23 month old sleep schedule all over the place

[jgobelle]

So my son has always been a EW(6-7) but recently he's gone back to waking between 5- 545.  It started when his last two molars came in and he started waking at night again.  Once all his teeth had come in his sleep started to go back to normal, and he'd even sleep until 730/8.  For the last couple of weeks his daytime sleep has been really messed up.  We've had lots going on, and some days he'd fall asleep early in the car for around 1 hour and then refuse any more naps that day.  By bedtime he'd be pretty OT, but slept alright and would be up around 630.  Then other days he'd nap around 1230 - 230 but we'd be out later and he wouldn't go to bed until 930/10.  Again sometimes if his nap was shorter he'd sleep until 8 but normally he'd be up around 630.  This week I'm trying to get his naps back on schedule but he's been up around 530am, which means he's super sleepy by 9 30, and usually crashes early for his nap (maybe 10/10 30) so then the OT cycle continues.  We can usually get him to stay up until 730/8 (his normal naptime) then the next day he'll sleep until 7 (if I'm lucky) then nap from 1230-230ish, go to bed at 8 and is up by 530/6. and then the whole cycle just repeats itself.  During the weekends, it's hard to go out in the mornings because he'll fall asleep in the car way before his nap, which messes up his whole day. Should I shorten his afternoon nap to 1 1/2? Not sure how to get back to a regular sleeping pattern. I've tried an earlier bed time but it would take a good half our to get him to sleep.  Here is what his day normally used looks like:


Wakes 7am
nap 1230-230
Sleep 8pm

[*Becky*]

Hi there,
Sounds like it might be a bit of an OT/UT cycle that he has got into. If he wakes at 5.30am I would aim for an 11/11.30am nap. If he sleeps 2 hours then you can aim for a 7pm bedtime. On a day like that I would try and stay in or at least local to your home so there is no chance of sleeping in the car. If he gets sleepy try some low key stuff like books or a longer snack to try and get him through. What do you think?

[LucySol]

i agree with Becky.

Do whatever you can to stop him napping so early.He naps well so you can get him back to normal quite quickly.id do a nap at 11.30 and keep your fingers crossed!!!

[jgobelle]

Thanks, I'll try that today, he was up again just after 5 so I'm in for a long morning!  At least he naps pretty well, and if he wakes up early tomorrow it's my husband turn to get up!

[*Becky*]

how are you getting on?

[jgobelle]

It was going really well.  We had 3 good days, slept until 730 napped at noon bed at 8.  Then yesterday he was up at 645, went to his one day of daycare (she said he fell asleep just after noon which is normal) and was in bed a bit after 8, and was up this morning just after 6.  So he seems to be getting earlier again.  He's tired this morning but we're doing some quiet activities and hoping to get him to stay up until 1130/12 for his nap. 

[*Becky*]

how long is he napping for? Still 2 hours?

[jgobelle]

The naps can vary, normally 1 1/2 - 2 hours, sometimes if he's been up early he may sleep 2 1/2 hours.  So this weekends sleep was again a little all over the place.  Friday we got him to bed at his normal time, but he ended up falling out of bed (first time) and woke himself up around 12:30, and had a hard time falling back to sleep, he was crying, just lying in bed talking to himself for over a hour.  He did end up sleepig in until 8:30, and then didn't nap until 1:30 - 3:30, so ended up going to be a bit later (around 830), but was up at 645, and didn't nap very well.  he was in bed at a normal time, and this morning a thought I heard him waking up a bit, but he didn't fully wake up until around 7.  So it's still really all over the place.

Do you think I should keep his naps to 1 1/2 or 2 hours?