Hello,
I am a Baby Whisperer believer in need of help! I have a wonderful son who just turned one this past week. We are dealing with a lot of issues around here right now and they are all wrecking havoc on our sleep! We have been on EASY from the beginning and have had great success with it. Bear with me while I go through the many factors that I believe are currently affecting life around here.
1. My husband is in his 4th year of Optometry school which requires 12 week rotations. Calvin spent the first eight months of his life in Arizona and was a dream baby the whole time. We then had a rotation in Oregon in the Fall (September to late November). We struggled with sleep at first when we moved but in time we all adjusted and he was sleeping like a champ. We are on rotation #2 now in Idaho. We will be here one more month and then go to Utah for our third and final rotation. Talk about inconsistency for our poor little guy but these are not circumstances that are within my control. We have strictly adhered to EASY throughout the changes in an effort to maintain some sense of security.
2. We spent two weeks with family in Utah for the holidays in December. Calvin actually did really well through the time there. A couple of rough nights but his naps were great and he handled the activity very well. When we returned to Idaho things went downhill quickly. It started when I put him to bed one night. Up until this point I would simply lay him in his pack 'n play (his crib while we are on the move) and leave the room. He might cry for a minute or two (a mantra like cry) and then settle down and put himself to sleep. We have never tried a "cry it out" method. This particular night he was screaming a very upset scream so I went to him and he was sitting up (though he had been able to get into a sitting position for about a month and a half previous to this he had never done so at bed or nap time). I comforted him and laid him back down, only for him to roll over and sit back up. And so I did PD and we must have gone on with this routine for about an hour before he finally gave up. Since then it is an occurrence at nearly every nap and bedtime. It has been nearly three weeks since this started. The same thing would also happen during nightly wakings.
3. For about three weeks I have thought a tooth was coming. All the tell-tale signs were there but no tooth has yet made an appearance. He has 8 teeth so it would need to be an incisor or molar. The drooling seems to have slowed down but no tooth.
3. The lack of tooth in addition to him not acting like himself (lethargic, extra cuddly, etc.) brought me to the conclusion that there was something else going on. This led me to take him to the doctor where we learned that he has an ear infection. We have been on antibiotics for 3 days now and he is starting to act a lot happier and like himself.
4. Mom separation anxiety is in full force right now. No one can make him happy except for me. It came on very suddenly when he used to do great with dad, grandparents, etc.
5. Somewhere in the midst of the past few weeks of difficulty I started holding him to go to sleep. He was so miserable and was never taking naps and not sleeping well at night. This is something I have never done before but he would fall asleep instantly in my arms and sleep there for hours. I felt that he needed the sleep to recover from whatever might be plaguing him and that I would just have to deal with the consequences later. I am completely panicked about the repercussions of my actions but I did not know what else to do! He needed to sleep. He was lethargic and sad and I could not stand doing PD anymore when he seemed like he just needed to be snuggled.
** A few other notes - he is getting close to standing unassisted. I imagine we are within weeks of some walking and maybe a month or two at most of having a walker on my hands. He has still been taking two naps. Until we came back from the holidays it was 1.5 hours in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. He is also doing great in his language development. I do not know if that could be at all related.
So here I am . . . I will take any advice that can be given.
Thank you! (I plan to do a separate post in PU/PD regarding the bed and nap time battles).
