in her cot and she (obviously) screamed blue murder.
I have been downstairs now for 40 minutes and she is still howling. My husband is cuddling her upstairs and gently explaining that she need to sleep but she's calling for me and screeching.
I feel numb. I don't even feel too guilty because I know ultimately she NEEDS to sleep.
Any advice?

Maybe some sleep training!

Hi OP, I have been through exactly your situation, I promise it does pass eventually. My DDs sleep and the time it took to get her to go down in the evenings improved dramatically after I stopped BF at night when she was 21 months old, we now have a solid routine that we don’t deviate from to help her wind down in the evenings. I’d recommend no tv for at least an hour before bed. After dinner, bath and teeth brushing we go into her room and I let her chose a few bedtime stories, which we read cuddled up in her bed together, I then read the same book twice before lights out when she tucks in her cuddly toy, then I give her a kiss and tuck her in. I have to sit by the bed for about 5-10 minutes telling her it’s ‘sleepy time’ rubbing the palm of her hand and then she is sound asleep. I actually went away for a few days when I stopped BF, and DP took over the bedtime routine, she was used to it and sleeping much better after two days. If your dc is fighting sleep you need to make sure that the room is dark and boring so there is no incentive to stay awake, repeat the same comforting phrases until they get the picture. Moving dd into her own single bed, which is just a mattress on the floor so she can get in and out herself, made a huge improvement in her sleep, she never slept in a cot though.

Thank you so much.
I am really struggling to imagine it getting better.
It's just so hard when you want to be a good mum but because you're so tired you can't be and I end up letting her watch too much tv because I'm so tired in the day!

I hear you (you answered my thread in the sleep section - I know what it's like!).

What's the daytime sleep and exercise situation like? That degree of bedtime resistance indicates either a will of iron or possibly not being tired enough to sleep at bedtime (then becoming overtired and wound up as the bedtime stretches on and on). Could you halve the length of the daytime nap, or have it earlier; and is there any scope to make her walk up a few big hills or go swimming or something? DS definitely goes to sleep much more quickly after walking home up the hill from playgroup, or swimming; and when he's had a daytime nap of about an hour rather than two or three hours.

Good luck!

I tried something new tonight.
Usually I feed my baby to sleep in our bed then out her in her cot once she's asleep.
When she inevitably wakes up in the middle of the night she finishes off her sleep with us in our bed til the morning.
Tonight she was feeding on our bed but kept insisting she go downstairs and watch tv and I said, if you walk off the bed again, (we have a super king sized mattress on the floor) I will put you in your cot. I followed through on this twice until she went off to sleep.
Now for the first time in ages, Im having an evening.
A fake magnum in my balmy back garden.
Bliss!