18 Month Sleep Regression and Molar Time

The last couple months of sleeping through the night and fairly regular and reliable naps was so nice... And then BAM, right around when Abby and Jimmy turned 18 months old, the dreaded 18 month sleep regression hit our house.  And hit is hard. 

Abby used to sleep so well at nap time.  She would go down without a fight and would sleep about 90 minutes. Well, for a good week or two, Abby would not go to sleep in her crib at nap time.  She would stand in her crib and SCREAM.  One of us would go in there after a few minutes and remind her that it is nap time and time to sleep.  Well, as nice as that sounds, it did not work.  She would still scream scream scream.  She was exhausted, but just wouldn't sleep.  Once we would pick her up, sometimes after 40 minutes or so of "fighting sleep," she would pass out in our arms.  It was very stressful on us all. 

But as you may notice, I am writing this post in past tense.  Yes, for the last week or so, Abby has gone to sleep at night time without a fight (knock knock knock on wood).  I have been allowing her a choice of what animals she wants to take to her bed, and for an hour or so before nap time begins, I will say something similar to, "It is almost nap time, what do we do at nap time?"   Abby and Jimmy will sign sleep in response.  Then as I am putting her to bed, I say all of her animals are tired and need to sleep during nap time and so far, it has been working!  I have no idea if any of these techniques are why she is going to sleep well now, but I will take credit for it anyway!

Jimmy hasn't been hit as hard by the sleep regression...yet.  He has been crying a little bit more at bedtime, which I attribute to him not wanting to end the day and go to bed.  He only cries for less than a minute and will occasionally whine for a few more minutes.  And this happens every time he goes to bed for nap or nighttime.  It is very hard on me to hear him cry/whine, but I know he is ok and he just doesn't want to end the fun day.

Well... not only has the sleep regression hit our house, but so have the torturous two year molars.  Jimmy was abnormally whining a couple weeks ago - and now I know why... the other day I noticed that he has his top, right, back molar almost all the way in.  OMG!  I was shocked.  He didn't drool much at all and I didn't really notice him chewing on his finger much - but now all the whining makes sense!  Abby is also teething like mad.  She constantly has both hands shoved all the way back in her mouth and drools buckets - but so far, no sign of a molar popping through.  Hopefully these molars hurry up and make their appearance, I hate to see my babes in pain!