16 Month Old Sleep Patterns

I can't say anything about the CIO method as it never worked for my son. I know when my son was 16 months I tried my hardest to get him down to one nap and it only made things worse as far as him sleeping... so I stopped and kept him at 2 naps. All of a sudden at 18 months he did it himself. He just wouldn't go down for his morning nap but was tired around noon. That's how it has been for the last 3 months.

Unfortunately our children aren't made to fit to our schedules. Part of being a parent is being sleep deprived... not what you wanted to hear, I know. I never wanted to hear that either... I just wanted solutions.

Personally, all I think you can do is try to replicate his bed time routine night after night...consistency. Secondly, watch out for how much motrin you give... and how often and for how long... it does have some nasty side effects.

What also worked for my son... because he was also a super early riser (5am) was to move his bedtime to later... very gradually... by about 20 minutes a night. I know that there are some die hard fans of Healthy Sleep Habits book, but it does NOT work for all kids... my son is one of them. I was putting him down at 6:30 at night successfully, but he would wake anywhere from 4-10 times a night... so I talked to my friend and she said to move his bed time later... it was rough the first couple weeks, but now he is perfectly fine... he only wakes 2 times a night which is fine with me. I can deal with that... but NOT 10 times!!!!

Hang in there!

Hi A.,
Sounds like there is a lot going on in your life right now. Have you tried not going into his room when he wakes up at 4 am? I know you want to see if he is ok, but if he see's you, he will definatly want out! if you would like I have a great on-line book that I can send you. The author covers many different areas of sleep training. This book changed my family's life and gave me the tools to help my daughter sleep through the night......most of the time.
Anyway, shoot me an email at ____@____.com and I will foward it to you. (and any other mom who might need it!)
Good luck to you!
M.

Hi A.,
I have a 16-month old daughter, and for the last 3 weeks or so she is consistently waking up an hour or two earlier than usual (between 4 and 5 a.m.). I am wondering if it might be something about being 16 months old? I am extremely tired too, and not looking forward to the end of daylight savings time. Will she get up at 3? (!)
I just wanted to let you know you're not alone, and thank you for posting this question. I am very interested in the answers too!
R.

Hi A., I won't be much help on this but that is alot of change and it takes time to adjust. Kids usually sleep anywhere they are and mine conked out almost midstride it seemed when they were really tired.
My kids are 20 and 18 now. This is one of the miserable parts of being a parent and you and your spouse will just have to live it through...guess what? my sympathies are with you and my advice is sleep when you can now. It gets crazier with two or more. Yikes!!

It sounds like he is probably thrown off from the move and new environment, with teething causing added problems. I feel your pain! My son's sleep has also been very wacky lately.

In any case, giving up one of the naps is probably a good move right now. Most kids give up the second nap around 15 months (though anywhere from about 12-18 is normal). Based on his current nap schedule, I would shoot for a single nap around 10 or 10:30 a.m. You can gradually push it back 15-20 minutes at a time until you're putting him down somewhere between 12 - 2, which is pretty normal for toddlers.

Sleep will get disrupted anytime there is a major change - teething, moving, learning to walk or talk, birth of a new sibling, etc. The good news is, it usually goes back to normal within a few weeks.

Hang in there and good luck!
K.
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Our pediatrician recommended a technique that helped us - if your son is waking up consistently at the same time every night, it's become routine, and he needs to figure out how to soothe himself back to sleep. She said to simply wait 15-20 minutes before responding, and chances are, he'll just fall back to sleep. Most of the time, this works. On the nights when his crying sounds different and more urgent (not like the groggy barely awake cry), we go and check on him right away. We DON'T pick him up, but we give him a hug and pat him on the back and tell him it's still dark outside and it's time for sleeping. And then we go back to bed. This worked to get our 18 month old from waking up too early, and it works to retrain him after vacations, etc.
I hope you get to sleep in soon!

Hi A.,
We are in a similar situation; I have a 16 month old son and am pregnant as well. First off, congratulations! It sounds like your son needs a lot of extra love. I really believe that my son is aware on some level that I'm pregnant; he's been extremely clingy. Add a new house to that and your son's entire physical and emotional environment is different from everything he has ever known.

My son's sleeping habits have been wacky lately as well. He was teething and had a cold. We also think he went through a growth spurt. He would wake up at night hungry. We haven't fed him at night for months but the cry was unmistakable so we fed him a couple of ounces of milk. That was enough to get him back to sleep. The times when he would wake up and we knew it wasn't for food and he wasn't in the middle of a cold, we used the Ferber method. It's somewhat similar to the CIO method but you go into his room, hold him for a minute then put him back down. Leave and let him cry for 1 minute then go back in and repeat, increasing the time that you wait to go back into his room each time. If you're consistent with it, it can work somewhat quickly.

As for naps, our son just started taking one afternoon nap. He had been taking the same naps as your son as late as last week but we saw his nap times decreasing so we transitioned him to the one. It's normal for this age to take one nap in the afternoon. The way our dr. described it is that it's best if the nap is halfway through the child's day.

It sounds about right to say that if he wakes at 4, then he probably needs an AM nap. I agree with the moms who suggest trying to transition him to the one nap at this point. It may help.

Good luck to you and happy pregnancy!
C.