What went wrong?

[nolejen]

Dh and I had to go out of town suddenly and Jared spent the weekend with my parents. He slept horribly. Up at 5 one morning, 4 the next. He barely napped. Sigh. He is really stuck in OT cycle now. Last night he went down easily at 7 but was up from 4-5:20. I finally crawled into his crib with him and we both slept until 7:10. He took an am nap at from 10-11 (I was going to forget about shortening the am nap and try for 2 naps). But is absolutely refusing the pm nap. He has been in his crib for 45 minutes now just babbling away. Looks like an early bedtime night.

I probably shouldn't be judging this after one day, but I don't know if he will go for the 2 longer naps again. I was having success with the long am nap and then a catnap in the pm. Then that stopped working. So I tried shortening the am nap and going for a long pm nap. That was starting to work (except for the EWs and the NWs). I know he is stuck in an OT cycle, especially after the weekend. I just don't know how to get him out of it because with the crappy sleep last night and today, it is worse. 

[nolejen]

Last night went much better. Jared refused any sort of pm catnap, I tried a couple more times. But he went to bed at 6:20 and slept until 7:10. YAY!
Today has been off.
7:10 up
10:40-11:00 nap
2:00-3 nap


He would not go back to sleep. What happened to my 1.5-2 hour naps. They are gone right now. I guess it is an early bedtime again.

[deckchariot]

It looks like he made up for some lost sleep last night, so he may be back on track to try the short nap + long nap routine (whichever way you go  - long am/short pm or short am/long pm).  I'd say to just pick one option and stick with that for at least a week.  It takes several days for routine changes to sort out into sleep changes.  And definitely keep that early bedtimes when total nap time is less than what he needs.

[nolejen]

Ok. I will try it. I'm up for anything at this point. 

[deckchariot]

{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}} the switch is hard, but it does end eventually

[nolejen]

Tonight went.....eh, it went. He took a pm nap for 45 minutes when I woke him up. We tried to put him down for bed at 7:15 which was just a 3 hour A time. He screamed for 30 minutes. Progress.....it was only 30 minutes. But still frustrating. We are going to stick with the long am nap and catnap in the pm. (That was working for us until recently. The morning catnap was a diaster) Sigh. I know it will end at some point, I just hope I manage to keep my sanity until then.   

[deckchariot]

you will.....it may just be hanging there by a thread, but you'll make it   Stick with your plan - remember with the long am nap and pm catnap, you want to keep pushing that morning A time out a bit as well.  Hang in there!!! {{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}

[nolejen]

That is what we are going to try and do. His am nap is only 1.5 hours and so far we've given him a 45 min pm nap. I think that was too long so we plan to cut that back. It doesn't look good for a cat nap today though. **He refused the pm catnap.** So it looks like an early bedtime. I still can't figure out the 6am wakeup. He wakes up at 6 regardless of how his night went. It is really frustrating. We tried w2s for several days without success and then it all fell apart so we haven't tried again.  Last night he only slept for 10.5 hours and so far has only napped today for 1.5. Sigh. 

 

[♥ MaryAnn ♥]

You deserve to vent!!  I certainly need it!  We are staying with DH's sister right now for the first year of school and I feel like I'm living under a microscope!!!  She really is a great sister, and she doesn't usually say anything to me about DS's issues, but I know she doesn't agree with what I'm doing.  I am insecure enough that it really bothers me. Plus, to be in her house all the time I feel like if I don't run around cleaning all day long (like she does) I'm a lazy bum. IYKWIM.

[nolejen]

Crap, crap, crap. He has only napped for 1 hour today. He is currently screaming his head off. Dh is in there trying to convince him to go back to sleep. It isn't working.

He slept for 13 hours last night with one NW from 4:45-5:15. He woke up for good at 7:30. I put him down for a nap after 5 hours of A time and he slept for 1 hour (he freaked when I tried to put him down for a nap at 4.5 hours but fell right asleep at 5 hours). I just can't seem to get this right.

[nolejen]

HUGS. That stinks you feel like that. It sucks to be unsure of yourself and then to top it all off, to have someone who is critical of what you do.  HUGS.

I hope we both can get this figured out soon. I know my sanity needs it. I imagine yours does too.

I hope today is going better for you. It isn't here. I am listenting to J scream while DH tries to do wi/wo. It isn't working.

[deckchariot]

{{{{{{{hugs}}}}} ladies!!! The last thing you need is grief from other people!!  grrr....and I"m quite certain their kids aren't perfect!!!

just an encouragement (I hope) with wi/wo....we did it once for 4 hrs at night...yes,....4 hrs of screaming.......(some of that was me I think!) but it did work.  The next night, it was only 2 hrs, then next night, just 30 min, and now if we have to go in at all, it's one time, one reminder and that's it.  So it really does work, even when it seems like it's not.

Abby often refused her catnap during the switch, so we did a alot of early bedtimes.  One caution with the 13 hrs of night sleep - as lovely as that is, it may screw up naps for the next day (unless your bub often sleeps 12+ hrs), so be careful how long you let him sleep in (of course if the 13 hrs meant he got up at 6:30 - that's early enough, I'd let him sleep too!).

It took us 6 mos to make the switch, but you can and will make it through!!!  You can come here and vent any time!!! 

{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}

[♥ MaryAnn ♥]

Thank you!

I think I need to be more persistent with the wi/wo. And I'm not so sure I'm doing it right, he fights me so much! and I end up rocking with him for a minute then laying him down again--he's not asleep just calmed; but I don't want him to need that.  PU/PD worked for us a while ago, then he got sick and had to be cuddled a little more and now when I KNOW he needs a nap and I do PU/PD he doesn't respond to it like he used to. Is he too old for that?? Should I only be doing WI/WO?  I honestly don't know if I could do it for four hours    Thats intense, but I know that sticking with it is the only way we got PU/PD to work for us the first time.  That was a nightmare 

BIG HUGS to you too Nolgen!!  Good Luck tonight and I'm sending you some more sleepy vibes for tomorrow's naps~~~~~~~~~~~

[nolejen]

J doesn't usually sleep 12+ hours. He is typically a 10-10.5 hours at night. Lately he has been going to bed at 7 and sleeping until 6-6:20. When he does this he is fighting naps after 4-4.5 hours of A time. Today I am planning on experimenting and seeing if he will go down after 4.75 hours of A time.

DH is having a terrible time putting J down at night. J starts wiggling and screaming, eventually working himself into hysterics.  Nothing DH can do will calm him down. Any ideas? What can he do when J gets like this?

[coopers_mommy]

During our nap/bedtime routine, the last thing we do is turn off the light, cuddle for a minute, and then sing a soft song to him.  Then we lay him down in his crib.  If DS is wiggly and wont calm down we tell him night night and put him in his crib.  There's no other option for him.  Sometimes he is just so tired that he doesn't want all the extra stuff and would rather go right down.  This has even gone as far as not doing any of the routine for a nap because he's so ready to get in his crib and go to sleep. 

Does your DH rock with him?  Your DS might not want anything like that right now...just a thought!

HTH