Ok, I'll try this, but actually I have another issue that I've been trying to sort out unsuccessfully and it's driving me nuts, so now I'm not sure which to tackle first. The other issue is that since switching to one nap he got into roughly a 6am-6pm routine. I wasn't exactly happy with it as it would suit us better if his day started around 7.30am, but my priority was to eliminate the NW and get naps back on track. I managed that but in the meantime his routine has been slipping earlier and earlier, starting the day at 5.30 and even 5.15 a few days. Some days he manages to get back to sleep for 30 mins ish but it seems to be happening less and less. Now I'm cracking up over it because I feel like his routine may just keep slipping earlier and earlier and I don't know how to deal with it.
I've tried shifting his routine later by around 10 mins a day but this doesn't get me anywhere, nothing changes. I've tried stretching him out by 30 mins a day over a few days and it doesn't get me anywhere either, he just gets OT and wakes up at normal time. I've tried stretching him out by around an hour a day over about 3 days and that seems to work (last week it got us from 5.30am wake to 6.15am wake) but then he's OT and we start getting evening waking, NW and usually after another few days to a week we're back to the original wake up time.
In the mornings when he wakes early generally he hasn't slept enough so he'll cry and I'll have to go in to him. We're not at the WI/WO stage yet, I go in, lean in to the cot without picking him up, tell him to go back to sleep and leav him in the cot while I lie down in the bed in the same room. He settles down almost immediately and tries to go back to sleep. Sometimes he will go back to sleep for a little while but more often now he just ends up lying there awake, alternating between trying to sleep, babbling and fussing (to which I say 'ssh', which seems to calm him). Eventually, it may be 30-60mins later, he will start to cry and I just end up getting him up for the day (no big fuss or cuddles or anything, so I can't imagine I'm doing something that's reinforcing him staying awake). I know my technique at this stage isn't exactly what BW recommends but it works at bedtime and for NW, he gets back to sleep very easily and quickly. (I want to work on leaving the room while he's awake next but want to get the EW and naps sorted out first to get him back into a better routine)
What should I do on days with really EW? To date I have just been sticking to his A time, but today that would give:
5.15- wake
11.00- nap
12.30- wake
5.00- bed (he's been doing well on 4h30 afternoon A, less eve waking)
but there's no way I'm putting him into bed at 5pm!! Or should I be stretching out his pm A at the same time as his am A? Could that be why he's EW?
Also do you have any suggestions for shifting his routine later?
Thank you in advance.
