set back..

[sumeet]

hi,

my DS is going to be 14 months soon and is in the process of giving up his morning nap though there are days when he gets sleepy and takes a short nap in the mornings but mostly he is trying to phase it out.His routine looks something like this

8.30 - wake up , milk
9 - 9.30 - breakfast
11.30 snack
1.30 lunch
2 - 2.30 - nap till 4 -4.30
6.30 milk
8 - dinner
9 bedtime

though i've been trying  PD off and on but have never managed to get him to sleep independently (  mostly coz of inconsistency on my part), he would,off late, doze off while i sat next to him, silently.

But for the last two days, he is resisting naps and bedtimes altogether. Its almost as if he is suddenly scared of sleeping.

I am persisting with PD but i must be doing something wrong. Can anyone here please help?

Also if someone could suggest a wind down routine for him.. as of now, i read him a few books at bed time and then walk him for two min or so before putting him in his cot.

His cot is in our room in case that helps understand any of this!

[Layla]

Hi there

How long have you been doing pd for? In general we say give it about 2 weeks before you notice change, etc....

At 14months, we were also going throguh the 2-1 nap transition as well as teething and separation anxiety. The timing of the afternoon nap seems a little too late.... and it might be that he is fighting the pm nap because he is overtired by 2pm. As a rule of thumb, what I used to do is offer the morning nap to my dd (about 3-3.5hrs from the time she would wake) and if she didn't fall asleep withihn 30mins or so, i would bump up the afternoon nap and bedtime.

So in your case if he is resisting the morning nap, bring the afternoon nap to aroun 1-1.30pm (so thats around 4.5-5hrs A time in the morning)... say he will sleep for about 2hrs and bedtime can be around 8.30pm.

For windown I used to do brush teeth, books, sing songs and then good night/lights off.

Try giving him some pain relief for teeth as well in case he is teething his molars and is unable to settle due to that.
How does he sleep at night? Does he wake much and require your assistance to get back to sleep?

Layla

[sumeet]

hi,

thanks a heap for your reply...

i did what u suggested that is bring up his afternoon nap and bedtime too, and today has been a better day.. he didnt resist down as much as yesterday...

as for the waking up at nights, its really unpredictable.. there are times when he wakes up once - twice or even several times and always needs me to pat him back to sleep. Sometimes he howls so much that he has to be lifted up, comforted and then put back... but there are these rare days when he sleeps through the night...

i cant figure out the reason for his waking up and crying...!! and guesses?

[Layla]

Well the nightwakings could be due to teething or maybe SA or even the nap resistance and overtiredness. But if you're finding that you need to pat him back to sleep then maybe he is used to that... Could you try doing the wi/wo method instead... so check that he's ok, comfort him with words and leave. Count to 5 (or 10 or 15) and come back if he's still crying.