19 month old suddenly upset at bedtime

[Laura1609]

My 19 month old DS has been a great sleeper for the last 7 or so months, happily dozing off on his own after our bedtime routine. Over the last week he’s suddenly become very upset once he gets into the bath, as if he knows what’s coming next and then once I go to put him in bed he clings on to me and gets so upset. He generally naps 1.5-2 hours a day, except on nursery days where he’ll only manage 45 mins, but it doesn’t only happen on nursery days. I know there can be a sleep regression around this age and separation anxiety can be rife but is anyone experiencing this? I’m reluctant to go back to cuddling him to sleep every night as I spent a LONG time doing that and every time I go to him to comfort him all he wants is to climb out and sleep on me. Hoping this is short lived!

I should also add (before anyone jumps on me for leaving him upset) that I give him a few mins at a time to see if he’ll settle himself as sometimes he will.

Ours did this at the same age - he is now 2 years 3 months and unfortunately the same. We've taken it in turns to sit with him for months but we've both had enough now, so we are putting him down then going into another room. This means we can call out to him every few minutes. Eventually he stops complaining and drops off but it can take a while. It's such a gradual process and sometimes feels like we are back to square one!

Oh we had an awful 18 month regression with our DD2. Clingy like you wouldn’t believe and several wake ups a night. I remember spending ages on her bedroom floor with my hand in hers.

It lasted about 5-6 weeks with us and then was ok. I think maybe we introduced a favourite toy around then? Can’t remember sorry!