My husband and I have implemented Tracy's techniques from day 1 with our son Shane. He has been a very good sleeper from the time he was 6 weeks old. He is now 16 months and, up until about a month or so ago, he was pretty consistent with his sleep schedule. He was going to bed between 7 and 7:30 pm and would wake anywhere from 6:30 to 7am. He was taking two naps: morning 9:30 to 10:30am and 2:30 to 3:30pm.
About a month ago, he started dropping his second (afternoon) nap. On certain days, I just couldn't get him to go down for anything which was very unusual. The pediatrician said he was probably morphing into his 1 nap a day but to follow his lead.
But, at the same time, he started walking too.
Now, he goes to bed at the same time and takes one nap from about 11am to 1pm (give or take a bit on both ends). However, the problem is that he is waking up around 5-5:30am now. He used to just play in his crib for about an hour but now he cries (no tears) until we go in and get him. I'm relunctant to let him cry too long because we live in an apartment and the neighbor's son shares the common wall.
Needless to say, we do go in and get him. Shane will not go back to sleep if we bring him to bed with my husband and I, so one of us has to get up with him and start the day.
I'm not sure what to do. Do you think he's excited to be up and walking around? Regardless, I know I've already done some accidental parenting by going in and getting him right away. I want to nip this problem in the bud before it goes on any longer. I'd like for him to sleep a bit longer because he obviously needs it because he's not meeting Tracy's sleep totals for his age. Or, if he does wake up early, I'd like for him to be able to entertain himself for a while in his crib. No more crying. I'm not sure if I should go back to two naps??? (He did happen to take two naps yesterday -- 2 1/2 hours total) and was up at 5:15 am again this morning. Or should I put something new (crib toy, etc) in his crib to occupy him?
Any advice would be most appreciated!
Sincerely,
Mom with dark circles :wink: