17 month 5 hour bed time

[pistachi0nuts]

Hello, I’ve been having a really really rough time of it the past few nights. My little boy 17 months has just started to get ok at sleeping, sometimes sleeping through 7-5, sometimes with one or two little wake ups. I can deal with this after many months of much worse. However the past couple of nights it has taken HOURS for him to fall asleep. Last night was 5 and a half hours. He finally stopped screaming at 12am then woke at 1, 3 and up for the day at 7. Today will no doubt be hellish as he has had only 7 hours broken sleep.
he only naps for max 60mins at lunchtime. Bed time always at 7. I have tried everything to make that nap longer.
I am at my wits end and I don’t know if I can do this much longer. I have support but what can any one do when he just won’t stop screaming and bed time lasts 6 hours
he is absolutely fine if I take him out his room and put him downstairs. He is all smiles and cuddles with me. He just doesn’t want to sleep.
any help or suggestions, I’m desperate. I just want a couple of hours alone time as I don’t get those chunky naps.

That sounds so hard, and one of the things that surprised me was that the newborn sleep isn’t necessarily the hardest phase! Maybe he is overtired? Have you tried putting him to bed earlier than 7 especially if not having much daytime sleep. My little one can’t make it until 7 at the moment and is usually in bed by 6

I've heard of babies that stopped napping by 18 months. Could that be your son? When did he drop to one nap? Has it been a while?

My son is 16 months and dropped to one nap a month and a half ago. If he only gets an hour he's so tired and completely beside himself. He'd sleep by 6:30 but I try to stretch him out. He's still only just coping on one nap I'd say. I can usually resettle him if he wakes after an hour from his nap but it doesn't happen at nursery.

Just wondering if your son maybe doesn't need as much day time sleep anymore? Sounds like he's happy as soon as you stop trying to get him to sleep and nothing works to extend the nap?

Sounds like a sleep regression to me. My DS went through it at 18 months and it was torture. Carry on with your normal routine, don't make any drastic changes. I wouldn't take him out of the room or expose him to anything stimulating as he will then be too wired and awake to sleep, so no TV or talking etc.

I think all the broken sleep and only sleeping 7 hours will undoubtedly mean that he is tired, and overtiredness will just mean that it all repeats again. You need to break the cycle and put him for his nap earlier in the day, and put him to bed earlier at bedtime. Hopefully he should be able to catchup on his sleep and be a happier baby.