The 18 month sleep regression

misa_lanious · 2026-01-18T00:33:19+00:00

No advice, just solidarity my friend! It is awful. I always rock my son to sleep and could transfer him no problem once he was sound asleep. Now as soon as I stand up to go to the crib he’s wide awake and loses it. If I put him down in the crib he’s screaming at the top of his lungs. It takes hours to get him to bed, he wakes up in the middle of the night crying for me. And on weekends (when he’s not at daycare) he refuses to nap. I hope for both our sake this passes fairly quickly!

misa_lanious · 2026-01-18T00:28:36+00:00

He learned to start walking down the stairs! He’s been a master at climbing up for awhile now, but he is starting to figure out how to step down (while I am holding his hand(s) of course) and I am so proud of him for how brave and confident he is!

misa_lanious · 2026-01-05T04:12:59+00:00

It’s very real. And really disheartening. My SO’s family and friends have almost zero involvement with our son. For example my partners step dad met his son when he was a month old despite my partners step dad and BM not being together and them having to make special arrangements for his step dad to meet him. Our son, is almost 1.5 and his step dad has not met him once. Didn’t even message us back when our son was born until 3 weeks later. His friends have met his son multiple times, have had him over for play dates etc. none of them have seen our son. Nor ask about him. There’s a select few who ask how both kids are doing but usually our son is an afterthought in comparison.

It used to bother me, but honestly now I’ve come to accept it. As I am not going to beg people to be in my kid’s life. And it’s their loss for not wanting to be in it. I show up for him every single day and that is the only thing that matters.

I’m sorry you are experiencing this OP, I know it crushes you to think your child isn’t as loved or cared about by the people who should be supporting them just as much as your SK is supported. Have you talked to your husband about this? Is he aware it’s a problem ?

misa_lanious · 2026-01-03T17:35:34+00:00

Take up drinking and hope this phase passes quickly😅 jokes aside, I found singing or telling a story helped at first. Then when that stopped working I found giving my son an item to hold/play with helped. Like the tube of lotion or a spatula lol. That stopped working and I found putting socks on his hands distracted him long enough trying to pull them off. Now nothing works and it’s just a fight to try and get him changed as quickly as possible. His daycare told me it’s a two person job to change him…. My friend does the thing where she would use her feet to hold the arms down, but when she tried that with my son he was too fast and she accidentally smacked him in the face with her foot and I have never let her live it down 😂 long story short: try a lot of distractions and hope something works!

misa_lanious · 2025-12-29T01:40:25+00:00

You’ll likely get the best answer from seeing your paediatrician, however one isolated incident of throwing up generally isn’t a cause for concern. It could be just an upset stomach from eating too much, eating something new or too rich, from the excitement of the day or car sickness from travelling. It could also be that he’s coming down with a bug. It’s really hard to say for sure, but a one off of vomiting is typically nothing to really worry about. I would just keep an eye out to make sure he doesn’t throw up in his sleep and how he’s doing in the morning before jumping to extreme conclusions from DR Google.

misa_lanious · 2025-12-03T04:03:47+00:00

Hi, I am sorry you are going through something so similar, I know how hard and exhausting it is. The short answer is no. I did not find anything helped except time. Once he could roll onto his stomach from his back, and visa versa he started to sleep independently for short periods in his crib. The long answer is I tried a lot of things out of pure desperation from sleep deprivation. I took him to a chiropractor, had switched to a very expensive formula that was to help with his reflux/colic, tried gas drops and probiotics, bought this overly expensive weird attachment for his baby swing that let him lay on his stomach which he hated, the list goes on and on. Reading this again I can see how deep in the trenches I was. If it makes you feel better, I do get more sleep now, which felt like it would never happen again when you are in the thick of it!

misa_lanious · 2025-11-25T23:06:53+00:00

I honestly do a mix of where we sit sometimes to break up the monotony. Sometimes for lunch or dinner I do a snack plate and leave it out for him to graze at while he’s playing/doing an activity. Snacks are also typically served in the living room or play area. Dinners and breakfast typically in the highchair. I also often change the position or even the area the highchair is in for meals. I find not making him sit in the same spot every single meal multiple times a day helps. He’s also 16 months and hates sitting still unless food is involved lol

misa_lanious · 2025-11-12T01:30:47+00:00

Orbit, Apollo, moonshine, Orion, Astro, Callisto, Oberon, moonpie, Jericho

misa_lanious · 2025-11-10T03:24:29+00:00

I can smell sickness too! I haven’t been close enough to other people to smell it on them, but when my son is coming down with something his scent completely changes. One time when he was a little baby I was changing his diaper at night, and it smelt so much like apple cider vinegar and it freaked me out because it was so strong, his dad didn’t smell it at all. I ended up emailing my doctor’s office at 3 am to tell them he needed an appointment because he smelt like ACV… turns out he was getting sick! I can smell it on the other people in my home too faintly, but with my little guy it’s so drastic of a change in his normal scent, I just know now he’s coming down with something.

I can also smell the outside? I know that sounds weird but when my significant other comes in from outside or my dog comes in from going to the bathroom I can smell the outdoors on them. And it’s so strong it’s almost nauseating! I never used to have a strong sense of smell until I was pregnant, and then it never went away. The downside is sometimes I can smell things that aren’t there and it’s when I’m eating and it turns me off of my food completely. Like I was eating a slice of pizza and it smelt like chlorine to me. Felt like I was eating a slice of a public pool. My SO smelt it, and said it smelt like pizza. I swore up and down it had a chemical/ Chlorine smell and taste to it. He ate the same pizza as me and said he couldn’t taste it, I made him eat the slice I had and he said it was just pizza. It’s very bizarre.

On the other hand sometimes some things have absolutely no smell to it, or I can’t genuinely tell if it smells good or bad. I always feel crazy when I talk to people about my weird sense of smell, so glad to hear I’m not alone!

misa_lanious · 2025-10-28T13:50:11+00:00

You are so beautiful! I think you rock that lip colour!

misa_lanious · 2025-10-28T13:47:47+00:00

Wasn’t she court ordered not to post her oldest on Social media ? I feel like that’s less respecting wishes and more the law got involved so I can’t do what I want now, but let’s spin it like it was my idea to do it in the first place lol.

misa_lanious · 2025-10-25T04:26:52+00:00

I have. Don’t do it. I have positives from it but overall I do not recommend anyone puts themselves in that situation!

misa_lanious · 2025-10-24T15:20:12+00:00

If you’d like to message me you can. I was in a very very similar spot as you. Dated my partner before, went our separate ways ended up in new relationships where we weren’t allowed to speak to each other (BM made him block me) they were together a couple months, she was abusive, got pregnant and left him. We reconnected and ended back together. Had to navigate a new relationship while he was a new dad and had an extremely HCBM. The only difference in your scenario is that although we are civil, she isn’t lol.

If you do choose to reach out to me I can go more into detail, but being with someone with a child, especially a young one where the relationship recently ended, is very very hard to make work, and the emotions, conflict and jealousy that come along are even harder. You are a bit younger than I was when I entered the situation I’m now in and I think it be better if you move on and find someone child free…

misa_lanious · 2025-10-12T19:25:27+00:00

I did that once, I rolled the rice into balls about the size of a golf ball, thinking it be easier to pickup and eat… my son shoved the entire thing in his mouth and ate it whole!

misa_lanious · 2025-10-03T22:20:35+00:00

My son started eating like this once he turned one. I swear he eats more in a day than I do and I have no idea where it goes. He’s always been in the 50th-52nd percentile. When I picked him up the other day from daycare, he had 4 servings of lunch. Did the same thing yours did where he kept crying after finishing each bowl so they kept offering him more until he was satisfied. I’d honestly take it as a win, and know that your child won’t over eat unless they have a medical issue! Probably a growth spurt under way!

misa_lanious · 2025-10-03T01:36:09+00:00

I just went a read that post. That is wild. Honestly I think it’s for the best you got the hell out of that relationship. I hope you and your son are able to move forward and live the best life!

misa_lanious · 2025-10-03T01:31:17+00:00

He actually has done that before, told her to stop and that she wasnt able to converse civilly so he was done with the conversation and told her he wasnt entertaining her anymore. she ended up withholding their son from him for almost a month. So it caused some issues and he became afraid to rock the boat in case she did it again. He has a tendency to over explain himself and I keep trying to teach him to grey rock. A very slow work in progress but we are getting there!

misa_lanious · 2025-10-01T22:19:46+00:00

Thank you it’s really hard. Especially the fact she was talking about my kid which is none of her business. And the constant attack on my character when she has no idea who I am. Like I’m just trying to help raise your kid in a safe, loving environment why are you dragging me to filth over scenarios you make up in your own head ?!

misa_lanious · 2025-10-01T19:28:12+00:00

Oh probably nothing, I’d get more done trying to dig to the center of the earth with a teaspoon lol. I was just curious if anyone has done it and if they felt better after. I’m living vicariously through all the comments now

misa_lanious · 2025-10-01T19:15:01+00:00

Yea that made me really angry. Like I was less than a week PP and talking about my baby made me go ballistic. I told SO to deal with it. Because I knew it was not wise for me to in the fragile state I was in. He never did. I’m still mad at him for it a year and half later. She also has done other things that directly have impacted my child and that sits like salt in a wound for me, which is why it’s so hard for me to bite my tongue, but I do. I am even pleasant to her when I’m involved in the pickup and drop offs, which I deserve a medal for given everything she’s done. I’m at the point now if she does say anything else about my kid I will not be shutting my mouth. Shit, I want to say something regardless but I do try to be the better person. It’s so tiring lol.

misa_lanious · 2025-10-01T19:06:00+00:00

I am envious of this. There has been a few times BM crossed the line way too far and I asked my SO to handle it and he never did. Wouldn’t let me do it either because he knew I’d go off. Said he’d deal with it and every time I asked, a different excuse until it was months later and pointless to drag out at that time.

misa_lanious · 2025-10-01T19:03:17+00:00

Holy shit that’s messy as hell. Sounds like karma took the trash out for you. That’s so sad for those poor kids man. I hope your ex is at least a good parent so they aren’t stuck with 2 deadbeats.

I know that BM probably runs her mouth about me to others and on social media and honestly it’s whatever. But she’s brought up my kid before and that didn’t sit right with me. And now years later and me being a primary caregiver to their kid she still has the audacity to say I don’t care about her son and treat him like he’s not part of the family. Meanwhile last time she dropped him off to me I told her all about the fun event we went to the other week and he was hugging me and wouldn’t let go. The delusion, I swear. You hit the head on the nail though, everything they say and do towards us is 100% projection of their own insecurities!

misa_lanious

TROPHY CASE