12 month old wants to keep standing up in cot when he should be sleeping!!

[Atomic1010]

Hi my LO has never been a great night sleeper and was waking 6-8 times a night til a month ago when some sleep training helped and he went to waking 2 times a night on average and getting back to sleep himself fairly quickly when I went into him. Daytime sleep has always been generally fine.
Anyway, the week before last he had an awful cold which ruined his sleep day and night as he was uncomfortable lying down. And I found rubbing his back while he settled helped him. I knew it was creating a prop but figured once he was over the cold with a little bit more sleep training I could sort it. Well cold has gone and he has now found in can pull himself up to stand in the cot which he wants to practice and practice day and night. He now can't seem to settle himself without me sitting in the room with him and continually laying him down. If I leave the room he stands up again and screams and screams and I try to lie him down again. So we have two issues his need to stand up all the time and him needing me in the room to lay him down and rub his back help him to sleep. I was up for 2 hours with him last night, which is starting to be regular, and it's taking me 15-30 mins to help him settle for a nap. I don't know whether to ride it out in the hope of him getting through this phase of pulling up, but think given previous issues with his sleep we do sleep training again. Any advice would be great please!!

[jessmum46]

What's his routine like?  I've always found pure development things to pass quickly but where they persist we've generally had a routine issue x

[Atomic1010]

Hi. He tends to wake at 6am with first nap for an hour at 9.45-10 then second nap of 30 mins from 2.30 or 3 with BT at 7pm. This pulling up thing started on Saturday so it's only a recent thing but he has been struggling to go down for 2nd nap for a while now and I'm thinking of dropping it and moving the morning nap back and allowing him to sleep for as long as he wants rather than waking him up in after an hour which is what I have been doing as I'm finding he can quite easily do 4 hrs now between naps (sometimes longer) and I don't think any fiddling around with nap lengths and timings will help without making it a very long day for him. 

[jessmum46]

It may well be 2-1 issues as you suggest.  You could jump all to one nap but what about cutting his morning nap somewhat shorter and trying for a long pm nap first?  To get to a proper one nap day you need his one nap falling around 11.30am or later really or you'll struggle for avoiding OT by bedtime.  It might be too much of a leap from where you are now....

So say
WU 6
Nap 9.45/10 for 30 mins
Nap 1ish (he'll probably be ready by then after only a 30 min nap) for hopefully 1.5-2h
BT 7

If you don't like that idea, then I would start pushing his morning nap later by 15 mins per week and keep offering (AP if needed) the afternoon catnap to get you to bedtime.  If he refuses you'll need to bring BT early.  The first suggestion is less likely to lead to pm nap refusal and may be a better holding pattern for now, but you know him best and its up to you

[trimbler]

Hey there Nothing to add on the routine stuff, just popping on to say hi and point you to these as you may find them useful...

Separation Anxiety in Toddlers
Toddlers: Walk In/Walk Out vs. The Gradual Withdrawal Method (HOW TO CHOOSE)
Most common toddler sleep busters

[Atomic1010]

Thanks both that's useful. The link about sleep busters too although slightly depressing! 😉

I think on some days I will just do one late morning nap, let him sleep for as long as he wants and do an early BT see how that goes. This is what I did yesterday after he did a short induction session at nursery til 11am. He slept for 2.5 hours at lunch time then was asleep by 6am for the night and had a decent night. But as he is starting nursery next week for some mornings it's all going to be a bit trial and error as some days he will need two naps to catch up on lost sleep from nursery.

With the pulling up and night time issues I started sleep training again day and night on Wednesday and it has helped a great deal, thankfully, so hopefully we are over this latest blip and just the transition stuff to get through.
Thanks again for your support both.

[jessmum46]

Good luck and keep us posted x

[trimbler]

Glad things seem to be looking up Starting nursery will be a big deal, he will get tired, so I guess just be prepared to be flexible as you say But they do seem to fall into a routine eventually... Sorry, didn't mean to depress you with the link, just hoped it might be useful when you're 'troubleshooting' at night