Please help with our 18 month old!

[bumble270]

I'm totally loosing the plot, my DD has been an amazing sleeper from the start. She loved her bedtime routine, slept through very early on, we were very lucky

It's now an absolute nightmare! Hours and hours of screaming, throwing herself round nearly being sick

Nothing we do calms her and it's heart breaking!

Her routine generally
7-7:30 wake up
8/8:30 breakfast
11:30 lunch
12/12:30 nap
We wake her by 2 if she seems like shes going too long
3:30 light snack fruit/cheese crackers
5:30/6 evening meal
6/6:30 bath
Story cuddle song
7pm in bed

Previously asleep at that point and good through the night

We are now regularly having these melt downs until 9-10 in the evening

I've seen lots of comments about sleep regression and saying it'll pass, but how do we make it less traumatic for everyone??

It's 27 degrees in her room tonight which hasn't helped any of us

My nearly 20m old son is going through similar. His bed time is about 8-8:30 and he'll quickly drop off if I feed him to sleep. He's also only recently dropped to one nap so he's always tired at bedtime. But he'll sleep for 30 mins or so then wake up and won't be consoled unless we take him downstairs again and is then awake until 10:30 - 11:00. It's a nightmare. I'm sure it will pass but it helps to know others are going through the same phase! Sorry, that's not particularly helpful!

No advice I'm afraid @bumble270 but we went through the same thing my son was hysterical with crying every evening. I couldn't quite ignore it but I was loathe to start picking him up. I used to sit in his room with my back to him and read a book. I think it's a separation thing maybe.

All I can say is stick to your routine; you'll be pleased you still have it when it passes (and it will pass).

Have you tried white noise? A little light projecting stars onto the ceiling or similar so she can watch them as he drifts off. A fan in her room might be nice to help her cool down but the noise might help too.

You'll be out the other side before you know it, I promise.

It’s a big development time so I’m wondering if she’s overtired? We didn’t have full on meltdowns but we did struggle to get DD through to her 7pm bedtime at that age and she’d get very emotional in the evening.

I’d try ensuring that where possible she always gets 2 hours sleep after lunch so 12-2 or 12.30-2.30. And maybe even try bedtime at 6.30pm to see if she settles more easily.

It might not work, you might have a child that doesn’t need much sleep, but we did find that trying to preempt DD getting too tired helped massively at that age as she was constantly shattered!!

Thank you both, for your replies, it's good to know it's not just us!

DH and I chatted last night and we were thinking of an earlier bed time too so I think we will try your suggestion @Expressedways of an earlier bedtime tonight, we have assumed she's sleeping too long but maybe she is overtired by the time we start putting her to bed