Help, please! 18 month suddenly wide awake for hours in the night

[Summerx]

Hi all,

Looking for some help and advice! My DD, 18 months and previously an excellent sleeper from 6:30/7 for 11/12 hours a night has now in the last few weeks started waking in the night between 12-2 for 2/3 hours 😩 she is not crying, she's shouting or babbling and is wide awake, it's like she thinks it's playtime and she's shouting for us to come and get her. She has one nap in the daytime so is not getting too much sleep, the poor thing looks exhausted in the mornings when she has to get up! My partner and I are both back working full time and are at the end of our tether with exhaustion!

If anyone has any suggestions I would be most grateful 🤞🏻

Following.

Our DD 18 months old - slept through quite consisently from 14-15 months. But this week something really weird started happening, 2 nights ago she woke up at 4am screaming, but resettled after a quick chew on breast. Then last night she woke up at 11pm and cried unconsolably for 2 hours. Fell asleep only after a dose of Nurofen.
I've read a lot about the 18 months sleep regression but how does it manifest itself ??? DD seemed to be in so much distress :(

@Sandrine1982 I'm at a bit of a loss to be honest about how to deal with it, it's like she wants to go back to sleep but can't because she's too awake. Nothing we do seems to help her get back off any quicker.

I'm hoping someone on here will have some tips for us! We comfort her quietly and lay her back down tucking her in again and just saying it's night night time and nothing else but after 5 minutes she's up again.

Also following for the same reason! 😩

hi there- just wondering how everyone is getting on. We had a rough night again. DD was up at 3am crying, I had to go in 3 times and give her bottle of milk and sing lullabies before she finally settled at 4.45am.

If it's the 18 month sleep regression - how long does it last? Does anyone have any tips on how to survice this?

Hi @Sandrine1982 I don't want to jinx myself but I think things are starting to improve here🤞🏻 DD is waking up 2/4 times still but it has been easier to settle her back down each time for the past 3 nights. I think it's perhaps bad dreams? We are in week 2 of this regression currently. The bags under my eyes are more like shoppers than clutches 😂🤦🏼‍♀️

Haha I'm glad things are better on your end. I hope this regression doesn't last long. I even resorted to trying to sleep with DD last night. But she just started to chat to me! So I put her back in the cot ... only to have to go back in 5 minutes later.....

@Sandrine1982 painful isn't it 🤦🏼‍♀️😂 back to surviving on caffeine and sugar!

@ShatParp how are you getting on?

I feel like i could have written this thread! DD is 17 months and usually a great sleeper but for the last week has been a nightmare. Waking in the night anywhere from midnight to 4am, awake for hours. Screaming crying. Won't lie down, doesn't want cuddled, doesn't want up, doesn't want down etc etc. We offer her milk or water and she usually takes some but I don't think its hunger that's the problem. Her teeth are troubling her but again, that's a long term thing and the current nighttime waking is very out of the norm for her.
She doesn't settle in our bed either, we've tried. She just screams and screams so I've resorted to putting the hungry caterpillar on my phone for her to watch (repeatedly 🤦‍♀️) not the best solution I know but the only thing to stop the endless screaming which i find it so hard to cope with. Sometimes 2-3 hours before she'll fall asleep on me and settle enough to go back into her cot. Someone tell me this nightmare will end 🙏

Also, should point out that for the last couple of days the screaming and resisting sleep has also started before her nap and at bedtime where previously it had only been through the night 😫

@LittleLadysMama I spoke too soon earlier, tonight we've had kicking off at bedtime and she's now an hour later to sleep as a result 🤦🏼‍♀️ we've had nap refusal for quite a while now, which is a struggle but not too bad when you've had a good nights sleep. Feels like an endless battle at the moment doesn't it!

Very much so @Summerx 😫 we had a normal bedtime tonight which was promising, but she's just woke screaming again. DH is currently trying to calm her. She doesn't want milk, water, teething gel etc, just struggling and crying and I'm not far behind her, this is the worst stage 😭

We are also up, we've both tried to settle her, she's not crying but shouting and wanting to get up. I'm at my wits end with it. I just wish someone was able to say it'll all be over and back to normal within 'x' weeks 😭 x

Mine is doing the same - 2 years 3 months. He wakes up, stands up and chants "Daddy, daddy," until we go up and then yells "Out! Downstairs!" Last night we were up 1 until 4! It's been going on for about 50% of the nights for a month. I wish I knew how to snap him out of it.

Coffees and matchsticks all round today then lovelies 😩🤦🏼‍♀️😘

The more I think about this, the more I think it is definitely nap-related.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday - no nursery, no nap, slept through.
Monday - nursery, nap, awake 1-4am
Tuesday - no nursery, no nap, slept through

DS is at nursery today, so if he wakes tonight I'll report back. It may be that shortening naps, if they still take them, might help. Even down to about 20-30 minutes.

Let us know @Ellpellwood I'm willing to try anything!

@Summerx still terrible sleep here! My boy has always been a bad sleeper but is getting worse. Our nights are exactly like @LittleLadysMama describes and I too have resorted to playing something on the tablet for him, I know it's the least ideal thing but it's the only way to calm him down! Nothing comforts him! It's been going on too long to be sleep regression I think! Everything I read just says to get a good bedtime routine going but when going to sleep isn't the problem that advice doesn't help at 3am!!

Oh I feel your pain @ShatParp
Last couple of nights haven't been just as bad, still awake after midnight and usually again around 3ish but has gone down quicker with less screaming 🤞 she did wake at 530am today though, wouldn't go back to sleep and then napped at 9am for her childminder. Slept again at 130 then had a full on meltdown at teatime and fell asleep for 10 mins on DHs lap just after 6 😫 she seems to be really troubled with her teeth at the moment too, must be the 2nd molars but no sign of them breaking the gum yet and if its already this bad 😳🤯
She gets so hysterical and blotchy when she cries, it all feels so extreme and hard to handle 😭

Well, fortunately/unfortunately DS slept through despite napping at nursery, so that blows my theory out of the water!

Someone recommended I put the top I'd been wearing that day (obviously only if safe with no cords/straps etc) into the cot with DD so it smells like I am near. It seems to have helped 🤞🏻