Help with a 14 month old.....he won't settle at night (all of sudden!!)

[myweestars]

Hi, I know this is probably pretty trivial to some but I am cracking up! I work 3 whole days and my partner works shifts, we have 2 DS's, 1 aged 3 and 1 aged 14 months! Normally at night they are both settled and asleep by 8.30pm (the younger going down at 7pm) For the last 2 nights, just out of the blue, my 14 month old will not go to bed! I put him down and am leaving him to cry but he is getting himself in such a state that I have to go and lift him, I know there is nothing wrong with him because as soon as I life him, he stops! I am cracking up, my DP is working nightshift and I am on my own. I cant leave 14 month old to cry for long in fear of him waking 3 year old who is in the same room! He had his MMR on Tuesday, could it be a reaction to that? Do you think it's the heat? I am dreading going home tonight after work in the fear of it being a 3rd night where I get NO time to have a seat and NO time to myself before bed! Sorry if this sounds trivial, I have never posted before but any advice/comments would be appreciated as I feel like I am a crabbed cow and am constantly shattered!!

It could be the reaction to the MMR - most children have a bit of a reaction to any immunization. Is also probably the heat, but also, it is rare for small children to have one routine and stick to it - they go through phases, and phases don't last forever.

I had one that never slept.

If you can, try not to worry too much, accept that it won't last, and try to squeeze in your sleep whenever you can.

Who looks after him in the day? Could his day time routine have changed - is he sleeping longer in the daytime?

Thanks 3littlefrogs!

I think we were lucky with our 1st DS as he has always been a fairly good sleeper so it is a bit of a chock to the system with DS2!

It's the in-laws who watch them when we are both working and he does normally just have 1 sleep throughout the day! Yesterday he was up at 6am and slept for 40 mins later in the morning and that was him until 10.30pm last night! He might be overtired too?

Definitely overtired if that is all the sleep he got during the day. IME (I have 3 dc) if they don't get a proper sleep during the day, they would be so overtired and wound up they wouldn't sleep at night.

At 14 months I reckon 2 naps - a short one and a longer one - 40 minutes and up to 2 hours - plus at least a 10 hour stretch at night is about what they need.

The weather is about to break, so it should be cooler tonight.

If he hasn't slept enough during the day, put him to bed earlier and see if that helps.

Yeh hopefully he will settle tonight, thing is he did go down last night at 7pm and dozed off but woke again at 8pm when ds1 was going to bed and then that was him! Honestly thought it must have been a full moon last night! ARRGGHH!! Thanks for your comments/advice though!