Struggling with toddler bedtime
My daughter is 18 months and the last few weeks she's become so difficult to put to sleep. Naptime is easy, but bedtime can take a couple of hours now, when it used to take 20-30 minutes at the most. We've cut her day sleep back a bit and tried giving her a later bedtime, as she really fights going to bed.
She needs to be rocked for at least 10 minutes to wind down, then we put her in her cot and have to maintain physical contact by rubbing her back for atc least 30+ minutes, either me or my husband will do this (whoever puts her to bed) until she's either sleepy or asleep, but she wakes up right after we've left the room, gets really upset that we've left and then we have to go back in to resettle, which takes a while because she's upset that we left the room.
Bedtime is taking up to a couple of hours now and it's so draining but I don't know how to fix it. Any suggestion? (Apart from CIO or sleep training)
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Had the exact same issue and because we were sick of it we moved the crib next to our bed ( removed the sliding part so it's like cosleeping). That was the best idea we've ever done šā . So basically I slept next to my son or my partner until he fell asleep completely and then left and I put a teddy under our duvet so he would think someone is still in the room. We're still cosleeping and he's three now but I don't care. šš. It's much easier and we get all the sleep because I don't have to be going back and forth at night or spend two hours dealing with separation anxiety.
Yeah we've been going through the same bub used to put herself to sleep easily now we have to rock or stay near her until she falls asleep
She was waking twice a night now it's gone to 1
I'm sorry mumma, I feel your pain I'm in it at the moment with my youngest (21 months) and went through it with my first around the same age (now 4 and the best sleeper) - it's hard but it will get better. No advice. I just wanted you to know you're not alone ā”
I went through the same thing with my daughter. Some say thereās a regression at 18 months. Others say itās a scheduling issue not a regression. Either way, itās hard!
I changed my daughters routine and that did seem to help. She just wanted to stay up with me and when I walked out of the room she would scream until I came back in. It would take 1-2 hours longer than usual to get her to sleep.
I increased her morning wake window from 3.5 hours to 5 hours and capped her nap at 2hrs max. Then her evening wake window was 6 hours. Anything less was a fight.
Now that she has settled, I general let her nap for as long as she needs (but no longer than 3 hours unless unwell) and her evening wake window is back to 5 / 5.5 hours.
Good luck. Just remember lāthis too shall passā
My daughter is younger so may not be relevant but I've been reading alot of sleep stuff recently and it says if there are bed time struggles (which we have) you should counterintuitively move bedtime a bit earlier as could be over tired š¤·
Have also seen a lot of stuff about 18 month regression and separation anxiety so could be that and hopefully will pass x
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