Hi -
We've got an oh-so-overtired 17 month old on our hands (or rather in her crib - awake, when she should be sleeping!)
A little background... She was doing pretty well for a few months (she's struggled off and on with various sleep issues since birth). Here's what she was typically doing:
6:30-7 wake up
12:00 - 2.5 hrs nap
7 pm asleep
Averaging 11.5 hrs of sleep at night, 2.5 during the day. Typically 5 hrs of A time before and after nap.
She got a cold - and was teething about a month ago - interrupted sleep, but nothing terrible. But then we went on vacation for a week - had to snag her out of bed at 4:30 am to catch our flight. Had a long but late nap. Whole week was tough sleeping - started with a short nap one day (45 mins). And here we are almost 2 weeks later and she still isn't recovering. Most days we've been having 45 min naps - sometimes she'll fall back asleep for another 45 mins. These last 3 nights she's been awake for about an hour around 11 pm.
All says overtired to me. My first line of attack is always W2S. I've done in a ton with her - and quite often it works. But it's not working at all this time (one day last week it did, or maybe she would have slept long on her own?). Am i maybe doing something wrong? I've been doing it at the 25-30 min mark after she's fallen asleep. Is it too late for a 45 min cycle? I've thought about going in her room around 40 minutes and waiting for her to stir and trying to pat her through it... With her, it seems like less intervention is better. I have tried things like pick up put down, but it just makes it way worse. maybe i haven't tried long enough, but we've had MUCH better success with prevention rather than helping once she's awake.
I've tried putting her down for nap earlier, but that hasn't seemed to help either (although in the past it has). but maybe i need to try WAY earlier? i've been trying a half hour earlier than normal. The only thing i've noticed is that she seem to fall asleep happier, probably because she' not quite so overtired yet. And i've also tried an earlier bedtime, but it seems like it just produces an earlier morning wake up. But, as i'm writing, maybe i need to try a bedtime that's a lot earlier, especially since she's started to wake at 11 pm.
Any thoughts? I know eventually she'll snap out of this, but it's so hard when they're so tired, and i want to help if i can!!
Thanks - Sarah
