Please help, I'm at a lost of what to do. My DS is 9mo and lately (the past 2 weeks), he has been really difficult to put down for naps. Sometimes he would play around in the crib at first and gets more and more worked up and cried (screamed). Other times, he will seem really sleepy when I put him down, but gets worked up as he can't seem to go to sleep and ended up screaming as well.
Here's a bit of background info:
Sleep trainingHe has never really liked being AP ever since he was a newborn. I started shush-pat when he was really young and for a long time (since 3 mo), this has worked really well. In fact, at one point, I was able to put him down and shush-pat for less then a minute and he would doze off. I had tried to wean him off of patting but something always come up (sick, teething, spit up when he was younger, milestones...etc)
Wind downWe have gone through the same wind down routine for naps since he was 2 mo. Basically, I'll carry him in the carrier and walk around the house while I sing to him. Then I'll take him to his room, put on the sound machine and CD player, sing 1 lullaby and put him down. He is always still awake (sleepy but not drowsy).
General behaviorHe's generally pretty happy and independent. He's learned to pull up on furniture and enjoys crawling around the house. He's usually contend playing on his own except when he needs my help to bring him from a standing position to a sitting position or if he wants to pull up on something he can't. I alternate between giving him independent play time and play time with me. He had a cold that lasted for 1 week but now he's well. He has 2 bottom teeth and drooling lots. Not sure if this means that he's teething.
Yesterday was the worst day. It took me 1.5 hours to put him down for his second nap. Here's his sleeping schedule from yesterday
Wake: 6:45 am
A: (3 hrs 15min)
Nap 1: 10:00 am - 11:30 am (not much crying, patted to sleep. Woke briefly at 11:00 but he went back to sleep on his own)
A: (aimed for 3hrs 30min, ended up being 4hrs 30min)
Nap 2: 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
For Nap 2, I tried putting him down at 2:45pm. He was sleepy but couldn't sleep. He kept pulling up on the railing, sometimes crying, sometimes laughing. But this always ended up with him crying because he wants to sleep but also wants to pull up. When he pulls up, I laid him down and I patted him and he became hysterical. Then at 3:05 (he was inconsolable), I took him out of the room and he calmed down. When I brought him back to his crib, he was all happy and giggling
Then of course, he had to poop. So I changed him and did a quick wind down and put him down. Everything was repeated (tired but couldn't sleep, patted and became hysterical... etc). At 3:50, I figured he needed his bottle so I fed him. He drained his regular 7oz bottle. Cried softly for a little bit and dozed off. I should have woke him after 30min as to preserve his bedtime, but I was so tired that I fell asleep too. He ended up going to bed 8:30 and woke up this morning at 6:30am.
Do you know why he is suddenly so difficult to put down? Any idea of what I should do?
