All right, this is day 2 of a rough patch for my LO. LO is 13 months old. He is normally an independent sleeper. He has a lovey (puppy blanket) which he absolutely loves and will suck his thumb and hold his lovey to fall asleep.
His normal EAS is as follows:
6-6:30 am wake
E
A
S 12-2 or 2:30
E
A
S 7-7:30 BT
He attends daycare full-time and this is their usual schedule. Daycare is flexible if they see him tired and will offer an earlier nap if needed. Now, for the past few weeks, he's been sick with back to back colds, ear infections, etc. We tried to stick with his normal routine but of course if we find him tired, we get him down for a nap...which is normally not a problem. He is well now.
The other night, LO woke up around 5am screaming and crying. I went into his room, picked him up and tried to calm him down. Every time I would put him down in his crib, he would wail. We tried this a few times. I even tried to just sit down beside his crib trying to use my voice to calm him down. This went on for about 30mins with on and off crying. My husband went in and got LO from me. I just stayed in the room but my husband was able to put him LO down in the crib without crying. However, once I left the room, he started to wail again. My husband got him again and calmed him down, put him back in the crib and just sat beside him. They both fell asleep this way...LO in the crib, husband on the chair. My husband eventually snuck out of the room. Then naps have started going wonky as well. I would do his normal nap routine and he would go down in the crib without fuss but the moment I leave the room, he would cry. The first time, he cried for 6 mins. It sounded like his protest cry and then it quickly turned into a mantra cry. I did not enter his room but I was prepared to the moment it turned into a distressed cry. The second night, LO woke up around 3am just fussing a little bit. LO then threw his lovey out of the crib and got really upset. My husband went in, put the lovey back in his crib and said "good night, dont throw puppy, it's still bedtime" and then left the room. LO got upset again and threw the lovey back out again. This time, we decided to wait for 10 mins to give the lovey back. LO ended up doing a mantra cry, sucked his thumb and fell asleep without his lovey. We snuck in to put the lovey back once he was asleep. Today's nap started out great but he again cried the moment I left the room. He cried for 3 mins and then fell quickly to sleep. I saw on the monitor that there was a moment that he almost threw his lovey out of the crib again but he didn't.
So, here I am, really confused as to where my great sleeper went. PU/PD never really worked for us. WI/WO doesn't seem to work because he seems more upset whenever I would leave the room. I'm really not into CIO but it seems like that's what I'm doing right now. LO seems to get really upset when I'm in the room and I don't pick him up. Pls help! Do I keep doing what I'm doing and just enter when I hear a distressed cry? What do I do if he throws his lovey again?
Thanks! Sorry for the super long post.
