28 month old sleep issues

[Jsands1984]

Thank you! It's nice to have an outsiders encouragement. I appreciate you taking the time to give me advice. Hopefully my next DS will be a better sleeper. 

[Jsands1984]

1hr 6min tonight, 14 minutes less than last night! He's trying new tricks, some of them rather amusing. It's hard to sit there in silence and not laugh at him.

[*Ali*]

Haha! Little tike
I found the first few nights similarly long and then it suddenly dropped in time and o.ly took 15 mins or so.

[Jsands1984]

47 minutes Wednesday night and 1hr 2min last night. He's been fighting naps though. He went from put down at 12:45 and asleep by 1 until 2, to asleep at 1:30 Wednesday and 1:15 yesterday. I let him sleep until 2:15 those days.

Last night he was asleep at 8:35 and didn't wake up until 7:45 this morning! I'm grateful for sleeping in but worried he's not going to be tired at naptime today.

ETA: He's napping!

[*Ali*]

Stay consistent. It's still early days. It will better.

[Jsands1984]

He's back to napping 1-2 for the last 3 days. Bedtime has taken 35-40 minutes for the past 3 nights and I only had to put him back 3 times tonight. I'm hoping that the shorter times are progress and not just because of the Benadryl we had to give him for his runny nose.

When do you know it's time to move closer to the door? I was thinking about moving tomorrow night.

[Jsands1984]

I moved across the room tonight and sat by his closet. No Benadryl tonight, but did give him Tylenol for teething. I left the room after 50 minutes, he was just about asleep. I put him back in bed about 10 times and had to change his dirty diaper about 10 minutes in.

[*Ali*]

We stayed by the bed until he wasn't getting out of bed at all. That took 2 weeks. Then we moved to just inside the door.

Not sure what your plans are regarding when to potty train but have you considered getting him to sit on the toilet, maybe reading a story, for 5 mins before sleep to see if he can poo there? I notice he has poops disturbing his sleep quite often.

[Jsands1984]

We haven't started potty training. We were either going to do that in the next few weeks or wait until baby is here. However, I think the pooping might be because of his teething. His bathroom schedule usually gets thrown off when he has a new tooth coming in.

Last night I tried to go back to sitting next to the bed, but he didn't want me there and wouldn't stop telling me to go and pushing me. So I told him I would sit across the room, but if he got out of bed I would move back to beside the bed. Technically he didn't get out of bed at all last night. I say technically because he did get out once but I think it was an accident. He was playing near the edge of the bed and I think he fell out. He fell asleep after 45 minutes last night.

[anna*]

That's good progress!

[Jsands1984]

So Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I thought we were continuing on the right track. Each night took 40-45 minutes for him to fall asleep and I only had to put him back in bed 3 or 4 times each night.

Now I feel like it's falling apart.

Friday started with him waking up at 5:40am! He took a nap at his normal time. Then bedtime was awful. About 20 minutes in I had to go back to sitting by his bed because he wouldn't quit "falling" out of bed. Finally at about an hour I thought he was just about asleep so I went ahead and left. Not 5 minutes later he was opening his bedroom door. I put him back in bed and sat back down by his bed. Then he started crying because he didn't want me by his bed so I moved to sitting by the closet again. He finally fell asleep after 1 hour and 20 minutes (8:50pm) and slept until 6:30.

This weekend was an off one for him. Yesterday he didn't get a normal nap because my MIL came after lunch to pick him up to spend the night with her at his great-grandma's. the only nap he got yesterday was when he dozed off in the car for 20ish minutes while they ran errands before dinner. They had some trouble getting him to stay in bed, but said that he slep from 8pm-8a! He didn't get a normal nap today because we had a family gathering at his great-grandma's. he did sleep in the car for about 30 minutes on our way home this evening.

Bedtime was another bust. We started at 7:37pm. In the first 20 minutes I had to put him back 5 times then he just laid in bed and played. About 45 minutes in he acted like he was going to settle and go to sleep, but then he started getting out of bed again. I finally told him if he got up again I was going to sit by his bed. He got up again at the hour mark so I sat by his bed. After about 15 minutes of pushing me and trying to get me to go back to the other side of the room he gave up and was asleep at 8:57 (1 hour 20 minutes total).

I feel like we are starting to go backwards instead of making progress. What can I do?

I have 5 weeks (or less) to get this done because I won't be able to do it with the new baby here. I don't know if Friday was an off day or if tonight he was overtired from the busy weekend, but I am starting to get frustrated. I feel like he was going to sleep faster when we would just leave the room and let him play til he fell asleep. At this point I'm getting tempted to just turn his door knob around and lock it until he goes to sleep. It's amazing how trying to ensure he is getting enough sleep is so exhausting for me.

[anna*]

I feel like he was going to sleep faster when we would just leave the room and let him play til he fell asleep. At this point I'm getting tempted to just turn his door knob around and lock it until he goes to sleep.

I think this is fine! It is perfectly fine to leave him to go to sleep by himself.

[*Ali*]

If he will fall asleep after playing for a bit then I agree that is fine. But I thought that's what you were doing before starting GW and he just kept opening the door. I wouldn't lock the door as I'm sure that would upset him if he tried to open it and couldn't. Then if he was crying you would have to go in anyway.
I think he probably just got OT from the EW and then having only the late 20 min nap in the car with grandma. Then you say he had a 30 min nap in the evening so that was probably too close to BT and he got a second wind after waking from that.

I think I would just keep going with the GW and either sit across the room or in the doorway. If you can get the routine back on track and start catching his sleep windows again then things should improve.

[Jsands1984]

We were just letting him play til he fell asleep before we started GW. Right before we started it had gotten to where he wouldn't open the door a majority of nights. It probably was just a few off nights because of the EW and busy weekend so I am going to stick with GW for now.

Nap was rough today. He didn't fall asleep until 1:45 and I don't let him nap past 2:15 at the latest so he only got a 30 minute nap. I gave him Benadryl at bedtime, I think he is coming down with a cold. I went ahead and moved to sitting by the door (I got an exercise ball this weekend, much easier than getting up and down off the floor with my big belly  He got out of bed 15 times in the first 17 minutes and then one more time later. He was asleep after 40 minutes. Hopefully we are on the road to getting back on track.

[*Ali*]

That sounds better. I hope it continues to improve.