Is there a sleep regression at 12-18 months?

[SquidwardTortellini95]

Hi all. DD is 15 months and normally a great sleeper (slept 11-12 hours straight since six months old and only woke up once a night before then), but recently her sleep has gotten noticeably worse.

She is difficult to settle for the night and she has started waking up in the night again. Sometimes when she wakes she is upset and crying, other times she's laughing and wanting to play! The night before last, she didn't fall asleep until 9pm, woke up screaming at 11pm and didn't go back to sleep until 3am! She would fall asleep in my arms but then sit up and start crying the instant I put her down. She was then up for the day at 6am. She slept well last night (7pm - 7:30am!) but tonight she is being difficult to settle again (she's still not asleep) and wants to play!

She still sleeps for two hours in the day but that nap is happening later and later in the day. She's been on one nap for a couple of months now.

Any advice? Commiserations? Matchsticks to keep my eyes open?

Anyone? Sleep is worse than ever

Is she teething. I have a 17 month old dd and her sleep ain't no better. She was brilliant from birth right up until 8 weeks old then it went down hill she was up at least 8 times a night for months I had a sleep women come round and give advice didn't work. Then she turned 1 and a switch went on she started sleeping only waking once or sleep right through. She only had 5 teeth for the longest time and the last 3 weeks she has started getting her back teeth so your little one could be getting there back teeth..

By this age a child will really struggle if they go to sleep somewhere and wake somewhere else. So if baby usually goes to sleep in your arms and is put down already asleep, that will cause really big problems.

In order to understand why, think about the way human sleep developed from an evolutionary point of view. We sleep in cycles of deep sleep, light sleep then a brief semi-conscious period before starting the next sleep cycle. This semi-conscious break between cycles is called the 'environment check'. In cavemen times, it was so that humans could ensure they were safe even whilst asleep.

Usually adults (and children) wont wake in this environment check. It might mean rolling over, changing positions, maybe unconsciously glancing around. But you dont properly wake and go straight back to sleep.

Now imagine you went to sleep as normal in your bed. At some point later between sleep cycles you roll over and realise instantly that you are no longer on bed, you are how in the backseat of a car. What would happen? You'd be like WTF is happening? Where am I? Why am I here? You wouldnt just roll over and go back to sleep, you would be fully, wide awake very quickly.

That is what is happening here. It is very important for good sleep hygiene that if your baby is going to sleep in a cot, that she needs to go from being fully awake to fully asleep all done while in the cot

What time is her nap? You might need to try and move it earlier. And yes to her falling asleep herself in her cot, does she have a comforter or cuddly toy to help with that?

No advice but you have my sympathies as my 18 month old is the same, was never a great sleeper early on but we had a good run between 9-14 months where usually she slept 7.30-7.30. Now she is all over the place,she either won’t go to sleep until really late and is full of it or falls asleep at 7.30pm and then wakes up again around 10pm wanting to play If she does stay a sleep at the beginning of the night she wakes in the night around 2am and doesn’t want to go back to sleep!
I’ve taken to giving her a bottle of toddler formula if she wakes in the night or at 10pm to get her back off which is ridiculous as she hasn’t had a night feed since 9 months old

She’s also coming back into my bed as she just screams the place down and gets really upset if I put her back in her cot. Sometimes she’ll settle other times she’s holding on to the headboard and bouncing for over an hour laughing like a maniac. I just never know what sort of night it will be