Help needed 10mths, day 6 of "sleep" for day time naps and its not working :(

[HackneyGrace]

Hi there,

My little one is 10 months old (he can sit up, crawl around and pull himself up in the cot) and up until now he has either been, rocked, walked in buggy or sling or breastfed to sleep.  He is starting nursery in a week and I have been trying BW approach to getting him to sleep for his day time naps.

In the beginning (day 1) I did try picking him up to calm him and then put him down again when he got upset.  However after about half an hour picking him up no longer soothed him.  My second problem was that as he got more and more tired he became very uncoordinated and began to bang his head off the cot.  At this point I got in his cot with him (cot bed so quite big). Just to stop him knocking his head off the cot. 

Day 1 it took an hour and a half to get him to sleep.
Day 2 - ! hour 20m
Day 3 - 35 min
Day 4 - 1 hr 10 min
Day 5 - 55 min
Day 6 - nearly 2 hours

I have gotten in the cot with him each day and each time I put him down I pat his back and say shush shush.

He was extremely stressed today and I am concerned that the timing is getting longer and he seems to be getting more stressed.

Has anyone got any experience of a similar situation?
Advice welcome,
Grace

[becj86]

Hi, welcome

Seeing that you had some progress the first few days, this looks like a pretty classic case of a regression which happens around day 3-5 as LO starts to check that this is really the new status quo.

Keep in mind that he is learning a new skill. You have to expect that he will take time to learn how to relax himself and get to sleep on his own, especially given he's had you helping him his entire life. This sleep training thing is mainly about reducing your assistance gradually and helping him learn how to get to sleep on his own.

Another issue could be your routine - a child cannot be expected to sleep if not tired and also it can be difficult to settle if he's overtired. Can you post your routine?

At this stage of development - PUPD becomes PD: How to PU/PD (inc age adaptations)

[HackneyGrace]

Thank you so much for the link, really helpful. 
His routine before sleep training was:

8am wake up and breastfeed
9am breakfast
activity
11am bottle
11.30 - 1pm sleep (either by breast or in buggy on way home from activity)

1pm wake up then lunch
activity
4pm bottle

4.30 - 5pm sleep (usually by breast)
6pm dinner
8pm bedtime

Since we started sleep training I have tried to not put him in the cot until he shows signs of tiredness - rubbing eyes yawning etc. which has meant I begin to put him in the cot about 12, and then it could be half one by the time he sleeps so he's only fitting in one sleep a day.  But that seems to work better in the evenings for us anyway.

Does that shed any light on things becj86?

Thanks,
Grace

[becj86]

I think you may need to have a read of this: From 2 to 1 nap transition (10-12m and older)

Do you know if there's a set schedule at daycare? Perhaps mirroring that as best you can will help him.

I think you'll find that the longer nap is probably a little too early - given you're seeing tired signs around 12, I'd say aiming for him to be asleep around 12/12:15 will get you the quickest settling time and help him learn what it is to feel tired and then get himself to sleep.