thread: Grizzly late afternoon

  1. #1
    BellyBelly Member

    Sep 2009
    Melbourne
    856

    Grizzly late afternoon

    Hi there,

    My bub is now 15 months. He usually had a grizzly patch in the later afternoon when he was less than 6 months old. It settled down quite a bit when his sleep routine formed. He is again have grizzles in the very late afternoon and I'm not sure what to do. He is currently having at least 1 sleep a day which is usually about 10.03am-ish. I then try and put him down at about 4pm (I know this is late for some but it seems to have worked until now) and until this point it was a good time for my bub. Now he struggles to go to sleep at 4pm and after about 30 mins of going in and trying to resettle and sometimes trying to lay down with him we give up on sleep. I'm pretty sure he is tired because he is grizzly but I can't get him to sleep. I then have a baby who can pretty much cry for at least 45 mins and I feel a bit beside myself as I don't know what to do with him, or help him settle. It's also difficult to get the dinner etc happening.

    Is this a common thing for babies of this age? Do you have some things you can share that I could try for a grizzly and tired baby even when he doesn't sleep?

  2. #2
    BellyBelly Member

    Sep 2010
    North West Victoria, Australia
    3,003

    DD is 18mos and has had 4 o'clock-itis for a while now. She ended up moving to one day time sleep, about 11-30 to 1pm. It's hard, I know.
    I wish I could help out, but I'm honestly living it now.

    Once she sorted her day time sleep out she got better, but Arsenic Hour still sucks.

  3. #3
    BellyBelly Life Subscriber

    Jan 2006
    11,633

    He may be transitioning to less day sleep.... does he still have a nap earlier in the day? Both my kids have done the same as Charlotte's at around the same age.
    If he's not sleeping, just get him up and do something else. It's the time of day when I tend to wear DD on my back if I need to get things done.

    It is hard when they transition because there's often a period of time when they need more sleep, but just can't manage it. It'll pass, as with all things.

    IT's also a common age for a spike in separation anxiety, which tends to last till 2~2.5.

  4. #4
    Registered User

    Jul 2008
    summer street
    2,708

    Oh four o'clock is when we head to the park. I usually get kids dinner organized then head out and come back to feed them after five pm, then it's bath and in bed 6-6:30pm.

    My ds is the same age and I have been pushing his day sleep back to 11:30 to help. If he naps at 4pm he is sooooo grumpy!

  5. #5
    Registered User

    Jul 2009
    2,251

    Can you hold his day nap off until a little later? My daughter was down to one nap a day at 15 months and was napping around 12ish and then in bed by 7. Good luck. It will pass. It's so hard figuring out their sleep patterns, as soon as its running smoothly and you think you have it down pat, they change

  6. #6
    BellyBelly Member

    Sep 2009
    Melbourne
    856

    thank you for your suggestions. I think he is in the process of transitioning to 1 day sleep. I will have a look at how I can re-arrange my activities to cater for the grizzly patch.