Looong NWs for 13 month old and dangerous in cot

[Buttonbobs]

I would probably be quite specific with nursery. My DD is far more stimulated there and the carers have quite a lot to do and aren't always able to spot the small tired signs in amongst all the craziness. It sounded like you had a fantastic long one nap day with a three hour nap which shows he can do it - perhaps he need a that one nap earlier - nearer 11 or 11.30 particularly at nursery.

we found the 2-1 quite tricky as it was mixed up with nursery which does confuse things as they get so much more stimulation but possibly less outside time which can impact on sleep.

I think with today's nap it was quite late given the time of his WU, and he probably was quite OT by BT. EBT is worth a try - it never worked for us until dropping to one nap. I would have tried BT nearer to 6 after a day like today. Is that a possibility for you?

[K-JDA]

I spoke to nursery about it this morning actually and we all agreed he is not yet ready for 1 nap after lunch - particularly with such an EW so they will try for 11/11.30. Just hope he doesn't wake from hunger as they do lunch at 12 so can't give early but will save for when he wakes up.

Yesterday was:

WU 5.20 - sat in dark til 5.45 then gave up (he will not return to sleep at all now even if in my arms and screams if left in bed)
Nap 11.10-12.50
Bed 6.35 - earliest we could manage softer getting home from work, having to hold to sleep every night now

Only 1 NW at 11pm for about 15 mins where I picked up and he dropped back off again. Am pretty sure he wasn't in any pain for the NW but since he can't SS anymore he couldn't get back to sleep after briefly waking up.
DF meds at 2.30am
WU 5.10 - tried to resettle but gave up by 5.30 and DH got him up.

Basically am thinking am going to go for 6.30 bedtime as earliest we can manage after work but will try to do earlier if we can over the weekend and aim for 13hr day from WU until he catches up and see if we can get some 11hr nights out of him. Nap will be 11/11.30ish dependent on WU. Then I suppose we will have to try and push the day out to a more reasonable WU time over the course of a few weeks when we could try a later nap. Does that sound right?

Am expecting that by Monday he will be fully recovered from cold/ears and hopefully have had some good sleep.

Do u think I can ST at that point to try and get back to IS at bedtime and try and get away from rocking even though he is still teething? Am worried that the picking up is perpetuating the EWs and we'll never get out of this cycle!

[K-JDA]

Well when you think it can't get any worse it does. He refused his nap at nursery yesterday at 11 after being up since 5 so went down at 12.15-1!! They tried later too for another and he refused. Got him asleep by rocking at 6.30 as earliest I could do with getting home from work. He was beside himself with OT.

Last night had a NW from 1.30-2 - harder to resettle than the night before and of course in my arms.

Then woke at 4.30. Resorted to a feed in the hopes he would go back down easier. Took me til 5.15 of walking round with him but finally got him asleep in bed with me til 6.

I couldn't get back to sleep after the 1.30 wake so have been up all night. Am goosed and understand how OT stops you sleeping!! He's actually ok today as I guess he had about 10.5hrs sleep which is good for him lately.

Will see if we get a good nap today at some point about 11/11.30 and go from there.

How do we get out of this mess? It's worse than when he was a newborn!

[Buttonbobs]

It really does sound like the ear/cold thing is still affecting him. Early morning wakings like that are fairly characteristic of discomfort. Are you still giving pain meds in the night if he wakes or as a dream feed?

Maybe he needs an earlier nap while poorly so a first nap at say 10am ish and a later one in the mid-afternoon. I'm not entirely clear how long he slept at nursery yesterday lunchtime but if he didn't fall asleep until nearly noon I'm not surprised he wouldn't take a CN later in the day. It is really hard when they're at nursery as they are more stimulated there usually by the other children. This might make him need a nap earlier there than at home, but also inconsistency in nap times will make it harder for him to settle onto one nap. We had this exact problem at this age so you do have my sympathies.

To a degree I had to decide to let go and go with the flow a bit as it was out of my control really. The NWs were bad for us too bit naps at home were ok at this time so it was easier for me to do this.

How many days a week is he at nursery?

[K-JDA]

He has finished his antibiotics so his ear should be clear now. He is so much better in himself. His cough has gone and cold is now just a clear runny nose which coupled with having had a good look in his mouth this morning I can only conclude that it is teething. 1 molar fully thru and the other 3 on the way and canines are looking pretty ripe too. So I think u are right re discomfort. He is fully medicated and am giving on either wake-up or DF (when I wake up for it as am so tired) but I think they still bug him iykwim.

He fell asleep at 10 in the car so have stuck him in bed, am guessing he'll do a long nap now and will do another nap later. Same tomorrow.

In terms of nursery he is there full-time next week and then after that full-time except tues/wed afternoons. The problem is that if he has a long nap late morning then he can't take a catnap as it is teatime and if they put him down after lunch he will sometimes take a short nap like 45 mins yesterday and that was it all day. I guess I am going to have to persevere with EBT or else I could ask them to do 30 mins in the am and try a long nap in the PM?

Thanks for the reminder I just need to roll with it - am letting this get me way to stressed out but it is so hard when you work full time so can't catch up with a quick nap!!!