Hi there,
Well.. I KNOW I need to change my sleep routine/habits with my son. I just don't know how.
Currently he is solely breastfed (plus food of course) and he is 13 months. My typical day looks like this...
630-Awake
7-feed breakfast (I have cut the morning breastfeed, I am currently wanting to wean him slowly)
11- nap, usually he will go down but the last two days he has been ballistic! Often I will go in to feed him as I can not settle him any other way. But up until about a week ago he would go down fine.
11-1230 has been his max the past few days. Before he was doing a good 2-3 hour nap
1230-Lunch
Sometimes he will go for a second nap if his first nap doesn't get him to 2pm. If he gets to 2pm then I will put him to bed around 630pm for the night. Breastfeeding before bed.
If he goes down for a second nap it's around 430/5 and I wake him after half an hour or he won't go to sleep well at night.
He is breastfed around 3pm unless he doesn't settle and I have to feed him.
It was not this messy before and now I think he is becoming dependent on breastfeeding. He ALWAYS falls to sleep, or gets very drowsy, and always has no matter if lights are on, if I'm out of the room, etc.
So... before this mess of a few days. He was sleeping 10 hours at night, waking around 3am and I feed him. He settles back to sleep. He would sleep a good nap mid day for 2.5-3 hours OR he would do 1.5 hour morning and .75 hour nap afternoon.
I am struggling to get him to take regular cow's milk. He doesn't seem to like it, but drinks water well from a sip cup. I haven't tried to pump and give in a sip cup but my milk supply is also quite low so I save it for the night times. I don't think I'd have enough to pump now anyway.
He is really learning to walk now and it's all he wants to do. I know that can mess up sleep. For example. Today, he woke at 630, but didn't nap until about 12 which was late because i had to pick up my son from school. Then he only slept 45 mins. Then he was awake from 1245-430- fell asleep in the car for 30 mins. Then I put him down for 8 but he was NOT tired or he was too tired. Anyway he screamed bloody murder and I tried to do the checks, but he wouldn't settle. I had to get him up and then played until 9, fed him a bit again and he settled. But then woke at 10 and for the past hour (as I write this), I have been in and out of his room trying to settle him and he is SCREAMING!!! I have given tylenol incase his teeth are bothering him, I have tried to rock and soothe him. He is kicking and arching and so upset. I tried to give him water, his diaper is dry, I tried to give him FOOD... thinking perhaps he was hungry, but I think he's just overtired and MAD that I won't just take him out of his room. He doesn't want to breastfeed or soothe.
I'm at a loss. I need to totally revamp my routine and I really could use some help. My husband is not around and so I'm doing this alone and will have to combat the sleep training alone as well. I had him sleeping well twice, but two horrible sicknesses came into play (roseola and then hand foot mouth).
Thank you.