14 month old sleep regression - pls help!

[Hannah2025]

Hi everyone, I’m hoping I can get some advice from anyone who’s been through anything similar!

14 month old son has never been the greatest sleeper, however for a couple of months since he turned 1 he got a LOT better and ended up doing 6:30-6am with only brief wakes for his dummy.

Over the last 2-3 weeks he has regressed again. He has learnt how to walk and he has molars coming through so there is a lot going on. A few nights ago the regression seemed to start to settle…and now it’s back in full swing again!

He is waking up around 30-40 mins after being put down for bed and throwing a huge tantrum. Pointing to the door, wanting to be picked up and taken out. Nothing consoles him or works unless I take him downstairs and let him play for a couple of hours which I’m really trying not to do anymore because it’s too exhausting and I fear it’s starting a bad habit. He does eventually go down after 2 hours and a second bottle of milk, but then he will wake again later on in the night. By this point I end up bringing him in with me because I’m too tired and the thought of getting up and down to him all night is too much. I do end up transferring him back to his cot from my bed around 4am and he sleeps until 6am.

Hi schedule looks like this…

6am wake up
11am 2 hour nap
7pm milk and bed

Any advice or ideas as to why he is doing this would be hugely appreciated! X

If he’s waking up after one sleep cycle he’s treating it as a second nap. Maybe he needs a bit less sleep overall? Can you push the nap later and make bedtime a bit later? Or cap the nap at 1h30? There’s no magic solution, you might just have to try a few things and/or ride it out I’m afraid… don’t let him go down to play when he wakes up though, keep it boring. Books in his room or trying to sleep, nothing else.

Oooooh interesting you say about capping the nap. I’m going to try this today! He’s never been a big sleep needs baby and dropped the 2nd nap super early (8-9months) so you could be on to something here!

Being awake for two hours after less than an hours sounds like he doesn’t have enough sleep pressure, so is adding an extra couple of hours awake during the night to build it. 7pm is a very early bedtime and I’d try pushing it back to around 8:00, and also consider cappng the nap like the other poster has suggested.

So I tried capping his nap yesterday and things got even worse last night! He categorically would not go to bed. Had his bottle at 6:45 and I genuinely thought he was going to go to sleep he looked really tired. Then he suddenly got a second wind and would not sleep. I did everything - kept him in a dimly lit room, rocking him, shushing him, singing. He just screamed himself red for 2.5 hours. I ended up having to bring him downstairs and he eventually had another bottle at 10pm and went to bed. I am starting to wonder if he is overtired!?

I wouldn’t change his routine during a sleep regression. They are developmental and you just have to ride them out, there isn’t a magic fix but I think changing his routine now when he’s already unsettled will make more problems.

you have my sympathy as sleep regressions are absolutely awful. My second and third children didn’t sleep through the night until gone two years old and it absolutely broke me. I researched every sleep regression/sleep fact I could find. Hopefully things get better for you soon!

Try a later bedtime, and also I'd really be cutting the bottles of milk out overnight, at that age they should go to bed with clean teeth and only have water overnight.