Sleep and Nap help

SarahBBowers

Looking for suggestions!  My DD is 18 months old.  This month has been a nightmare for hr sleeping.  At first she started with waking up 3-4 times a night.  Now she has always been a terrible sleeper, but we had a good routine to where she was only getting up once during the night, and then after a brief check in with my husband or a brief nursing session with me she would go right back down.  

So anyways she was getting up 3-4 times a night for about 3 weeks.  We both work full-time so we were zombies.  It was better for about 2 nights.  Now she is only waking once but refuses to go back to sleep.  Last night she was up from 12:30-3 and the night before from 4-5.  

She is also refusing naps now during the day, especially for me.  Today I tried for 3 hours to get her to nap.  All she did was scream and cry and throw everything out of her crib.  I tried just lettering her cry it out but she started coughing and gagging and saying mama and I gave in.

I am literally at my breaking point.  Today I yelled at her, and then I cried.  I feel guilty for getting so frustrated with her.  We were at the doctor today.  She has no ear infections and does not appear to be teething.

Possibly part of the nap issue is that the grandmas watch her and they let her nap on the couch, etc.  We did the sleep shuffle a while back to get her to learn to put herself to sleep.  I'm wondering if we should try that for the middle of the night wakeups.  I don't know what to do for the naps!  She is clearly exhausted and not getting enough rest.  We start bedtime routine at 8.  She is usually asleep between 8:30 and 9 and she gets up between 7-8 am.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!  I can't take much more of this.

=Lee=B

18 month sleep regression. pretty normal.  stick to routine, do what you can to keep her sleeping at night (do minimal intervention- back rubbing and shhh-ing versus removing from crib), no lights, no talking, no interaction just be present to get her back to sleep.  it will end soon enough.

as for naps...she needs normal naps not couch naps...especially when her nights are rough.  why are they having her nap on the couch?  she should be in a dark, quiet room.  couch sleep is not nearly as restful as sleep in a bedroom in a crib (or whatever), I'd expect she is napping one sleep cycle (30-45min) waking on a couch in the middle of the house and saying oh must be time to play because that is not a place that cues her to roll over and go back to sleep.

many children also sleep better if you put them down earlier...sounds backwards but often (for whatever reason) it helps their night go better.

SarahBBowers

Thanks for your input!  The grandmas let her nap on the couch because theyre softies!  We are having a chat with them this week about that.  

I would love to put her down earlier but we can't due to our work schedules.  Maybe half an hour...I will try that..

i'm just worried this is becoming a routine and i'll have to fight with her on naps forever!! :

cozybluebear

Yes, stick to your normal routine no matter how hard it is right now! My son went through this a few weeks ago at 17 months. It lasted a few weeks... he even went a 36 hour span with absolutely no sleep at all. It was exhausting! His pediateician said that sleep regression is normal around this time and to just stick with your normal routine (no matter how frustrating it is) and it should pass in a week or could take up to 3 months. Luckily our little guy was back in a routine within 2 weeks.