Bedtime battles - EASY tweak needed?

[malenka]

Thanks for all the support! Hmm, that's a good thought about the separation anxiety, it could be a possibility. He's quite clingy and wants me around most of the time, even if he's with DH. Chicane, if you can send me a link, or other info on how to deal with it, I'd like to take a look in case that's what's happening.

He's thrilled to be crawling, so much so that my cuddly little boy has disappeared and has been replaced with a little monkey that tries to climb out of my arms so that he can get on the floor and MOVE! Yikes, I hate to think what's going to happen to his sleep when he starts standing, and then walking   

He had a 2 hour nap today after 3:20 A time, but only took a 30 min catnap this afternoon. Our EASY is pretty much out the window these days - I'm just trying to read his cues. I find he's much hungrier than usual lately too - today he was desperate for the breast after 3 hours, even though he had just had solids. I guess all that crawling is burning a lot of energy.

When they go through a milestone like this, how long does it usually last?

[*Liz*]

A few weeks usually - then things settle.

Here is the SA stuff
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=84719.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=62612.0

 

[Chicane]

Hey malekna - let us know how you go after you've had time to digest the SA stuff. Sounds like you are doing really well, i think reading his cues is a good way to go while he adjusts to his new mobility...let us know how you go x

[malenka]

I'm back again looking for advice. Things aren't going well, we're still having bedtime battles and now we're having trouble with naps... Is it possible he's starting the 2-1 transition already? He just turned 8 mo yesterday.

Yesterday went like this:

EW 5:30, played with DH until 6:30 then went back to sleep
A 8:00
S 12:30
A 2:00
S 5:45
A 6:20
S 9:00

So he took his morning nap after 4.5 hours of A time and only slept for 1.5 hours. He then had a CN late in the afternoon and we couldn't get him down until 9.

Today is shaping up the same... He woke at 7:00 and I didn't get him down until 11:20, again he only slept for 1.5 hours.

Where do we go from here? Is he really ready for over 4 hours A time? What do I do if he refuses the second nap? What time should I be trying for bed?

Any advice would be appreciated, we're getting desperate

[*Liz*]

I'm not convinced really - when J was doing the 2-1 transition a 1.5hr nap after 4.5hrs A would have been OT. The old rules about only getting a 30-45 min nap for OT are not always true at this age onwards really. Plus you only dropped the CN a few weeks ago and their A's just don't extend that fast.

I think this is all OT really - and that the nights are now interrupting the days as well.

So I think you are looking at a developmental blip leading to OT here which is hard to break.

How is the crawling around the cot going?

What are you doing with napping when he is refusing? Stopping and starting again or continuing?

[malenka]

He's mostly stopped crawling around in his crib, but now he screams as soon as I lay him in it. I don't know why that would be - I've never left him to CIO. The only thing I can think is that either he just doesn't want to sleep because he'd rather crawl and play or maybe he bumped himself on the crib during one of his crawling sessions and now associates it with that? Today I tried to put him in the crib with toys while I was in the room with him putting away his laundry, thinking that it would help him to see that his crib is a nice place to be but he just screamed.

It took me an hour to get him down for his first nap and the only way I could get him down was to take him out of the crib, onto my bed and rub his back while he was facing away from me. Then I transferred him to his crib. He slept for 1.5 hours and this afternoon he took a 30 min nap that I had to APOP (breast) to get him to sleep. I tried extending it, but he was having none of it.

How do I break the OT cycle without getting into bad habits? It's starting to feel like I've lost my independent sleeper.

[Chicane]

hmmm....maybe you need a routine tweak? Feel like posting up your day again? xxx

[*Liz*]

Well - the thing is not to lose your independent sleeper as that is a bad thing to do at this age. Honestly I would not BF to sleep now - it is a really easy on to lead to bother. I did used to use the car or the buggy from time to time - but they are easy to wean.

What I would try is to do winddown and the nap at 3.5hrs A and see what happens. And make sure he has had lots of crawling/ expending energy time in that first A time.

Idea is to make him tired enough to take the nap, and not US and still wanting to play.

What personalility is your LO?

[malenka]

He's spirited... so, so spirited. He's also a refluxer, but I think we have his reflux under control.

We had another tough bedtime last night, but I managed to get him to fall asleep on his own (after 1 hr trying). I can't seem to get the right A time for him, especially in the afternoon. The other thing we're struggling with right now is feeding... he can't go more than 4 hours between BF, but he can easily stay awake 3.5 hours, so it's time for him to eat in the middle of his nap. We've tried EAES, but he usually drifts off on the breast. He isn't taking too well to solids either.

Other than his sleep issues, he's such a sweet little guy. I wish I could figure this out so that we could both get the rest we need.

[*Liz*]

Do you want to post that routine again?

This can be a really tough age with sleep ((hugs)) 

[malenka]

Ok, here we go again. Yesterday:

A 7:30
E 8:00 (solids then BF at 8:30)
S 11:00
A 12:30
E 12:30
E 4:00 (BF)
S 4:30 (tried earlier but he wouldn't go down)
A 5:30
E 6:00 (solids)
E 8:00 (BF)
S 8:30 (took until 10 for him to go down)
E 11:30
NW 1:30 (awake for over an hour screaming)
NW 3:00 (BF)
NW 5:30 (nappy change and BF then back to sleep)

This morning he was awake for the day at 8:00. He just went down for his nap at 11:30. He's been crying and fussing all morning. It probably doesn't help that he's cutting his first tooth, right? We gave him pain meds last night but they didn't seem to make any difference.

[*Liz*]

Do you think it might be the tooth cutting then? They can cause a lot of sleep trouble.

Some LOs also do like to significantly cut their A times when teething.

But TBH if this persists and the tooth is through I do think we are going to need to shorten that am nap for force a proper pm nap at a more sensible time and avoid OT at bedtime.