Should I try to mess with his sleep when he is teething?

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Hi girls! DS still does not sleep through the night although when his teeth are not bothering him he will  most of the time. I'm pregnant and exhausted and would give just about anything for a full nights sleep right now! He is very obviously teething his canines and we are using meds to get him through that. So do I leave things how they are given that he is teething or do I try and mess with his routine to try and help sleep?

Right now our day goes:
Wake 6:30
Nap 12ish
Wake 1:30ish
Bedtime 7pm

Thanks!

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Oh DS is just about 21 months old! Sorry!

[katie80]

Hi Jenn,
Totally understand your want for a full night's sleep!    TBH, I think that's a pretty normal routine for his age and teething canines.  We were on the same one pretty much all summer long except it started at 6 am and bed was 6:30 pm.  Not ideal, but I tried messing with things a few times and we always went back to that routine as it's what just worked best.  We didn't have too many NW's though, so I might not have been as willing to try as you.

The only option I can think you might want to try is putting him down just 15 min early a couple nights.  I found with teething that sometimes just cutting off that little bit helped C do a 12 hr night rather than an 11 or 11.5 hr night.


 

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Ok that's a good idea! He woke up about 5 times last night so I think the earlier bedtime would probably also help if he is getting OT. I will try that tonight and see how it goes!Thanks!

[Tweakster]

Oh Ethan, what are you doing!  Yes earlier bedtime :-) but leave the nap as is.  Although if you think that moving the nap a tad earlier would get you 2 hrs it's worth a try.  But if you have already fought for what he gives you now then leave it.

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Wendy- his nap seems to depend. For a little while, I tried getting him in bed at 11:30 for that nap and he would give me two hours. It's really hard to change his nap earlier here just because I am feeding lunch to three other kids at the same time but I was doing my best to do that. Then all of a sudden he decided if I put him to bed at 11:30, he was happily giggling away at 12:15. UT right? So then we went back to putting him down at 12 and he still only did 45 min. Ugh! So then I left him with DH one day who decided not to put him down until 12:45 after him waking at 6:15 that morning. I just about strangled  DH when I got home but lo and behold, he napped for three hours! Then he had a 12.5 hr night! So...I of course tried to copy all the same A times for a few days and ended up with a mess! So we have been back on this routine for a bit and I seem to only be able to get a 1.5 hr nap. So I don't know!

[katie80]

I thought about the nap too, at like 11:30 - 11:45 am, but if you don't know if it will help, I'd just go with the earlier BT.  I tried bringing nap a bit earlier and sometimes it helped, but not always and then we were stuck with an extra long afternoon, which usually leads to an EW for us with teeth.  It's a fine balance with these teeth, I tell you!! 

[Tweakster]

Yep if he's not consistent with nap length then I would also leave it where it is.  Seems he does ok on it.

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Ok well we will see what he does today!

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

This morning after being awake for at least 3.5 hours in the night (spread out over about 5 NWs) DS:

Woke: 7:15
Nap: 12-1:25
Bed: 6:30

I gave him teething meds and he went right to sleep which he usually does. So now we will see how the night goes...I think I am going to go to bed soon so I can  have some sort of patience if/when he wakes!

[consmummy]

I feel your pain!

We are waiting on the last canine and it's the worst one out of them all. I'm in and out of his room like a yo-yo settling him for naps and nighttimes, then there's the NW (thankfully usually only 1 a night) and early waking any time after 5am. I'm shattered and I'm not pregnant!

I can see it right under the gum, it's sooooo close to breaking through. I think I'll throw a party when it does!

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Yes I would love nothing more then to throw a finished teething party when we are done!!!

Well Ethan woke up at 11 and 1:30 and then got up at 5:45. Should I try an even earlier bedtime tonight? I think I will have to try and move his nap a little bit sooner just because that's a long morning for him waking this early.

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Ok so nap at 11:30 which lasted until 1:10. Does a bedtime of 6:20 make sense or even earlier?

[Tweakster]

I'd do 6 and see if you can't knock some of that OT out of him. 

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Ok! Sounds good! Thanks!