Hi there whisperers,
When my lo was 10 months I posted and you all helped me get my text book baby on the road to independant sleep and I have been forever grateful....BUT.....now it seems its all gone a bit sideways and here I am, again asking for help.
So before daylight savings (3weeks ago, spring here in Aus so the clocks went forward) and a week long stint of gastro (2weeks ago), baby was regularly waking at 5 but going back for a bit of a sleep in until about 6 after a morning breast feed (in bed with me). Then there was a morning nap at 10, lunch at 12 and most days an afternoon nap between 2 and 3. Dinner at 5 and bed between 6.30 and 7.
Now it's all different and I suspect that he's transitioning to one nap. He generally wakes later now 6-7am (a blessing of daylight savings) and will go down for a nap between 11 and 12 but generally with a fight. If he has an afternoon nap he wont go down until 4, sometimes even 5 which then results in a good hour or two of trying to get him down for bedtime and finally asleep at 8.30-9pm...too late! If he doesn't have the afternoon nap then I can get him to sleep at 6.30pm but he's cranky in the latter hours of his day and then wakes after 45 mins and I'm back to getting him to sleep until 9pm. THEN he'll wake maybe at 2am and again at 5am and I have to admit that I've been taking him to bed with me.......
So this is my plan....i'd love to know what you think.
1. Firstly I have to stop taking him to bed and start doing pu/pd in the night to get him back to sleep
2. Transition him to one nap after lunch and just keep him entertained with snacks and quiet activities so he doesn't get too tired.
3. Put him down for his 1 afternoon nap and pu/pd when he wakes so he sleeps for 2 hours not 45 mins
So should I continue trying to keep bedtime at 6.30pm? It's broad daylight here ( not dark til 8.30 and only getting later)
I'm having to revert back to pu/pd and wi/wo for both nap and bed time and suddenly this can take as I said hours and a lot of screaming and tears on his behalf. Is this typical of a 13 month old or am I not reading his cues properly?
I'm feeling a bit confused with it all and would love some feed back
Emma, Huxley's Mum