Cant seem to get back to normal....

[~*Sugar*~]

My little one, 19 months,has been sick twice since christmas and he is finally feeling better but we are having a hard time getting back to normal.He would eat much so we gave him whatever he would eat and he was waking several times a night so we rocked him(all bad i know) but now we are having trouble getting back to normal.He wont eat half the foods he ate before and he is still night waking 3-4 times a night for no apparent reason.I am at my wits end and sleep deprived still. Anyone else have this problem and/or have any advice?

Thanks
Christina

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Hi Christina,

Sorry you haven't gotten a reply until now, and that you've been having a hard time getting your lo back on track.

I am going to move your post over to the Sleeping for Toddlers board so you can get more help there, since your lo is older than 12 mo.

In the meantime, can you please post your routine in this format:
E
A
S

and also explain a little bit more about the NW's an what is happening then?

[~*Sugar*~]

Here is our routine...

730am wake and watches tv in bed with us for about 1/2 an hour or so (this is wake up time lol)
8-830am breakfast
10am snack
1130-12 lunch
12-230 nap
3pm snack
530pm dinner
7pm bath and bedtime routine
730-8pm bed

He goes to bed well.Goes down sleepy but awake and settles on his own always.He starts waking around 10 or 11pm and its random.Sometimes he cries(still asleep really)and i have to wake him and then he stops crying and re-settles right away and other times he can settle himself if i wait a 1-2 minutes before i go in.He also gets a paci (yes i know BAD BAD BAD lol) but only at nap and bedtime.He also has reflux and is on meds and its been under control for sometime now.I also dont think it is the reflux because i remember all to well the screaming at night from that and these nightwakings now are not like that.Its like hes dreaming or something and he half wakes and cant always re-settle by himself.

Thanks Christina

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Hi,
He sounds a lot like my ds!! (including the reflux) And mine takes a paci too, I think you will find MANY on these boards do, I don't plan to wean it until 3 yo!

We have actually been going through something a little similar which I've posted about too, and I have suspected he is having nightmares or night terrors.  However in your case and due to his age I'm wondering if he could be going through SA. Have you considered this?

In your shoes I would probably try W2S to deal with his NWs. There is more info in the faq's or let me know if you have questions about it, I've done it quite a few times successfully. xxx

[~*Sugar*~]

Thank you for your reply...no i havent thought of SA...i am with him almost always...i only work 2 days a week and he goes to daycare on those days and he loves it.There is never any screaming or clinging when i take him there...he gets down and goes to play right away and most days he doesnt have time to even kiss me goodbye lol.The one different thing right now is his dad is laid off work so he is home everyday now and before he was gone monday to friday and only home on weekends.Maybe it has soemthing to do with that SA with Dad instead of Mom.
I am familiar with w2s...have read all the babywhisper books....i will give this a try.Only one thing...his waking seems to be random so i can only guess a time to do the w2s.For example last night he only woke once,which was wonderful, and it was around 1230am.The night before that it was 1030pm,2am and 430am.

Thanks
Christina

[~*Sugar*~]

Well i know you have to try things for a few days but last night didnt go well.I went in his room at 1030 and just touched him a little and he wiggled and out i went.I thought it was going well until 230 he woke again and 5am.Then he was wide awake at 620am this morning...*sigh*....i will keep trying though.I havent had a whole nights sleep since this little monkey was born.He has never been a good sleeper and i am beginning to think he never will be.We would like another baby but i just cant handle an infant and this toddler who never sleeps all night,and if the new baby was the same....i would go crazy.

Christina

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Christina - I only have literally a sec but I'm sorry - I didn't mean W2S! I meant to say WI/WO (walk in/walk out).
Also just on SA, 18/19 months is really common age to go through SA at night. My ds did, he also goes to day care 3 days/wk and dh and i are always with him for the rest. But the SA seemed to happen when he madethe connection that when he is in his bed, we are doing something else,somewhere else. What I did during this time was slept in his room for a while, and then gradually stopped. It took ages though and was very tiring so if you can do WI/WO I would recommend that over what we did.
Marking this post and will be back later when I have more time. xxx

[~*Sugar*~]

I decided to keep going with the w2s since i had already started it.I had one night he only woke once but everyday it early waking now.Anytime from 6-630am he is up now.We havent changed anything in our routine so hes still going to bed at 730 but hes waking early.I was going to try putting him to bed at 630 but i am terrified he will wake at 530.I am at a loss ...yet again...

Christina

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Normally I would say early bedtime too, but understand the fear. Can you try 7.00 and see how that goes?

[~*Sugar*~]

Last night we had company and ended up having a late supper and bedtime.He went down at 830pm instead of 730 and he slept all night and woke at 715am.Go figure....so now i have no idea where to go from here...lol

[jess, lukeys_mom]

i am glad you all got some rest! if i were you i would still try for 11.5-12 hours of night sleep just to be sure he does not start really getting OT - but maybe you can go for 7/7.30 bed if that good night won you some catch-up sleep that he needed...

[~*Sugar*~]

Well its been a couple of nights since my last post.We tried 730 bedtime and still waking 630am.He naps well for 2 hours everyday and goes to bed well but i still cant get him to sleep all night through.Could it be possible he needs a shorter nap?

[jess, lukeys_mom]

hmm, 7.30 to 6.30 with a 2 hour nap sounds pretty good to me. or is it this, plus a lot of night wakings?

[jess, lukeys_mom]

ps. just wanted to add, the nightmare-like NWs that we were having JUST started going away, about a week ago. it was 2 months of them with dh and I having to go in and settle him an avg of 2-3 times/night, and it has seemed to have just tapered off and stopped (scared of jinxing it now though!!). anyway - if you do not think your ds is going through SA and believe it is more like NWs due to nightmares, etc - then hopefully it is just a phase you need to endure for a bit until it goes away on its own!

[~*Sugar*~]

Yes lots of nightwakings.Maybe it is nightmares.He wakes crying but not screaming like when it was his reflux.He wakes and sometimes sits up or stands up in his crib and most times his eyues arent even open but he wont go back down until myself or DH goes in.And all we do is lay him back down and tuck him in...we dont rock or pick him up or sh/pat or anything like that.I hope it works itself out.

Thanks
Christina