Could someone please look at our EASY?

[georgeo]

Hi ladies,

DS is having a difficult time getting to sleep at night.  Naps aren't usually a problem but night time is.  He's nearly 17 months, has all of his teeth except the 2 year molars.  He has had a cold yesterday and today but this has been going on for a few weeks now.  It all started when I accidentally set off the smoke detector an hour into his nap.  Sometimes it seems like he's getting back on track and then has a difficult time getting to sleep at night.  He had a bad time last night and didn't get to sleep until 9:00.  Poor little guy he only got 9 hours last night.  He had 11 the night before. 

Today was:
Wake: 5:45 (I stayed with him to get him back to sleep.  He laid in his crib on and off until 6:35 when I got him up)
Nap: Asleep at 11:30.  Normally a 5 hr A time but a bit longer today due to the quiet time in the crib. 
Awake 2:00
Wind down: 7:00  DH is putting him to bed and it's 7:45 and he's still not asleep.  He's crying, not super hard but still crying.  DH is lying on the floor reassuring him and encouraging him to go to sleep.  PD just winds him up. 

Do you think the A times are too long?  He was doing 5 hrs like a charm when he was one year old but he's had so many teeth since then, colds and moving that we're not quite sure what that second A time should be. 

Another factor might be that he vomited probably 5 nights when we he was crying and trying to get to sleep so we were afraid that would happen too much and have been taking him out of the room and then trying again 15 or so minutes later if he's really worked up.  We know it's not good, but just didn't know what to do as we didn't want him to be vomiting all the time.  He's happy to play in his crib during the day, often requests it and he didn't seem to be sick, until the cold that showed up yesterday. 

Thanks for the help, I'm feeling a bit lost with what to do and am hoping an A time tweak will do the trick...hopefully that's not wishful thinking.

[muddyfeet]

Your DS EASY is exactly the same as my DD and she's just 15 months. I don't think there's a lot of developmental difference between 15 and 17 months, and you have had a lot of external factors (illness). How long ago was the smoke detector incident? It doesn't seem like that should have such lasting consequences, but I'm curious if there's something else about it.

I think the 5 hr A time is good, but I wonder if the quiet time should be counted as A time. With DD, I count her quiet time because even if she's lying down and playing quietly, she's still awake. And she's ready to go back to sleep at the 5 hr mark from actual wakeup, not from the time I go get her. I think you might want to get him back to a 5hr schedule.

If your LO is getting so upset in the crib going to bed that he's vomiting, you need to do whatever it takes to prevent getting to that point. Even if one of you goes to sleep on the floor in there a few days. The cold he's getting will prevent him from going to sleep, even if he's tired...DD had a sore throat and I didn't know it. She had trouble sleeping, and she had a day where she just wasn't "right". She kept running into stuff, whining, etc. Took her to the pediatrician, who looked at her ears, nose, and throat and told me the drainage was making her throat really red and it was probably very sore. A couple days of children's Tylenol solved that problem and she slept very well.

[georgeo]

Hi muddyfeet,

Thanks for replying so quickly.  He was in an OT loop-getting 9.5-10 hour nights about 2-2 1/2 hour naps and was obviously OT as he was cranky during the day and really that's not his nature.  We thought we needed to start cutting back on his nap time and then accidentally had a 45 min car nap one day.  We tried a nap later in the day but he refused and so did an early bed time.  It must have jump started his system somehow because he had a 12 hour night that night and for the next two weeks was sleeping like a dream-at least 11 hour nights and 2 1/2 to 3 hour naps....until I set off the smoke detector an hour into his nap.  He couldn't get back to sleep and he his sleep has been wonky ever since-it's been about 3 weeks.  We're not aiming for that much sleep, we just want the poor little guy to go to sleep easily.  

We stay in the room with him until he is asleep (lying on the floor by his crib) and have never left him to CIO.  The cold definitely isn't helping, but it's new and this problem has been going on for a couple of weeks now and until the cold did not show signs of being sick.  This may sound really silly but one of DS's favourite toys was a bar of soap.  He loved to hold it and carry it around with him.  Then after doing this for a few days he got sick a few times at night so we thought maybe it was from the soap (really, what were we thinking?) so we stopped letting him have it and he didn't get sick.  Then in the last week (I think...being tired makes everything blend together doesn't it?) he started getting sick again some nights when he's crying.  I agree it seems like he's so worked up that he's getting sick.  We've scheduled a doctor's appointment just to make sure it's not something else.  

I agree that we need to stop him from getting sick but don't know what to do.  We already stay with him.  Short of holding him and walking him to sleep I don't know what else to do and I think that will create a whole can of worms.  We've been bringing him out of his room if he's getting really upset but that's not good either because it tells him that if he cries hard/long enough he can get up.  We lie down on the floor because if we stand by his crib he thinks it's time to be picked up.  

It's almost like he's used to trying to go to sleep once, coming out of his room and then trying again.  DH is doing it right now, the light is off and I haven't heard a single cry, I'm guessing (and hoping with all of my heart) that he's on his way to sleeping.  DH just came out and he said he went to sleep no problem at all.  Seems like maybe he's UT.  If he was OT wouldn't it be worse when we try again later?  It's always been difficult to get him to sleep if he's UT.    

Any suggestions?  I hate seeing him be upset (don't we all).  Luckily he doesn't seem fazed by the vomiting.  We never make a big deal of it and say that everyone gets sick sometimes.    

[muddyfeet]

There's another technique called walk in/ walk out. I've heard it mentioned but not had to use it. But it sounds like a better idea for your lo than pu/pd or teaching him that if he cries he can get out of bed. I agree that last night sounds like a UT since he wasn't getting very upset.

 Try putting up a thread asking specifically about wi/wo and see if you can get some apecifics on that?