going downhill fast - need intervention!

[aidenmc]

I posted yesterday about Aiden who is waking earlier and earlier. Yesterday it was 4:40 for the day and today - 4:17! In addition his naps were only 1 hour - could not get him back to sleep.

I know a couple of issues are at play. He is going to sleep on his own with Dh in the room, occasionally patting him when he gets upset (I guess we are still in the process of gradual withdrawal). For naps, though I am still feeding to sleep as he is so tired. This has got to stop and I suspect it will involve some protest, especially given that he will be so tired. I also think he won't get much of a nap in at first either.

During the night he may wake once or twice but will go back to sleep on his own or with a bit of patting. Lats night he woke once and dh says he was wired (overtired?). Then he woke at 4:17. I did feed him then which may also be part of teh problem but I know he would not go back to sleep if I didn't - he just ends up wide awake.

So, I am thinking of putting him to bed at 5:30 tonight (normally it is 7:00 bedtime). We tried for 6:30 last night but it didn't go well and he was finally asleep by 6:45.

DOes this sound like simple overtiredness? Does anyone have any others ideas to help stop this downward spiral?

I would love any input as I see all our progress going down the tubes fast!

[mari]

Can you post you routine please?
What time does he go for his nap, how long for?

[aidenmc]

His routine is as follows

7:00 pm asleep (wakes once or twice for short time
5:00 wake (varies, now earlier and earlier)
12:30/1:00 typical nap time. I know this is late especially when he wakes early but it can't be earlier because he is at Montessori in am then needs lunch.
Nap usually lasts 2 or more hours. It has gone down to 1.5 now 1 over the past 3-4 days.

[LucyA]

Hi Becky,
Just a thought, could you squeeze in a really short nap before Montessori? Even 15-20 minutes? Not sure if you've tried this before, but it might help with the overtiredness?

[mari]

It looks like that the naps are a little short and you need to work on making them a little longer, he could be overtired going down for them as he is awake so early. You seem to be in a bit of a vicious circle as you can't let him nap earlier and because of that he has problems night sleeping which makes him wake too early, then he gets his nap too late and so on.

You need to try to get him to stay a little longer in the morning.  Try wake to sleep in the early morning.
Let me know how you get along,  A nap at lunch time is fine, but as I say, it should be a little longer, about 2 hours minimum, and I think that this will happen when you can get him to sleep longer in the morning.  When you can get this routine going then I think that you can start teaching him to fall asleep on his own.

In my experiences of my own since turning 1 year old(Alex and Childminding LO) it works for us for them to wake and be awake for 5 hours, sleep for 2-2.5 hours then wake for 5 hours, then sleep again at bed time. I try to keep to this routine as much as possible.

[aidenmc]

Normally he naps for over 2 hours. That is usually when he wakes at his regular (albeit early for us) time of about 5:30. I haven't been able to get him to sleep later than that consistently for months and months. It took a while to get his nap to start after lunch. He used to have a single morning nap and would often go to bed at about 6:00 or earlier. It just seemed to perpetuate the early mornings, though and after we returned from a trip to England we went to a later nap and a bedtime closer to 8. Bedtime crept earlier, though as he started waking earlier. He has had a rough fall, filled with colds and brutal teething, combined with a terrible booby prop that he used at every wake-up. Happily he wakes much less and only usually needs a pat - but we are still having sleep problems!

[Leosmama]

Hi Becky, it's me again    I just wanted to say re. nap training....I know it's scary to think of doing away with the boob before nap, but when you take the plunge you find that it's really not any more difficult for them to learn than the nighttime training.  The hardest part for me was the fact that in the daytime I could see his face when he cried, so I can't make any eye contact with him when doing it.  But I have to say, by day 3 it was taking less time for him to fall asleep, and I really feel like his sleep quality is better when he falls asleep on his own and not from nursing and being gingerly placed in his crib.  If and when you're ready to start, you can always pm me and I'll be happy to share my experiences with you.

[aidenmc]

Hi there.

I know it won't be so bad once I take the plunge. Last night he finally got to sleep by 6:15 after over an hour   Then he woke at 10 and would not be patted back to sleep. He was very upset! I ended up giving him a feed. I put him back in his bed and although he cried a little he did not resist. He slept until 5:10! Got him to sleep (the old way ) by 12:40 today so hopefully he will be a little more rested - if he gets through his nap. I also foudn his last molar has come through! It must have been working its way through over the past few days. I hoping that partly explains his poor sleep. I had stopped giving his nightly Tylenol a few days ago as well!

I may pm you soon to see to you got through the naps, Jennifer.