Strategy needed for excellent sleeper!

[* Paula *]

Definitely worth a try if you think his teeth are bothering him H.  Give it a try and let us know how you get on.

Abi was acting cranky before her normal nap time - only a few minutes early.  Tried to comfort her, and she was nuzzling her face into her bobo (her blankey), so I said to her time for bed, say good bye to Tom, this is our normal routine, and she generally goes over and gives her brother a kiss, and DH if he is at home, and then walks to the stairs to go up for her nap / night time.  Well she totally lost the plot, would not say goodbye or anything and when I took her upstairs she lost it.  She started screaming.  I calmed her down, and put her in the cot, she freaked again

I thought about what you said about creating a cot phobia H, and decided to give DS's old toddler bed a try, as it is still up in his room, I lay her down, and she was happy and smiling.  I sat on the floor and patted her bum and she was settling.  I left the room, and she got off the bed, I told her no bedtime, and she tried to climb back up.  Got back up and I left, she got off again, I said to her no bedtime and she went to sleep   

Now I am thinking perhaps she does not want to be in her cot anymore.  She sleeps on a mat at nursery, so could be that she is getting used to that???

What do you think?

[babymunkey]

Wow bless her! What a grown up girl.........well you know if it works, go with it - do you feel that she's safe enough like that just for naps? What about for nighttime?

[sherry lynn]

Paula - I think that is def. a possibility. I'm glad that worked out. The toddler bed has a rail right? She's such a big girl. I hope the nap went well.
I've also been doing the ok... nap time lets go read books, and the way he responds sort of gives me a heads up to how he's going to go down. Yesterday morning he stood up, went over and got his blanket and followed me to the room. The day before when I tried to put him down for the PM nap he started crying immediately (I didn't get a nap)
Today we had complete AM Nap refusal. Woke 30 min into his lunch nap, and thankfully put himself back to sleep. So we'll see how the rest goes.

[* Paula *]

She ended up having a shorter nap. I knew she would as she went down earlier than normal.  When she woke up she got out of the bed herself and stood at the side of the bed and waited for us.

The bed has raised sides so that she cannot roll out.  I have also put blankets and pillows on the floor in case for when she climbs out.  The bed is extremely low, not much hight to it too.

When I told her it was bedtime this evening, she could not wait to get up the stairs.  put her to bed, she did not even attempt to get out, and was asleep within 5 mins which is unheard of for her as generally she plays about with it.

I am not getting rid of the cot just yet, going to play it by ear and see how she goes.  It is completely safe for her if she gets out of bed, nothing that is not baby proofed.  All plugs etc are out of reach and nothing small on the floor.

Now that I think of it DS was out of his cot at 12 months.  He was a lot bigger and he was born with a club foot so had his feet in bars, and we transitioned him to a bed early and we did not look back.  Fingers crossed this is the root of all our probs.

Sherry how is the nap going?

Helen, how did his nap go in nursery?  How did bedtime go?

[babymunkey]

Paula - that's great news, bless her! Well done for figuring that out....

Bedtime was OK, will update the other post........Sherry I hope the rest of your nap went well

H

[babymunkey]

Hey Paula - how did Abi's night go in the big girls bed?

[* Paula *]

Hey hun, thanks for asking.

OMG we had a perfect night    Put her to bed just after 7pm, she went straight to sleep, she sat up at around 9pm, but was still asleep, and the next thing I heard from her was 7:00am this morning She has not slept through the night in I don't know how long.  I could not believe it. 

I checked on her before I went to bed and moved her cause she was in an awkward position, generally when I do this she wakes up, but she was flat out and did not flinch.

I wonder if this is the key to all our problems Our cot is pretty small so could that really be the prob?

Putting her down for her nap was a little more challenging today, DS was playing on her bed earlier, and she learnt the art of messing about.  She settled eventually though and is fast asleep.  Fingers crossed.

How did your night and morning go Helen?

[sherry lynn]

Paula - it must be so fun to have an older sibling to teach your LO how to mess around properly

H - It didn't go well. But thanks for asking. I'm glad you got in a catnap yesterday. I was hoping that would help with your EW.
I was right with you this morning with an EW. Except Lyle didn't go back to sleep. He laid on the floor babbling next to me. When he thought I was leaving he started screaming, so I think we are dealing with some SA. Not exactly sure what to do with it. 

[* Paula *]

LOL Sherry, it can be fun when he is teaching her the right thing, but OMG it is a pain when she is copying all the things he should not be doing like standing on the couch climbing on his desk.  Not Fun at all.

Our nap ended up being only 1.5 hours, but she seems fine with it.  Will see how tonight goes.