Still not sttn

[clazzat]

So at 20 months I'm kind of figuring that he should have it sussed by now - he sleeps independently, can resettle himself a lot of the time and is finally sleeping around 1h45-2h at lunchtime (more driven by when I need to wake him these days, rather than by when he wakes up) so isn't ot. Last night I was able to sleep for 3h consecutively for the first time since Christmas - he has been waking every 45-60 minutes from about 10pm every night - and then I was up every hour after that. He doesn't need much - normally he has crawled up the bed and his head is against the bars and he is out of his duvet, so we drag him back down and tuck him in again and he settles back to sleep - but it is getting a bit old. He was quite ill for about 10 days at the start of the year - he came down with croup the night that dh left for a 2 week business trip overseas - so I was cutting him some slack for that, but he has been absolutely fine for well over a week now and the waking is continuing. I have tried leaving him to resettle in case it is habit,  but he goes from moaning to crying if I do and then it takes him longer to go back to sleep.

He has never really sttn - apart from the week of Christmas when he slept 11.5-12 hours every night and 2 hours at lunchtime - but this is worse than usual. He also tends to wake pretty early - he stirs from 5ish every morning, although bt is 6.30 so if he is waking at 5.30 that's not really an ew. He has a light which comes on at 6 - generally he moans from when he wakes until the light comes on and then he goes quiet when it comes on .

His routine is:
Wake anytime from 5 - I would say normally after 5.30, bf in bed with me at 6 which I still always hope will get him back to sleep even though it never works!
Nap 12.15/12.30-2.15
Bt 6.30

I'm not really sure what could be going on - if anyone can think of anything, I'd be most grateful.

[C&B&E]

Oh Clare, no advice I'm afraid, but just wanted to send some hugs and bump up your post (((hugs))).  E still is a terrible sleeper and has only sttn a handful of times so I feel your pain!

[anna*]

I'm probably not best placed to give any advice.... but...

Duvet coming off - can you put him back in a sleeping bag? Or in one of those wadded walk in sleep suits? I assume he's got one of those stay put Gro company duvets, but if he's crawling out, he's definitely going to wake up cold, yk?

Also I think (I know it is a pain) that you HAVE to let him get from moaning to crying and then you HAVE to just stay with him while he settles himself. He's not going to learn to do whatever (back up so his head isn't in the bars, etc) if you do it for him. It will be a painful few nights, and I know it is extra specially hard to do it when you know you could get back to bed in a few minutes if you just tucked him in etc. Once a night retuck might be OK but it's getting a bit much really now?

Re the EW, can you try pushing his nap back just a bit? I don't think I'd cap it, at least not to begin, but maybe make it 12.30-12.45, but keep bedtime the same, and see what happens?

[clazzat]

I have been wondering about putting him back in a sleeping bag - although when he was in a sleeping bag and blanket he used to crawl out of the blanket anyway! I guess it is worth a try, though. I know he does get cold.

In the past we have stayed in his room while settled himself, but I started to feel that he was relying on us being there to go back to sleep so we started just going in and sorting him out and leaving. Hard to find the balance, I guess.

I could try pushing his nap back a bit - it is sometimes 12.30, but I suspect it is not consistently that late so it might not be helping. What time would you wake him for a 6.30 bedtime then?

[anna*]

With the sleeping bag you can layer up underneath. Our heating has broken and last night Audrey had tights and a long sleeve vest on under her babygrow, then a cardigan and tracky pants on top of the babygrow, and all inside the sleeping bag. She does like to be toasty, gets upset if her bath isn't hot enough etc.

I think sleep phrases are good here. So for the first couple of nights you could stay (or at least stay until he's calm) and use whatever phrase, and then after that just pop your head round the door and say it. Definitely agree you don't want to be held hostage.

For a 6.30 bedtime I'd wake him at 2.30 - at least unless/until you see UT bedtime resistance.

[shivi]

In the winter under a warm sleeping bag we even used long sleeved vest, babygro, fleecy babygro and then the winter sleeping bag....

[*Becky*]

With the sleeping bag you can layer up underneath. Our heating has broken and last night Audrey had tights and a long sleeve vest on under her babygrow, then a cardigan and tracky pants on top of the babygrow, and all inside the sleeping bag. She does like to be toasty, gets upset if her bath isn't hot enough etc.

we do this too. M loves to be cosy.

[*Becky*]

how are things clare??

[clazzat]

So-so. We tried wrapping him up - bodysuit, fleecy sleepsuit and 2 1-tog sleeping bags, but it didn't really help. We gave him a pillow yesterday to see if that will stop him crawling up the bed so far, which might be helping a bit. He seems to have another cold, though, so he has been waking crying rather than just moaning. We have given him meds tonight so we will see if that helps.

How is miss m? Behaving any better for you?

[babymunkey]

Hun just a quick one - am never ever on these days but was cruising around tonight in a rare visit.

I know she's much you get but we had NW problems with B, which seem to have improved by Not letting her sleep past 2.30 and then making bedtime no earlier than 7, mostly 7.30. She's on the same routine as him pretty much, akthough she wakes later, between 6.15 and 6.45 . If she needs to catch up on sleep I put her down for her nap earlier, but still wake her at 2.30.

Just a suggestion, until recently we were having 1-2 hour wake ups every night at varying times with no seeming consistency. But much improved with the above

[*Becky*]

oh things have been awful clare the last week but I guess it is the cough she has...sigh. She gets so many coughs.
Screaming EWings, nap refusal, no nap day (!) and then short naps - just awful.

Good night last night though so who knows??!

Hope the meds help.

[clazzat]

Thanks, h. Tbh, I think I'd rather have nws than have him up until 7.30! And actually he is so tired by 6.30 that I'm not sure that he would cope with it at all.

The meds did help a lot last night, so I wonder if there is something else going on - I do keep thinking that he must be coming up to teething his 2yr molars.

Sorry that m has been causing trouble. Hope the good night means that she is on the mend, becky.

[*Becky*]

The meds did help a lot last night, so I wonder if there is something else going on -

sounds like it. H started teething his 2 year molars at 20 months and was done with teeth by 22 months - bliss!