Teething, illness, 2-1 switch and other probs, all rolled into one!

[Mashi]

Just wanting to see if I am getting this right with getting back on track, wonder if anyone else has any thoughts.

Have had an absolutely AMAZING thing going for the past 2ish months or so (before that things were super, just a little different EASY).

Wake 7am
Nap 930 - 1000 (I wake him. This nap has always been 930, just keep cutting in shorter through 2-1)
Nap 1 - 300 (sometimes have to wake him)
Asleep for night 730
Sleeps soundly not a peep all night.

Kept knowing that a good thing would eventually come to an end.    We had a NW due to UT (I fell asleep during his afternoon nap and he ended up sleeping 3.75 hours  ). Couple of days later his teeth started moving up (all 4 canines) ready to break through soon.  Then, caught a cold, or could be congestion from the teeth, not sure, but he's SO snotty and can't really sleep, as soon as he lies down he can't breathe.

Things have gone from bad to worse. Friday night wasn't too-too bad, I heard him restless and semi-awake ALL night but he settled himself and I don't think he had a full on wake.  But Saturday in the day he barely slept (snotty) and then Saturday night he slept in 45 minute chunks, woke screaming and was awake for 10-15 minutes at a time. Literally all night.  Was awake a few times for an hour or more. So not much sleep.  Sunday was fine for naps, and bed, but an EW at 530 (10 hours) and am pretty sure it was from OT build up. Monday, (yesterday) a perfect nap day and perfect to bed.  But, by 11pm he woke and was up until 230am.  Partly our fault, we had to bring him into bed with us (storm outside, his bedroom window flew open and got stuck so he couldn't sleep in there as we weren't able to fix it, etc) and he HATES sleeping in our bed. He slept from 230 - 430am.  Restless until 630 and up for the day, back down for his nap now at 845.

Still congested but pretty sure his overall "feeling" is better as far as his cold.

What is the best way to get him back on track - I don't want to give him too much day sleep and get a UT wake in the night, but he needs to get enough that he's able to sleep all night.  KWIM?  How do you figure it out? 

I'm thinking let him sleep an hour this morning and aim for 1.5 hours this aft and early bed if needed? 

Worse, we are (were) right at a crucial point in the 2-1, that 30 minute morning nap was just about to be cut down to 15/20 minutes. Don't want to throw things off there too much either.

Any thoughts or ideas how to get back on track?

Thanks

[jess, lukeys_mom]

hi mashi,

i'm going to move this over to toddler sleep for you 

luke has tended to get off-balance at the change of seasons and this has been his most common time for colds, etc (we all have them now  ). what i have done is let him catch up on sleep during the day and made a later bedtime, allowing his night to be shorter for a night or two as he gets back on track. luke is a kid though who really needs his daytime sleep, can definietly do big, long naps during the day and thrives on them, so that's been my thinking with it.  maybe depends a little on your ds if this might be a solution.

[Mashi]

Thanks Jess, was sitting here hoping you'd get back to me while I am waiting to decide to wake him or not!  It's been an hour, I think it's time!

I hadn't thought of moving bedtime a bit later and allowing a shorter night until he's caught up.  Will scratch my head on the logistics of that one and see how what I can come up with.  Thanks for the idea.

It's so hard when we've had such a good thing going for so many months now to accept that it's gone a bit wonky....I knew the time would come but....sigh.

x

[jess, lukeys_mom]

another thought mash - what about just trying out one nap now and see how that goes for a couple of days? what i loved about transitioning to one nap is i felt good about letting him sleep absolutely as long as he wanted. in the beginning it was sometimes 3.5 hours!!! from 13 months till 16 months we went back and forth between one and two naps, but sometimes the big long day sleep plus an early bedtime really helped him rest up. hth a little? x

[Mashi]

we were just at the point of moving to one nap, but i think with how he is right now, and the OT that usually happens in those first weeks of one nap, i don't know if i can risk it or not....do you think it would be okay to try? if so i may go for it tomorrow. 

[LucySol]

hi Mashi! we are in the process of jumping to 1 nap.Early bedtimes are helping us with the OT of 1 nap.its worth a go im sure.your little guy is a good sleeper im sure he would soon adjust and the early bedtimes will help while his 1 nap lengthens.i have found the consistency of time for both nap and bed is helping xx

[Mashi]

I wouldn't hesitate if he wasn't ill and hadn't been up literally ALL night the past three nights in a row - he's not had more than 18 hours of sleep (total) in the past two days I don't think!!

[LucySol]

could you just let him sleep as much as he needs (within reason) for a couple of days till you think he has caught up and then try.i know with D letting her sleep as long as she needs when OT hasnt disturbed her nights.something to think about?

[MLK]

Mashi have you had his ears checked? I went through something very similar recently - after 2-3 weeks of NWs and EWs, with super long 3 hr naps to make up for the nights, I thought I was losing my mind. He was getting his molars and had a couple of colds so  I thought it was that. Turns out he had an ear infection and after 2 days on A/Bs he starting sleeping through!

If his nights are that bad I would let him go back to 2 naps, maybe let him sleep 1 hour in the morning, even earlier than 9:30 if he needs it. Just to catch up on his sleep. A couple of times i found DS2 asleep on the floor at 8:30am at the worst of our horror!

Then once things are better you could try the 20 min morning nap thing. I always had to d othose 20 min naps out of the cot- seemed so cruel to wake thme after sleeping such a short time! Out of the cot he never sleeps long so I didn't have to wake him. Now he's back to 1 2hr nap, with the occasional 2 nap days to catch up if needed.

[Mashi]

Nah, there's noting wrong with his ears, am certain. He's just congested from his teeth, which is very very normal for him, and possibly a bit of a cold as well. It's not anything serious, it's just that congestion that is fine when you are upright but as soon as you lie down your nose gets all bunged up again. Makes it hard to sleep.  We are still on two naps, we haven't dropped down to one yet, am hoping to not have to for another month or so!

Just trying to get some catch up to avoid a long lengthy OT cycle of EWs and what not!

Thanks all!

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Hey mashi,
Love the pic of your lo!
Just wondering how it's been going and if you've managed to catch up a bit? x

[LucySol]

i was wondering how thigs were too!! we are now where you are!! Teething,full of cold,bad sleep!! hope you are coming out of the other end!

[Mashi]

Thanks Jess - I was playing around with my profile and deleted the old avatar (which was really still a new avatar and so had to start again!)

We had a bad night on the night of my original post, and an EW the next morning (which I think would have been yesterday morning, right?)  But, I kept his naps the same yesterday anyway and had to wake him from his afternoon nap after 2h15 and he went to bed about 20 minutes early as well.  Slept through last night about 12 hours. So, we seemed to be on track today but I've been having nap struggles - I think he is ready to cut the morning nap shorter but at the same time because he's got a cold and is a bit ill, really can't do it, so is in a bit of a kafuffle IYKWIM.    

Ready for these teeth to come in and this snotty nose to finally be gone though! Driving me crazy!!

[Mashi]

i was wondering how thigs were too!! we are now where you are!! Teething,full of cold,bad sleep!! hope you are coming out of the other end!

You posted at the same time as me!  Sorry to hear you are having a rough go of it as well Lucy - I think that in another post of yours I saw you are (or were) finally at 12 hour nights with no more EWs??  Murphy's Law that the teething and cold would happen just when you had things sorted isn't it?  Argh!  Hope your LO gets through it quickly!!

[jess, lukeys_mom]

yay, i'm so glad his night went better! that pesky nap dropping was very tricky for us too, let alone with a cold on top. poor guy - i hope the transition goes well. with luke, all the stresses about his sleep pretty much disappeared when the one nap routine set in. i hope the same holds true for you too
lucy, hugs - get well soon! x