Illness needing NW help to get back to sleep. Need to get back to normal

[lilisuze]

My lo has been ill for about 3 weeks now, and has not STTN completetly all these 3 weeks. First of all it was a cough, then the last 2 molars, now a cold. He has needed me to go in to settle him each time.

The last few nights have been the worst. He has been so snotty its hard for him to breathe. But yesterday and today he seems better. EASY naps are back to almost 4hrs A and things in the day are good.

Last night he had NW's at 7.30 (OT!) 10pm and 1am. I had to go into him becuase i could hear him escalating and didnt want any more crazy 2 hours rocking stints with him punching me etc!


Where do i go from here? how do i get him back to being an independant sleeper? does have a paci, but usually just finds it for himself in the night. I am worried the waking and calling for help is already a habit.

TIA

Lili xx

[anna*]

Can you do WIWO with him? Maybe if you just stood in his doorway and said it's sleep time now baby, grab your paci, go back to sleep, that would encourage him to settle himself? What happens when you go in to him, how do you settle him?

[lilisuze]

In normal life, if I go in its normally because he's either tangled in his bed (stuck against edge with arm out, or wedged with toys!) or the paci has vacated the bed!He settles back down the second I have sorted the problem.

The last couple of weeks have involved me going in, wiping his nose, trying hard not to pick him up out of the cot (but there were about 5 nights where we have had to do this because he is screaming so hard) cuddling a bit, trying to put back down, so then he screams, I cuddle him in the cot, that doesnt work so picking him up and starting the cycle again.

Now he is a bit better, I can resettle him in the cot, but the paci's are still right there. So we are back to me re-plugging (like when he was 10 weeks old!) I could try talking him through it....anythings worth a try!

[anna*]

Alternatively you could try guiding his hand to the paci, instead of replugging, saying as you do so, 'I'm showing you how to do this - you grab your paci, put it in your mouth. There, now you can go back to sleep'.

WIWO is a very cool tool, although there's a lot of crying at first. It's really good for getting previously independent sleepers back into the habit of settling themselves at night. With my LO, it was a really BAD idea to spend any time trying to settle him - he would hold me hostage, fight sleep just to keep me there, so NWs would just become more and more prolonged.