My 19 month old is always so tired.

[EmmaLou9527]

So my 19 month old has always had trouble with sleep and recently he's scaring me with it. So an average day can mostly look like this around sleep.
8-9am. Wakes up and has breakfast
11am. Back to bed for a 1-3 hour sleep sometimes longer.
But then anywhere from 4pm he is so grumpy and falling asleep and nothing we do can keep him awake so we have to put him to bed. So many days he goes without dinner or tea so we have to stock him up on milk. He will sometimes eat late afternoon between the nap and bedtime but rarely. We make him food and he just refuses to eat it. But very rarely do we get him to his bedtime of 6-7:30pm or anywhere in that area. When he goes down at night. He will wake 2X for milk top ups. Which I don't know if he should be having. We tried switching it out to water but he then refused and sat in bed for nearly 2 hours screaming and sobbing. I probably should mention he has been a very poorly child. He spent the most part of his 1st year in and out of hospital and had a feeding tube for a few months so has a strange relationship with food/milk anyway.

There's got to be an easier way to do all this. Other than possibly a quick 20min nip to the shop we can't leave the house because of how he is. We can't plan a day out or go out for a nice tea etc and as stated before it's getting to the point of worry.

Thankyou for reading and any advice.
Emma.
Mummy to 1 Boy - 19 months old. 💙

Hi, I have a 16 month old who sleeps around 10.5 hours at night then currently two naps in the day between 1-1.5 hours max each.

To me it sounds like he's possibly not having enough food like you said. My son doesn't wake in the night as he dropped his night feed at about 7 months. Not sure if this is the norm though.

It sounds tough with the issues he's had. Sorry no practical advice

You need to speak to a medical expert, not ask random people on here especially given what you say about his feeding tube.

It sounds very unusual and worrying.

Bearing in mind he’s medically complex, I agree you need to speak to a doctor.

Francesca. I'm a first time mum and I wasn't sure if a child sleeping this age could be normal. I have an appointment with his paediatrician to talk about this and other bits but I just wanted to see if it could be normal

He doesn't currently have a feeding tube it came out in January.
I apologise if by me asking a question you somehow got offended I'm not totally sure why.
I asked a question for advice. That doesn't mean I'm neglecting my child by not seeing health professionals.

I’m not at all offended but I’m baffled why you don’t ask an expert.

Yes, it’s unusual for a small child to sleep so much - but you already know that so why are you posting here?

And no, I am not implying that you’re neglecting your child.

And as I just stated. I have an appointment. I can't just walking into the place of appointment and see the paediatrician that's not how it works. I've seen our GP and he said get the appointment brought forward with the paediatrician which is what we have done and it is at the end of January instead of July.
I merely posted here to see if there was any advice or if anyone had been through it.

That does sound stressful and it's good that you have a paediatric appointment scheduled soon so you can get professional support. You should be able to get a referral to your paediatric team dietician or speech and language therapist (they deal with any issues around swallowing) if you raise your concerns at the appointment.

How is his weight? Is he tracking his growth centile, or has he dropped down?

I am totally not an expert, but I wonder if he has difficulty noticing / interpreting sensations of hunger? Especially if he had a feeding tube that meant have s nutritional needs were outside of his control for a while. Is he mistaking hunger for tiredness, or just not realising that he will feel better if he eats?

What does he eat for breakfast? And at other times? I imagine a dietitian will want to see a food diary, so you could start recording his meals / milk feeds now to show the team in January.

What is his behaviour like around food? Does he eat a wide range of things, or is it very restricted? Will he play with food items (whether he eats them or not) or does he avoid touching food at all?

Also, if you think he is getting so tired because he's just not eating enough, what happens if you give him really energy dense foods for breakfast - say porridge made with cream and peanut butter on top. Would he have more energy, or does he still sleep just as much?

That does sound very unusual and very hard to deal with.

I hope your appointment with the Paediatrician goes well. I might be worth writing down your concerns and what a normal day looks like for his sleep so that you can discuss it fully with the Paed