Afternoon Nap Issues

[Lindsay27]

So, I had been trying 2 set naps at 9:45am and 2:45pm and I think it was going well, but now we are starting to have some issues.  All of this could be accompanied by the fact that he's been sick and is still congested.  I was really consistent with it until he started having multiple NWs or was up for hours at a time at night, then I found that 9:45am was too late so I had to bump the naps earlier on those days and also have an early BT.

So, some of the issues are - still having some NWs (but I think that is mostly related to congestion), and for the last 3 days we've had those pesky 5:30am EWs.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to settle any of them, so we've run into the situation I mentioned above in that he can't have an almost 4hr A before his nap, so I have to bump them earlier.  He's also been waking up for every nap somewhere between the 30 - 40min mark.  I can easily resettle him by putting his soother back in and lying him down, but it happens every time.

Let me know if anyone has any suggestions

[Papaya]

It's hard to tell what's up when they're a bit sick. Is he teething at all? That could be a cause of both EWs and congestion...

Does he need the soother to sleep - do you think that could be a prop?

[Lindsay27]

He usually uses the soother to fall asleep, but he drops it almost immediately (within 1 or 2 minutes) of falling asleep, so I don't think that's a prop?  Also, I shouldn't say that go in and put the soother back in, I leave a few in his crib and he puts it in himself.

He's definitetly still congested so that could be part of it, but teeth...I'm not sure.  I mean, he's always chewing on his fingers, but his gums aren't swollen or anything and don't have any bumps of teeth trying to poke through.  I have been giving ibprophen and anbesol at bedtime and during any NWs though.

I think maybe part of the problem is that I started set naps - 9:45am and 2:45pm and I was being really consistent with it, but he got sick on about day 5.  For the next few days I was still really consistent, but then his cold got worse so the whole set naps thing just kind of got abandoned and I was putting him down when he was tired and letting him sleep as long as he needed to.  So now, we aren't really on any type of system - I'm not really doing the set naps (though, more times than not the timing is pretty close), but I'm also not following A times either.

He STTN last night and woke at 6:15, gumbled a bit then slept another 15 mins and I put him down for his AM nap at 9:30am and he had a 35min nap.  So, UT maybe?

I guess I'm not really sure if I should just go right back to set naps, or try to go by A times for a few days first...?  Sickness always royally messes everything up!