u/SimBon7

My 18MO is a happy well developing boy, but one thing that has a recently started happening is basically ruining every evening and meal time. Food he used to like he completely refuses. I used to give him bread or Ryvita if he doesn’t eat, but he stopped eating that as well. He loves having his milk and he eats well at breakfast and he’ll have some snack throughout the day, but definitely not enough for him to sustain himself.
My husband thinks that it’s not good that any time he doesn’t eat his food, I offer more and more and I just let him not eat a few times so he figures out if he doesn’t eat he’s not going to be given 1 million options.
I’m at a complete loss of what to do. He’s been getting worse and worse and this weekend, especially Sunday was the worst. This was his meal today:
Breakfast: 2 Weetabix with warm milk
Snack: mini leak muffin
Milk 1
Lunch - 1 slice of toast (offered fish pie which he usually loves)
Milk 2
Dinner - 2 mini leek muffins and a stick puff (offered him the beef casserole which he absolutely loved yesterday)
Milk 3

I am having some problem with keeping to the set wake windows for my 16month old and stressing out about it which made me worried that I am damaging him on some way but are these even real science-based ? What is the science behind a 16 month old only being able to be up for 5h max?

This is why I’m stressing:

My 16 month old has always been a great sleeper, usually 7pm–7:15 until 7.30 (sometimes would have d to wake him) with one 2-hour nap (capped at 2.5 if they went over two hours)

For the last week or so his naps have suddenly dropped to around 1hr20–1hr30, which is making his wake windows really long. Yesterday he went to bed at 6:45pm because of the short nap, woke at 6am, and nursery didn’t put him down until 12:45pm today so a 6hr45 wake window!
I feel stuck in a cycle of short nap - early bedtime - early wake - huge wake window before the next nap. I don’t want to keep stretching him when he’s clearly tired, but I also don’t want bedtime ending up at 5:30/6pm.

Is a 1.5-hour nap normal at this age? Do you just accept 5-6+ hour wake windows, do an earlier bedtime, or ever add a second catnap back in?

Mu 16-month-old has always been a great sleeper, usually 7pm–7:15 until 7.30 (sometimes would have d to wake him) with one 2-hour nap (capped at 2.5 if they went over two hours)

For the last week or so his naps have suddenly dropped to around 1hr20–1hr30, which is making his wake windows really long. Yesterday he went to bed at 6:45pm because of the short nap, woke at 6am, and nursery didn’t put him down until 12:45pm today so a 6hr45 wake window!
I feel stuck in a cycle of short nap - early bedtime - early wake - huge wake window before the next nap. I don’t want to keep stretching him when he’s clearly tired, but I also don’t want bedtime ending up at 5:30/6pm.

Is a 1.5-hour nap normal at this age? Do you just accept 5-6+ hour wake windows, do an earlier bedtime, or ever add a second catnap back in? I would really rather not do the latter because he sleeps through the night and I don’t want to ruin that!

My 16-month-old has always been a great sleeper, usually 7pm–7:15 until 7.30 (sometimes would have d to wake him) with one 2-hour nap (capped at 2.5 if they went over two hours)

For the last week or so his naps have suddenly dropped to around 1hr20–1hr30, which is making his wake windows really long. Yesterday he went to bed at 6:45pm because of the short nap, woke at 6am, and nursery didn’t put him down until 12:45pm today so a 6hr45 wake window!
I feel stuck in a cycle of short nap - early bedtime - early wake - huge wake window before the next nap. I don’t want to keep stretching him when he’s clearly tired, but I also don’t want bedtime ending up at 5:30/6pm.

Is a 1.5-hour nap normal at this age? Do you just accept 5-6+ hour wake windows, do an earlier bedtime, or ever add a second catnap back in?

My 14MO is a great sleeper. He sleeps through the night and tends to have a good nap once a day.
Yesterday we came back from holiday. Over the holidays he adapted to the local time which was two hours ahead and night despite being in a room that much brighter, warmer and noisier than his room at home.
After the first three days of being on holiday he would not settle when we put him down for the night and I had to pat his butt to sleep before he went down for the night (which we only do for naps). We used to just put him down and he would fall asleep.
Yesterday we got home in the afternoon and he had two short naps during the journey back rather than one long one and we put him to bed when he looked like he was tired at 7pm. I had to get him to sleep by patting his butt but then in the night he woke up at 11 and then I patted his butt for 40 minutes and that didn’t settle him. He would sit up as soon as I stopped then I let him cry out for 20 minutes then tried to pat his his but for another 40 minutes and that didn’t work. Then I stayed out of the room for one hour but he just cried on and off and sounded very distressed. I ended up going back his room and as patting him on the butt didn’t work I just took him out of his cot and lay him on the ground next to me and I patted his butt while I was lying down and any time he stood up because I had stopped patting his butt. I would just put my hand on him and it would calm him down, but now I’m worried that I have destroyed my angel baby.
He was sleeping through the night and settling himself. I know holidays can ruin routines but I don’t really know what to do this evening to stop this from spiralling out of control when we first sleep trained him we sleep trained him with Ferber/cio and he cried for 40 minutes on the first night 20 minutes on the second night and he didn’t cry from the third night so now I’m just worried that he was awake for so long in the night crying when he should have been tired from the journey. It is also painful not being able to settle him. What do I do tonight, please help.

My 14th month old was a great sleeper, sleeping 7-7 and even longer sometimes. We went on a holiday recently and it was generally okay his sleep except he started needing to be patted to sleep in the evening but he would still sleep through. His room wasn’t very dark and it was quite noisy but he slept through and now that we’re back in his blackout bedroom. He again needed a lot of support to fall asleep but fell asleep fairly quickly. Anyway, he woke up at 11 pm and I patted his bum until 1145 but he just wouldn’t settle as soon as I wasn’t patting his bum he stood up.. I decided to do a bit of cio left him but t was over an hour, so my husband has gone in to give me a break. I feel like this holiday has really disrupted his schedule because of the time difference.. he’s currently on one nap but today because one of his naps was in the airport 40 minutes we gave him a second nap for 20 minutes in the car on the way to the house and then kept him awake for 3 1/2 hours before. Usually he has one nap and five hour wake windows. I know mostly this disruption is probably from the holidays and it will go away, but I feel like we’ve screwed up by offering so much support on a holiday and now after leaving him to cry for an hour, my husband has gone down. He was stopping and starting. We sleep trained him at seven months as he was waking every 45 minutes and it worked amazing and I think that’s why he’s such a great sleeper. I’m currently writing this at 2 am and I’ll probably make another post in the morning asking how to handle tomorrow evening but I just I’m looking for some more support and letting me know what you think I should have done in this.

I have a 14 month old and we’re currently on holiday. I put him to bed around his normal time between 7 and 8 pm and my parents stay with him whilst my husband got out to dinner and then we swap. I just feel bad because I would rather be all go out to dinner together, but I just don’t want to ruin his bedtime and the routine that I have tried to establish. He sleeps through the night and it’s quite good at going to sleep so I’m keen not to mess things up. However, I see out to dinner really young children walking around just babbling in the pram at 9/10 pm and I’m wondering should I be a bit more relaxed and how does this not destroy their bedtime or routines? My mum says she was never this strict. Is there something I am not understanding here ?

I have a 14 month old and we’re currently on holiday. I put him to bed around his normal time between 7 and 8 pm and my parents stay with him whilst my husband got out to dinner and then we swap. I just feel bad because I would rather be all go out to dinner together, but I just don’t want to ruin his bedtime and the routine that I have tried to establish. He sleeps through the night and it’s quite good at going to sleep so I’m keen not to mess things up. However, I see out to dinner really young children walking around just babbling in the pram at 9/10 pm and I’m wondering should I be a bit more relaxed and how does this not destroy their bedtime or routines? My mum says she was never this strict. Is there something I am not understanding here ?

My 14MO loves to eat and eats a lot (he measures in the 99.9th percentile for hight and 96th for weight but doesn’t look too chunky)
He can feed himself more or less when I give him finger food (bananas, muffins, berries ect) however when I spoon feed him he has started to refuse and wants to grab the spoon and feed himself …except all the food goes everywhere before he even managed to get the spoon in his mouth (and that’s if he gets the spoon in his mouth in the right way). I want to help him learn but how do I do that? How do I do that without letting him starve? He refuses food from me and just reaches for the spoon in holding. Even if I give him his own spoon to hold while I feed him he gets frustrated after a few bites. He’s a very tall boy (so much taller than anyone his age) he needs food and I can’t just let him live off bananas and milk. How did you teach your little ones?

My 14MO loves to eat and eats a lot (he measures in the 99.9th percentile for hight and 96th for weight but doesn’t look too chunky)
He can feed himself more or less when I give him finger food (bananas, muffins, berries ect) however when I spoon feed him he has started to refuse and wants to grab the spoon and feed himself …except all the food goes everywhere before he even managed to get the spoon in his mouth (and that’s if he gets the spoon in his mouth in the right way). I want to help him learn but how do I do that? How do I do that without letting him starve? He refuses food from me and just reaches for the spoon in holding. Even if I give him his own spoon to hold while I feed him he gets frustrated after a few bites. He’s a very tall boy (so much taller than anyone his age) he needs food and I can’t just let him live off bananas and milk. How did you teach your little ones?

My son (13 months) started nursery about a month ago. I don’t think he was ready to go down to one nap but as nursery they could only get him to go down once so we switched to that at home now too. He tends to take about a 2h nap give or take 20 min at 12.30 and bedtime tends to be at 7/7.30. When he first started nursery he was poorly and had long naps and I thought all was good but ever since he got better his naps have got shorter and shorter and today he napped from 1 until 1.25. I have asked the staff to try and put him down at 4.30 for a quick cat nap but they said he’s full of energy and he wants to play…
By the time we pick him up he seems so out of it and by the time he’s ready for bedtime he’s melting down so much and it’s now causing night wakes and fighting bedtime (probably because he’s overtired.) I don’t know what to do to fix this. On days he doesn’t go to nursery he sleeps so well so it’s not the little guys fault! I don’t know what to suggest to nursery because he was doing so well before! How have other people handled this?

My son (13 months) started nursery about a month ago. I don’t think he was ready to go down to one nap but as nursery they could only get him to go down once so we switched to that at home now too. He tends to take about a 2h nap give or take 20 min at 12.30 and bedtime tends to be at 7/7.30. When he first started nursery he was poorly and had long naps and I thought all was good but ever since he got better his naps have got shorter and shorter and today he napped from 1 until 1.25. I have asked the staff to try and put him down at 4.30 for a quick cat nap but they said he’s full of energy and he wants to play…
By the time we pick him up he seems so out of it and by the time he’s ready for bedtime he’s melting down so much and it’s now causing night wakes and fighting bedtime (probably because he’s overtired.) I don’t know what to do to fix this. On days he doesn’t go to nursery he sleeps so well so it’s not the little guys fault! I don’t know what to suggest to nursery because he was doing so well before! How have other people handled this?

I have quite an energetic 13 month old who has not learnt to walk yet, but it’s definitely trying his best by pulling up and trying to take a few steps!
I have some slight concerns about him because he doesn’t wave at people and he shakes his head sometimes. I guess all of this is making me hypervigilant about how he acts.
He goes to nursery four days a week and on Fridays I do something with him. We’ve started going to a music class and I’ve noticed he acts very differently from the other children. They’re sitting quietly and watching the music and even clapping along, I’m doing the signs occasionally. However, my little one is just crawling around grabbing the other children’s hands pulling up on the chairs and coasting along. He might be engaged for the first five minutes or so, and then he loses interest!
Of course is very small only about four children so I’m wondering a normal way for him to ask why is he not engaging with the music and clapping along? He definitely knows how to why is he more interested in? Just crawling around and exploring rather than engaging with the activity as a group? How are your children at this stage?

I’m having to cap all sleep. Could this be unhealthy?

I could really use help from this group on some questions I have about sleep.

Recently, my LO has started sleeping more. He’s just turned one. All his naps are in the pram currently because of building work (next door) but soon he’s going to go to nursery and I guess that will have to change. He sleeps beautifully overnight since we sleep trained him.

This new thing he has started in the past two weeks and I don’t know what to do. Basically he tends to go to bed at around 830/8.45 pm and in the morning I tend to wake him at 7:40 because I really don’t want to push bedtime any later as it is. Then his first nap tends to be at around 1120 and he will sleep for over an hour in the pram and I will always have to wake him. One time I let him sleep for an hour and a half and he still hadn’t woken up. Since I don’t want him to have too much daytime sleep I tend to cap his late nap which starts around 430. It lasts maximum half an hour. All naps are capped all nighttime sleep is capped and now I’m wondering is he getting enough sleep or is he only sleeping so much because the pram is rocking him and it makes him sleep longer.

Could I be damaging him by capping every single sleep?

I could really use help from this group on some questions I have about sleep.

Recently, my LO has started sleeping more. He’s just turned one. All his naps are in the pram currently because of building work (next door) but soon he’s going to go to nursery and I guess that will have to change. He sleeps beautifully overnight since we sleep trained him.

This new thing he has started in the past two weeks and I don’t know what to do. Basically he tends to go to bed at around 830/8.45 pm and in the morning I tend to wake him at 7:40 because I really don’t want to push bedtime any later as it is. Then his first nap tends to be at around 1120 and he will sleep for over an hour in the pram and I will always have to wake him. One time I let him sleep for an hour and a half and he still hadn’t woken up. Since I don’t want him to have too much daytime sleep I tend to cap his late nap which starts around 430. It lasts maximum half an hour. All naps are capped all nighttime sleep is capped and now I’m wondering is he getting enough sleep or is he only sleeping so much because the pram is rocking him and it makes him sleep longer.

Could I be damaging him by capping every single sleep?

My baby just turned one. He understands a stern no ( I think) but how do I actually teach him that something is bad? I’ve read a lot of opposing views. Some people say that you shouldn’t react when the baby pulls your hair and just pull his hand away and don’t look at him. Other places say that you should react and tell him off but then the other side says that if you do react it just reinforces them to do bad things to get a reaction.
I don’t really know what to do with so much conflicting information. I don’t want to make my child to spoiled and undisciplined , but I also don’t want to scar him and make him scared of trying using things - so what does the science say?