Per my other posting, I am currently trying to sleep train my 26 month old by WIWO in the evening on days that he chooses not to go down (BTW he's been the best sleeper for the past 1.5 years, naps or evening sleep, but 2 weeks ago things changed suddenly). I have only had one night to try it so far b/c other nights he was so tired from not napping in the afternoon that he would practically pass out. I can't say I have had very good results last night though, he got more hysterical each time I WO from putting him to bed and tell him to go to sleep. Eventually after 2.5 hours he was put down by my mom, but I think it was b/c he was too tired (& after he figured out how to turn the door knob and come to our room for a visit!!
) So he ended up sleeping at midnight and waking up at 4am, which is just lovely!
This afternoon he was cranky from sleeping 4 hrs last night so napped for 2 hrs (again from passing out at lunch time) I got the door knob safety cover so now he shouldn't be able to turn it open again. But tonight he was too tired again, when I left his room, he did say good night and agreed that I'd see him in the morning, but 5 min later he started to cry out "mommy, daddy" again. Usually he comes knocking on the door, pounding it and calling for us, but I could tell that he was way too tired already and about to pass out any second from listening thru the monitor. So he did fall asleep after 10 of calling for us in bed, so I didn't get to try the WIWO method again.
My big question is, what should I do now about his afternoon nap? Every time I bring him up to his room, he would say good bye to everyone and tell me that he's going to bed, and sometimes even before his nap routine is done, he would get up and step off his mattress and want to go out side and say that he doesn't want to sleep. The only way to get him to fall asleep in the afternoon would be to put him in the car and drive around for a few minutes, but I don't want to do this any more, it's not the long term solution to his nap/sleep problem. I also know that he needs his nap b/c he would fall asleep at dinner time and wake up 1-2 hrs earlier the next AM if he didn't get his nap the day before. So before I can nail down the evening sleep routine,
what should I do with his afternoon nap? Should I just let him play, or continue to take him out in the car to get him to fall asleep???Please help!! Thanks in advance!!
