Hi everyone! I have been on here a few times over the last 18 mths about my DS(24 mths old) who I have ALWAYS had trouble with regarding his sleep. I have NEVER successfully got him onto a good routine, or if I have it lasts a few days and then something happens or he does something to change it!! I thought he was FINALLY on to one nap a day properly about 6 weeks ago as his A time seemed to increase to about 6 hours in the am, BUT then he seemed to decide to stop napping altogether! This went on for about a week, and now he is napping again, but it isn't consistent and I don't know whether it's because he is UT, OT or is just sometimes choosing not to sleep. Sometimes he goes straight to sleep (within 20 mins), sometimes he plays for ages (over an hour) and then sleeps. His nights have been A LOT better over the last few weeks. We used to have lots of NWs, EWs, and very long NWs (up to 2 hrs). He is mostly sleeping through anywhere from 10 to 11.5 hrs depending on his naps. We get the occasional NW, but they have only been short. He mostly wakes happy in the morning, but often wakes grumpy from his naps and this is because I think he is falling asleep too late for them (b/c he has been playing, even if we go in to remind him that he should be sleeping!) and so having too long A time in the am (sometimes 7 - 7.5hrs). His total sleep in 24hrs averages out at about 12 hrs. Most of the time he has about 12, sometimes 11.5 or 12.5hrs. He is very good about going to sleep in the evening and is usually talking to himself or laying quietly until he sleeps, but he can take anywhere from 20 to 75 mins to fall asleep at night. I put him to bed early 6pm usually to avoid OT b/c this really helped in the past. He seems to need 20-30mins to fall asleep when I have got it right, but when he is OT he can either go straight to sleep or take aaaaages (up to 75 mins I think).
However, he sometimes shows tired signs (yawning/rubbing eyes) a couple of hours after waking up in the morning. Does this mean he is very OT or do a lot of people find their toddlers do this? I also think he can show these tired signs about 2 hrs before he will go to sleep. Is that normal at his age, or am I getting his sleep really wrong and he should be going to sleep as soon as he shows the first tired sign?? My DD will also sometimes yawn an hour or two after waking and she is nearly 4.
I wondered if anyone can help me decide whether he is OT or just fighting his naps sometimes. His sleep has always been all over the place and I have always found that I couldn't have a set nap time with him as he just ended up really OT so I used to have to be flexible with the nap time depending on his am wake up time and how much he had slept during the night. I have been doing this still, but perhaps I should try a set naptime again no matter what for a few days and see what happens. His am wake up time at the moment is anywhere between about 5.30 - 6.30am with the average at about 6am, so perhaps I should try a set nap of about 12 noon.
Any advice about naps and tired signs would be really appreciated. Also, is there anyone else out there who has never been able to get their baby/toddler on a routine??!!
