18 month old up every 2 hours every night - any ideas???

[lilysam]

Ok getting desperate now. DS has has always been a bit of a rubbish sleeper, up once or twice in the night or sleeping through and up at 5am-ish.

For over a week now he's going to bed same time (between 6.45pm to 7pm) and waking every 2 hours-ish through the night. He is still having an afternoon nap (around 12 to 12.30) for anything from a hour to 2 or more so then i wake him. Have been giving calpol and blaming this on teeth but i'm not so sure....

(He has the usual blackout blinds and curtains, not too hot or cold, has a teddy, no external noises to wake him etc). He's happy enough in himself in the day.

Today he finally got up at 7.30 (after being up at 9.30, 11.30-12.15, 2.30, 5.15). We've left him to cry a bit and sometimes he can settle back to sleep. I don't feed him back to sleep, but sometimes the only thing that gets him back off is a quick cuddle and sip of water.

I dropped his morning nap over the summer but am wondering whether o not to re-introduce it to see if he's overtired???

I'm 10 weeks pregnant, suffering badly and this is killing me - help!?!

Oh and not hunger either - have been giving him later dinners of pasta etc to fill him up and a banana for pudding.

It makes no different whether he has had an hour or 2 hours nap the nights are still the same

Have you been on holiday and just come back or has anything else changed? My DS does this when we have any sort of change and is terrible at night and takes at least a week to sleep through again - still have the hideously early mornings though. I left DS in the end to cry after a week as nothing else I did worked - he eventually got the message. I didn't enjoy doing it at all but he was far worse every time I went in and tried to comfort him as he would go nuts when I left again - its like they need to re-learn how to settle themsleves. Sorry not sure any help but am certainly no expert as I have lots of problems with ds too!

Thanks for the replay, No - not been away since June! It's a flippin' nightmare isn't it. Think i just need to invest in some earplugs and leave him to it

No way. I am checking the sleep thread cos my 18 month old has been doing the exact same thing for the past week or so. It is awful. Decided to try controlled crying but after discussing it with OH, and him agreeing, OH got up after less than 2 mins of LO crying last night (and it was that "AH---- uuuuuuuuh" crying that is just to get you to go through and pick him up as he was not hungry,wet or anything like that) and the 2 of them were downstairs playing at 1:30am when I eventually went down to take over.

It is infuriating as I cant get a strategy in place to cope with it since OH will agree to try something and then do what he wants anyway. Then OH shouts at me to get LO to sleep and into a "routine" which he IS in but how can I try to get LO to stay in his cot when his Daddy takes him downstairs to play if I leave him to cry at all.

ARGH!!!

Anyway, I am watching for solutions with great interest....

Wonder if it is a growth spurt or developmental stage or something....

Oh no Mrs C - whats you OH like!! Mine on the otherhand has an amazing ability to sleep through half of it

I'd half wondered if it was developmental or something too...

Ok -so i managed to get DS to have a (restless) 2 hour nap from 12-2 and decided to have an early bed time too and suffer the consequences.

Fortunately Dh was around to look after DD, so at 5.50 took DS upstairs and sat and did some books quietly, then a bath without his sister so quieter and he'd had his milk and was in bed no later than 6.25pm! Put him back in a sleeping bag, even though he's been in a duvet for months. I heard a squeak at 3 and 5.30 then nothing until singing at 6.30am!!!!!

Now I'll have to check with DH when he's up as i may well have been in a coma myself, but i think he slept through. Let's see if it lasts but we have a refreshed mummy and happy happy little boy for today at least!

That is so strange. LO also slept through last night for 1st time in weeks and weeks... I am trying the "wake to sleep" thing where we will gently try to rouse him a little from sleep, take his dummy out and then when he is almost awake we are giving him his dummy and he has gone back to sleep. Aparently this is meant to help them sleep through whereas before he was waking up completely and wanting to play so no chance of getting him back to sleep at all....

At the moment he is resisting sleep and screaming the place down being rocked by DH but hopefully this will just be a phase...

Have you read about sleep regression at 18 months? I have just found a few internet articles from the US and it sounds like it is common for 18 month olds to go through a phase of a couple of months of terrible sleep due to developmental spurts... Who knows. I just know I am terribly sleep deprived and living in a fog of tiredness

Yay - they both slept through!

How was last night for you? I've never tried wake to sleep as DS woke at random times but pleased it worked for you. Last night i put DS down at 6.30pm and he was up at 6.15am today - he also had a 2 1/4 hour nap yesterday. I did hear a few cries/noises in the night but nothin major so am happy with this - long may it continue

I have read that development can affect them as their little brains are racing with all the changes happening.

Hello - can i join in please? I have just started a new topic but your problems are very similar to mine. My DD is 19 months has been a wonderful sleeper....until the past week. Below i will paste my thread in to save re-typing:
My 19 month DD has, until now, been a wonderful sleeper. Over the past week instead of saying 'nightnightseeyouindamornin' she screams and shouts 'mummy, mummy' over and over. I go in at intervals and try and settle her. Eventually, after 90 mins she falls asleep out of sheer exhaustion. The whole thing starts up again at about 2 in the morning. She's not unwell and is a cheerful happy little girl generally. Any advice gladly received!!
By the way, sometimes as we are so tired, we relent and bring her into our room. (We both work.) I know that this is a big no-no.

I'm finding the re-settling in the middle of the night the hardest to deal with. DH is great but she just wants mummy.

I think maybe you are right, it's some kind of developmental thing. Thinking back, she was similar at 11 months when she was wanting to start walking. (she didn't actually walk until 15 months though!)

I think the 18 month sleep regression is a well known phenomenon. I've googled it and all I can find is people saying there isn't much you can do apart from wait for it to pass.

My dd is only 16 months, but she has also gone from being a good sleeper, for the past 10 months anyway, to waking up in the night this week (twice last night).

She is only just trying to walk now, but she is extremely verbald so I'm hoping she is getting the 18 month brain storm a bit early, and it's not that I'm going to have months and months of this!

Hi reading with interest, my son 18 months next week and goes bed lovely at 6.15/6.30 but waking at 5am with no intention of going back sleep! He also only has power nap in day sometimes not even half hour so finding it exhausting! By five in eve he's usually grumpy so try and string him out a bit! Maybe it is development stage, but suddenly 6am looks a luxury at moment! Wish he'd sleep longer in day as well, anyone any ideas? Thanx, tired mum!

Wow, that sounds like an amazing nights sleep! Enjoy :D My youngest is waking fully every 2 hours through the night and is unsettled inbetween. Killing me

ZOMBIE THREAD

I'm not very clued up with the phrases online hut I'm assuming Zombie Thread means nobody is likely to reply as it is old? As opposed to me being a zombie right now with no sleep!!!!!!! Lol. Surely the content is still relevant .

Still relevant … my sons woken for the sixth time tonight … never slept through ever…. I wonder if he ever will …

Is he sleeping through yet mines 18 months n wakes hourly still 😳😩