Hi Weaver. Please don't apologise - I'm grateful that anyone even reads my posts!
I had thought about LSN but I think I get quite a lot of OT behaviour so it's really hard to tell. To answer your questions, when he wakes from his 1hr25 naps in the morning, he's usually crying and looks like he wants to go back to sleep. He does cheer up eventually. The long NWs....sigh....well, he usually starts off crying then is quiet when we go in. Often he can settle pretty quick and we can leave the room and he'll stay quiet for 5/10mins but then start crying again. And as the time goes on, he gets more and more upset and we just have a repetition of this cycle - go in, quiet for a while, start crying, have to go back in. And then sometimes during the 2.5hrs, we'll have a brief period where he just lays in the dark staring at the wall. With my DD, UT NWs were always chatty and happy - DS's aren't really like that. And with regards to short AM/long PM nap - although I gave it a try in half term, it was pointless really as I can't' do it during school time as the afternoon pick up will always interfere with his nap.
We had another epic NW last night due to a leaked nappy. So yesterday looked like this
WU 5.50am (his usual time at the moment)
S 9.45-10.45. He woke crying but seemed happy as soon as I went in the room and was pretty much ok.
S 14.30-15.30 Afternoon nap was in the pram as usual
BT So due to short PM nap I *was* aiming to get him to bed after 3hrs A time but didn't get him down til about 18.25/30. He was doing his thing of slapping my face, waving his arms about as I was holding him in his bedroom. I used to think this was UT behaviour but I think it could be OT. He went down fine.
NW 22.00. I gave him meds straight away just in case but it was clear he was deliriously tired and he went back to sleep in mins (so I assume this was an OT WU).
NW 12.45 for 2.hrs 15mins - he woke as his nappy had leaked (again). I changed him in the dark, held him til drowsy (which is what I do when I put him down for naps and BT) and put him down. He was quiet when I left the room but then started crying about 5 mins later. So I did WIWO for 1.5 hrs. Then tried staying in the room as that was getting me nowhere. Then left room and again, he started up a few mins later. So hubby took over. Finally, hubby left room, he started crying but then went back to sleep at 3am. (We also gave another dose of meds just in case)
WU stirred at his usual WU time of 5.50 but woke at 6.10
If it helps the EASY the day before was:
WU 5.50
S fell asleep for 5 mins on way back from school so battled for an hour to get him to sleep in cot when we got home (as he looked really tired but the 5 min nap obviously gave him a boost. Got him down after an hour and he slept 10am-11.10am
S 14.45-15.30 in pram
BT 1640/45 - went down easily
NW 23.45 settled very quickly (we gave meds too).
NW 23.10 again, settled v quickly
Why oh why does it frequently take him 2.5hrs to settle when he wakes at night??? He only had 1.5hrs day sleep yesterday - if it's UT, I just don't know how much less sleep I can give him!!!
I'm so, so fed up with this. My life is on hold as every day is structured around trying to get the best naps possible out of him in the hope of a good night. And every night I'm on egg shells waiting for that first murmur on the monitor.... It's making me feel angry and resentful and I hate myself for feeling that way.