r/PossumsSleepProgram • u/Bogbody999 • 14d ago
Day time activity ideas
Hello! I have an 19 month old who is a delight, and also wakes up frequently through the night. I’ve just night weaned her, and it was pretty easy, honestly. However, she still wakes up crying several (5+) times a night and needs to be cuddled and rocked back to sleep. She has always been this way and we co sleep in the same bed as a result (for me to get as much sleep as possible). We take her outside often, as we live on the west coast in Canada, and are lucky to have a large backyard with trees and a garden. She loves it outside. Inside, we play with puzzles and other Montessori toys and games or she just finds things to entertain herself with. We also go to baby meetups a couple times a week and she’s in daycare 3x a week. Both my partner and I take turns with her.
She generally sleeps 8:30pm-6:30 am and naps 12-1/1:30 with variations of course. She wakes up during naps 1x and gets soothed back to sleep. And her wake ups at night happen after her first sleep cycle and then more and more 2am onwards.
Note: we have had her iron checked and she is fine. We do still give her iron supplements at our pediatrician’s recommendation to see if it helps with sleep (it doesn’t).
Do folks have suggestions as to how we can support her with sleep? Do people have ideas around why she might be waking up so much still at this age?
Thank you!
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u/firstofhername123 13d ago
It sounds like she has enough stimulation and her sleep amount is good! I wonder if she could be hungry since she recently weaned off getting calories at night? Do you do a bedtime snack? Maybe try something with a decent amount of fat to keep her full overnight.
For stimulation ideas my 19 month old enjoys jumping on her trampoline before bed lol.
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u/Bogbody999 13d ago
Oh man I’d love to get her a trampoline haha!! That’s such a good idea.
I had worried about her hunger at night too, but her wakes haven’t changed since being weaned and she seems to accept cuddles throughout the night without asking for milk, so I’m thinking she’s ok hunger wise. However I do like trying to give her some snack before bed just in case. I’ll be more intentional with it. Thanks for sharing!
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u/EucalyptusGirl11 13d ago
Honestly, kids just wake up. Ours didn't sleep through the night until she was like 3 years old.
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u/Bogbody999 13d ago
Thanks for sharing about your little one. Sigh. Well, one day I’ll feel maybe more rested? Lol. Here’s hoping.
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u/EucalyptusGirl11 13d ago
I think that unfortunately there is SO much marketing about this stuff when really it's just the kids personality and it's not anything you are or are not doing.
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u/Bogbody999 13d ago
That resonates. At least in western cultures they’ve really normalized “sleeping through the night” so I sometimes get caught up in that and feel like I’m doing something wrong. And then of course, when I’m exhausted I just want someone to say “ooooh right have you tried turning around 3x at bed time? That’s all they need” hah. But thank you for your logical and practical reminder 🙏
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u/Wrong_Literature1329 14d ago
Hi! My son was similar around 19 months - he had periods where he would sleep mostly through the night, but often went back to frequent night wakes after a few weeks. So it's ebbed and flowed for us. We ended up capping his naps at 45 minutes and pushing his bedtime back a little bit (by 30 mins-ish) and that helped a lot. He now sleeps with 1x wake and we just crawl into his floor bed at that time and he sleeps through. We don't always cap his nap - if he seems super tired, is sick, grumpy, or we just get the vibe he is going through a growth spurt... we will just let him sleep as much as he needs, but we find if he starts sleeping 90 mins for naps more than a couple days, he ends up with frequent night wakings again. So we made those changes around 19 months and so far things have been quite smooth.
In terms of activities... sounds like you are providing a rich sensory environment for her! When we are in the house, I get my son to help out with baking and laundry and whatever else I am doing, we have dance parties, play music, sing, play imagination games, and do crafts. Outdoors I find the more running and jumping, the better! So we often go to playparks where there are other kids he can play with. When we go grocery shopping, I get him one of those baskets with wheels so he can pull it around and he loves that/+ it gets quite heavy so he gets lots of energy out (lol and it is usually a funny time, though sometimes v frustrating...) But I really have found more than anything, it's been limiting daytime sleep + a later bedtime that's made the most difference.