We're the worst sleep teachers that ever lived-please help

[beckyjane]

Hello,
Can anyone help us?
We let our baby co sleep for 20 months (yes, you read that right) and are now paying the price.  I  have finally weaned our son completely about 3 weeks ago.  I'm at the point now where my son will fall asleep without a prop if I'm next to the bed.  The BIG trouble is-he is waking up about 6-7 times a night and I am about to keel over from exhaustion.  Has anyone else dealt with night wakings? I would love ANY and all suggestions.  (There was typically one night waking before I began the PU/PD with him.)

Thank you!

[Layla]

Hi there & welcome !

Could you tell me what his daytime schedule looks like? Nap, how long, wake up & bed hour

How do you respond to him at night when he wakes?

Do you sit with him for naps as well?

Layla

[beckyjane]

Hi and thank you so much for your time.

So, he wakes regularly between 6 and 6:30, with a rare earlier waking and very rare later waking.  He naps between 11:30-12:00 for 2-3 hours-3 being his best and 2 being the norm.  He is usually asleep by 8:30.  I do sit at nap, too.  I usually do have to do a PD in the middle of nap-he doesn't always cry but calls for me or gets out of bed and waits at the door.  He isn't resistant to sleeping and the PU/PD has not been hard for him to take, not much crying .  In the past 2 weeks of this PU/PD, he's gone from taking 40 minutes to fall asleep to an average of 10, but many times even quicker-3 or 4 minutes.  I know he's going through a lot of change-just weaned 3 weks ago and now no me in his bed for 2, I'm sure he's processing it but I just must be missing something-I thought I read even the tough sleppers should get maybe 2 hours between wakings.  I'm seriously talking about, say, 5 wakings between 8:30 and midnight, then a couple of longer stretches (maybe 2-3 hours) after that.  Before, when I slept with him, he would wake once.

I can't thank you enough for thinking about this.  Your wedding pic is gorgeous.

-Rebecca

[Layla]

Rebecca, I think the night wakings might have something to do with the late bedtime (especialy since he is an early riser). The av is about 11hrs at night & a 2hr nap. So I would wake him at 2hrs into the nap & do an earlier bedtime.

Isabella wakes at 6-6.30am & at 20months her day looked something like this:
6ish - wake for the day
11.30ish-1.30ish - nap
6.30 - bedtime (she was usually asleep by 7pm)

I would try that & it will probably help with alot of the night wakings that are going on at the moment.

He is probably going through alot of changes. It sounds like you are doing really well with being consistent & him falling asleep on his own is a HUGE improvement. You should give yourself a big pat on the back

Also at this age, you might be better just doing pd. Picking them up can sometimes be too stimulating for them (& not to mention it being hard for you being that he is 20mo

Don't let the nap be as long as 3 hrs. Sometimes too long of a nap can disturb their night sleep & rob them of hrs at night.

You don't have to make  HUGE jump all once. Make it about 30mins earlier every 3-4 days so his body adjusts accordingly.

See how you go with the earlier bedtime & let me know

 

Your wedding pic is gorgeous

Thank you... it reminds me that there is love somewhere there between us