Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

18 month sleep regression lasting ages, please help!

13 replies

teaandkittehs · 06/07/2024 12:53

Hi all,

About 7 or more weeks ago, my little one hit 17 months and started off her sleep regression with sometimes very early wakes, sometimes chatting to herself from 4 - 5am and then going back to sleep, and fighting bedtime. But then it progressed on to the dreaded split nights, with her awake for up to 3.5 hours - not every night, but we've had up to 4 in a row and then a couple of days off. But the "good" days still involve at least one night wake that can take between a few minutes and an hour to resolve. Sometimes she spends up to 3 hours in the night falling in and out of sleep every 10 mins or so, too, which i gather isn't a true split night, but is just as bad for us. She used to sleep through the night 95% of the time until this started. It seems to be lasting longer than the average sleep regression and keep changing. We've capped her nap at 1.5 hours and moved her bedtime a bit later to try to eliminate the split nights and I think we are seeing less as a result but they are still happening every few days and the nighttime wakings are still there, and as an insomniac myself this means I am having a terrible time subsisting on tiny amounts of sleep as I can't get back to sleep after she wakes me when it's my night to deal with her. I'm sleeping in the day where I can to catch up on sleep but it's not always possible and it's not fair on my partner who has to take more responsibility for her while I am getting some sleep, and I can't nap (I can't fall asleep if I know I've only got a small amount of time) so its got to be a full sleep of a couple of hours or more. I really hoped the regression would start to resolve by now. Has anyone else had it go on for ages? I can barely believe that until 7 weeks ago my little girl slept through the night, it feels like another life now. . . . Am starting to get some signs of depression and anxiety from lack of sleep, broken sleep, and fear of the potentially terrible night ahead!

OP posts:
teaandkittehs · 07/07/2024 22:12

Hopeful bump x

OP posts:
Brightandbreezey · 08/07/2024 08:01

Oh bless you this sounds tough! Unfortunately I don’t have any advice really! I have a 17 month old and for the last 6 weeks or so sleep has been awful (although unlike yours, mine has never been a good sleeper so I think in some respects I’m used to it!!)
To maximise sleep I cosleep and my partner tries to get her to sleep for some of the night and will sleep with her. I go in a different room and at least get a couple of hours. I also nap in the day with her (I know you said you struggle to but honestly just try, even a rest is better than nothing!).
I am thinking it’s all developmental… she is just growing up so much. Moving more, talking more and just seems to have grown up so much in the last 2 months. She’s also had a tooth through which hasn’t helped either!
I feel for you and empathise and am here in solidarity!

teaandkittehs · 08/07/2024 13:34

Brightandbreezey · 08/07/2024 08:01

Oh bless you this sounds tough! Unfortunately I don’t have any advice really! I have a 17 month old and for the last 6 weeks or so sleep has been awful (although unlike yours, mine has never been a good sleeper so I think in some respects I’m used to it!!)
To maximise sleep I cosleep and my partner tries to get her to sleep for some of the night and will sleep with her. I go in a different room and at least get a couple of hours. I also nap in the day with her (I know you said you struggle to but honestly just try, even a rest is better than nothing!).
I am thinking it’s all developmental… she is just growing up so much. Moving more, talking more and just seems to have grown up so much in the last 2 months. She’s also had a tooth through which hasn’t helped either!
I feel for you and empathise and am here in solidarity!

Thanks so much for posting, i feel very alone in this at times!

OP posts:
teaandkittehs · 08/07/2024 13:35

Another hopeful bump. . . .feeling so stuck right now :(

OP posts:
teaandkittehs · 15/07/2024 13:00

And another bump. . .

OP posts:
HazelQuail · 04/05/2025 23:51

Just wondering how you got through this and how long it ended up lasting? It sounds exactly like what my 19 month old seems to be going through and it just feels endless. Any advice much appreciated!

YourPinkBeaker · 06/05/2025 06:36

I had no idea there was an 18 month regression but my little one is having woeful sleep at the moment

She's a bad sleeper at the best of times but she's up every 20-30 minutes screaming the house down and we have no idea why. Please tell me this doesn't last too long!

Brightandbreezey · 08/05/2025 19:32

I’m not the original poster but I am the one who posted in solidarity.
My LO is now 2 years 3 months. Sleep is still ever evolving for us and I would still say she isn’t a great sleeper BUT she has slept much better since turning 2. She can sleep through the night and we had a lovely time of good naps and good nights for a while.
Unfortunately she is now starting to stop the daytime nap and night time sleep has gone a bit haywire again.
But in all honesty, things do improve and generally get better. Sleep for infants isn’t linear and can get better then go bad again. Do what you can to survive and know this won’t be forever.
good luck x

HazelQuail · 08/05/2025 22:38

Thank you, very kind of you to respond! Fingers crossed we all get better sleep soon

teaandkittehs · 09/05/2025 13:04

OP here. The full regression lasted 4 months, it was awful for two months and improved slightly over the next 2 and then she started sleeping through for 5 nights a week, and then 6 night a week. The split nights that were happening at the start of the regression dropped off quickly once we cut her nap from 1.5 to 2.5 hours but other disturbances such as wake ups, early starts, bedtime refusal, lasted the full 4 months.

We've had another blip recently at about 2.3 years old and had to cut her nap to an hour to eliminate split nights again. She's still doing occasional split nights but is open inclined to talk to herself for two hours and calls for us less, it still keeps us awake though!

She's now started the descent toward not napping, she takes ages to go to sleep at night and takes 25 mins to go down for her nap so I think things will take a turn pretty soon. Am about to start a new post to ask for advice on approaches to dropping the nap. I'm dreading it, i really need that hour off as she's at home with us most of the time and it's exhausting!

OP posts:
teaandkittehs · 09/05/2025 13:08

I hate to add I was so broken by the end of the 4 months that I ended up on a low dose of antidepressants that helped you to sleep. As I said in the initial post, I'm an insomniac anyway so this regression nearly finished off my mental health, I was so anxious about her not sleeping and therefore me not sleeping that I ended up barely sleeping even on my nights off monitor duty, and I was close to entering a state of psychosis. Moral of the story is that drugs are better than madness I guess. . . . Can't wait to get off them once her sleep has been stable for long enough for me to trust it!

OP posts:
teaandkittehs · 09/05/2025 13:10

Brightandbreezey · 08/05/2025 19:32

I’m not the original poster but I am the one who posted in solidarity.
My LO is now 2 years 3 months. Sleep is still ever evolving for us and I would still say she isn’t a great sleeper BUT she has slept much better since turning 2. She can sleep through the night and we had a lovely time of good naps and good nights for a while.
Unfortunately she is now starting to stop the daytime nap and night time sleep has gone a bit haywire again.
But in all honesty, things do improve and generally get better. Sleep for infants isn’t linear and can get better then go bad again. Do what you can to survive and know this won’t be forever.
good luck x

Looks like we are at similar stages, I think mine is only days or weeks away from either nap refusal or us cutting her nap shorter!

OP posts:
Brightandbreezey · 10/05/2025 18:09

Hey! Sounds like our two are very similar!
So my DD now usually naps maybe 2-3 x a week. She can go a few days without a nap then the tiredness catches up with her and she’ll go.
It’s pretty rubbish though… if she doesn’t nap you can guarantee a split night with her getting quite upset. If she does nap she won’t go to sleep till 9:30-10pm, she will sleep through and then is up at 6-7am. I’m looking forward to her just not needing it to be honest.
We are just rolling with it. My partner sleeps in with her now on days she doesn’t nap as this seems to help with the split night and stops it from escalating too much! We have 13 week old twins now as well but I am pleased to say that so far their sleep is better than my first’s ever was so hope it lasts 🤞🏼

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread