Please help! My ds is close to 23 months, and has never been a good sleeper, the main issues being early wakings and very short naps. At about 20 months he showed signs of being ready to go to one nap. (He used to take a morning one of 45 min. to an hour, and an afternoon one of about 45 min.) Well, now that he is on one nap, he only sleeps for about an hour, sometimes +10, and on a REALLY good day add 20 min.!) He long ago used to sleep 11 hours at night, but it has been down to 10 for about 4 months. And lately, he has become so overtired, that it's been about 9 and 1/2.
He was going to bed at 7, waking at 5, but we would often hear him sometime between 4 and 4:30. Now, some mornings, like today, that's it and nothing will get him to go back to sleep; he was up for the day at 4. He naps about 5 and 1/2 hours after waking. I tried a suggestion from an earlier post to try inching it up to a 6 hour stretch, but it seemed anytime I tried to go longer, he would take a shorter nap.
My son has black circles under his eyes, and tends to be very whiny, no doubt from chronic overtiredness!
How can I fix all this? I've tried earlier bedtimes, like 6:30, and it might help for a day or 2, but then he wakes at 4:30 for the day. I've tried later bedtimes, for a few days he slept 7:30-5: 30, but that didn't stick either.
Please excuse my rambling-my husband, my son, and I are always exhausted. and I am just so frustrated. We have set routines and wind downs, we make sure that he is fed. He does fall asleep on his own.
Please help. I am actually thinking of going to my pediatrician, just to see what he would tell me. That is how bad I feel it is.
Thanks,
Gail