Hi my lo is 11 months old & in the 2-1 transition. We have been working roughly to the following routine:
6am wake
9.15-10am sleep
1.30-2.30pm sleep
6.45 in bed 7pm asleep
I'm intending to tweak this a little to a 30 min am nap & earlier pm nap.
He is BF & I still feed him once or twice at night which I don't have a problem with at the moment and I'm certain is not the issue.
Three times in the last fortnight he has woken between 2-3am, I've fed as usual and put him back. Usually he is very drowsy when put into bed or will go straight to sleep. But last night, similar to the other 2 times, I put him back awake, left the room as usual. He protested initially for a few seconds then all went quiet. 20 minutes later he wakes and cries - the sort of cry I know he's not going to settle. I went in there, settled him back down - tucked his blanket in, rubbed his back for a few seconds, 'time to go to sleep' etc. He went straight back to sleep. I waited until he'd ditched the dummy and crept out of the room. As soon as I;m back in bed he woke again. This time I wait longer and all is quiet for 10 minutes, then DH goes to the bathroom, floor creaks and he's awake again. I wait again and as I leave the door creaks and he woke. At this point it's now 4am, DH has to get up at 5.45, we've had 3 hours sleep. I put sofa cushions in his room, and settled him again, but this time he wouldn't settle when I'm in the room. I brought him into our bed out of desperation at 4.30 - DH works long hard hours & by this point I'm feeling really guilty he can't sleep.. lo then settled fairly quickly and slept til 7am this morning (throwing the day out completely but that's another issue).
It seems that he has no problem going to sleep, the problem is staying asleep. He has always jolted a lot when going to sleep but I'd waited past the worst of that. He has been doing the same thing for naps when at his childminders for the last few weeks - 2 days a week.
I could try staying in there longer I guess, but I'm really at a loss as to how to deal with this. 9 times out of 10 he settles after a feed really well. 9 times out of 10 he settles at bedtime without me in the room after protesting for a few seconds. I do stay in the room for naps but I leave with no problem as soon as his eyes close. WI/WO just wouldn't work in this situation - he has a complete meltdown if I leave his room to collect something. GW should be the way to go but I can't withdraw!! I really don't want to bring him into our bed when there's 'nothing wrong' but I can't see any other option as neither of us agree with CIO or CC.
He has been ill in the last fortnight - cold then chest infection which is still dragging on - chest infection gone but still left with congestion and chesty cough. I had him in bed with me for 3 nights as he had a very high temperature and was jerky/twitchy in his sleep. The 4th night I slept in his room, and then he was back in on his own with no protest - settled easily although waking often - still poorly. I don't mind co-sleeping occasionlly with illness, but I;m scared he'll end up in our bed more and more. I need another approach.
He has 4 teeth and no obvious new ones coming through but I guess that could be a factor. I gave him calprofen at 4am but don't really know whether it made a difference or not.
ANy thoughts on how I can deal with this?
Jenx