We did EASY with DS from a very young age & because we worked diligently on sleep, he's been a great sleeper from a young age as well. He's now 26 months old & for the past 3 months or so his sleep has been pretty predictable. 2 hour nap from noon-2pm, bedtime at 8pm, morning wake-up at 7am & little to no fuss putting him down for nap/at night. We moved approx. a month ago & while there was a slight transition period, he adjusted really quickly & for the first 2 1/2 weeks his sleep was more or less as it always was...but the past week 1/2 we've encountered some problems & I'm having our second child this Friday [!!!] & really want to figure out what's causing our son's new sleep issues so we can remedy them ASAP.
Here's what he's been doing for the past week or so:
- The first setback was that he started whining for us when we left his room at bedtime. This has happened periodically in the past 5 months, but it's become a nightly thing now. At first, we'd go in once & cover him up, tell him it was bedtime & he'd go to sleep...in the past week or so it's progressed to him whining for 30 minutes or more & going in doesn't help, but he gets louder as time passes.
- Another setback has been periodic early wakings. It's happening every few days. He'll wake at 6:30 or 6:40am. Once he woke at 6am. There have been some instances [including last night] where he'll wake up at 3 or 4am & call out for us & he seems unable to get back to sleep for 15-30 minutes.
- Lastly...naps. He'll whine for me or his dad for a bit when he's put down for a nap, sometimes taking him quite a while to fall asleep. Yesterday was pretty bad, he didn't fall asleep until 1pm [I'd put him down at noon] & then he woke up after only 1.5 hours of sleep instead of his usual 2 hours.
I've read that 2 year olds need about 13-14 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period...he'd be getting exactly 13 if he stayed on his schedule, but with his new sleep issues, he's only getting around 11 or 12. This morning he seems extremely tired, with bags under his eyes, probably due to being awake for 30 minutes or more at 4am. He gets lots of exercise as we have a big back yard & are outside for at least 2 hours a day, sometimes more, sometimes less if it's cold. He actually gets MORE exercise here than he did at our last home, yet his sleep has gotten worse...go figure.
Does it sound like he needs a shorter nap [maybe 1.5 hours?] & then go from there? I'm not quite sure if he's undertired or overtired & I want to have a more predictable schedule for when baby comes, so I too can get my rest.
