Frustrated and Fed up! 10mo refusing naps, night wakings and early mornings

[KristieL]

I'm out of ideas and my patience is running thin.
My (just) 10mo used to be an incredible sleeper. He's been sttn since 4 months (7-7) and perfect naps. Nurse, lay him down and off to sleep he'd go.

About 3 weeks ago he realized he could roll over in his bed so immediately he became a nightmare to put down for naps. I had to nurse him on our bed (he sleeps in a playpen in our room) and wait for him to fall asleep before transferring. This obviously became a longer process than what we were used to. Over 50% of the time he'd wake while transferring and immediately start to roll onto his tummy to sit up. Of course he thought this was hilarious. Fine. New skill, I get it. If I was able to get him moved without waking up his naps became shorter as he'd rollover and wake up after 45-1hr.

Night times also immediately changed. He started waking up crying because he had rolled over and sat up and there was no way I could roll him back over without nursing him back to sleep.
He'll wake 1-3x a night and then wake up at 5am to start the day.
He must be overtired... He's gone from 2 solids naps (5hrs total nap time) and 12hr uninterrupted night sleep to 0-1 nap/day (if he naps it would be about 1.5hrs for the whole day) and disturbed night sleep. I'll put him to bed at 6pm.

He's totally happy and content during the day, so if he only needs one nap, great. But how do I deal with his nighttime BS?!?
I've tried everything.
No nap, super early bedtime.
1 nap early bedtime
2 forced (and very difficult) naps and 7pm bedtime
It doesn't matter. He still wakes through the night (often awake 1-2hrs at a time) and still wants to start his day early.

He was awake for 3 solid hours last night (1:30am-4:30am) and up at 7am.
I tried to force him to have 2 naps today because of it and I gave up after 2hrs! We were laying on my bed and I have my arm on him to stop him from moving. He'd just lay there with his thumb in his mouth and eyes wide open. Every so often getting angry because he wants to move/roll over.

I tried again at 12pm and he still fought it! It took 1hr to get him asleep.

I'm at a loss.
I didn't think new skills caused this much grief this long. I don't remember that with my other two kids.
I'm tired of him waking through the night and hate the early mornings.

Help please!

[LaraAndrea]

5 hours if nap time is quite a lot for his age (jealous). How long is he awake between naps? Or nap attempts?

My LO had disturbed sleep when she learned to roll and crawl and I found it was far worse if I put her to bed undertierd.

It is possible that he needs less sleep and more activity time. What does his routine look like?

[KristieL]

Yes, I guess 4-5hrs of nap time up until 9 months it quite a bit but he obviously needed it because we never had issues and he always slept solids 7-7 each night.

Now that he's fighting everything he'll wake 5-6am and not go down until 11:30-12:00 sleep for 1-3hrs then go down 6:30pm-7:30pm for bed. Often still fighting me. Once he actually falls asleep (anywhere from 7pm-8:30pm) he'll still wake at least once a night because he rolls over and gets ed. I'll have to nurse him because if I just flip him back he'll lose his sh*t. Sometimes he'll go back to sleep after nursing otheryimes he'll continue to fool around/cry/talk for 1-2hrs before waking again at around 6am.

[deb]

Does he have new teeth coming in? Have you tried pain meds 20 minutes or so before sleep times? If that works, it might be teeth, or maybe a latent ear infection (worth looking at if the pain meds help). We had similar stuff going on when there was pain involved, including the restless night sleep and the need for more comfort.

[KristieL]

Nope, teeth are through. Nothing new coming.
Ears look fine.
Sigh.

[jessmum46]

Can you post your whole day/a couple of days with what time you are starting to try for naps please? 

[KristieL]

Over the past 3 weeks I've tried numerous things.
If he's awake at 5-6am I've tried nap time at 9:00, 10, 11, 12. He'll fight most but usually 11-12 is the key to having him fall asleep nursing and transferring to his bed. The naps last anywhere from 1.5-3hrs. Then I'll put him down for the night at 6:00-7:00pm...which 50% of the time he fights.
Regardless what his nap schedule is he still wakes most of the time through the night (from rolling over) but is always up at 5-6am now. 😴

[malibu_nikkus]

When you try a nap time do you keep it the same for 3 days or so or change each day? He may be looking for consistency in routine. Just a thought.

[KristieL]

Yup, I've tried it for 3-4 days at a time.
He's been down to 1 nap a day (goes down 11am-12pm) so that's been working good. He hasn't woken up through the night the last 3 nights *knock on wood!* but still wakes at 5:30-6am 😕

[jessmum46]

So what does the day look like?  How long is the nap and what time is bedtime?

How do you respond when he wakes at 5.30/6am?

Does he always fall asleep nursing or does he have independent sleep skills?

[KristieL]

So what does the day look like?  How long is the nap and what time is bedtime?

How do you respond when he wakes at 5.30/6am?

Does he always fall asleep nursing or does he have independent sleep skills?

Naps are 1.5-3hrs (goes down 11:15-12). Bed time is 6-6:30.

I try to ignore him when he wakes 5-6am but he stands up and starts getting angry. So I grab him and bring him to my bed to nurse hoping he'll fall asleep again but never does.

Before all this 'BS' I could lay him down and he'd have perfect independent sleeping skills. Now most of the time he falls asleep nursing before nap/bed because I've made him tired before even trying.
If I put him down wide awake he'll start standing and fooling around. Eventually he'll lay himself back down and fall asleep but I hate that he's losing even more precious sleep (usually an extra hour of fooling around) to only be up at the same time (5-6am)

[deb]

I assume you've tried putting him down for the night a little later? Or does he get too OT for that? Sometimes that'll do it, sometimes not.

Also, have you tried Wake-to-Sleep? Sometimes that can break a habitual waking cycle. I'm sure a mod can post a link to that if you're not sure how to do it. (I can't always link stuff on my phone)

[KristieL]

Yup. Too overtired to try going down any later. He already loses his S getting him ready for bed.

I'm interested in hearing more about wake to sleep....

[deb]

I'm on my real computer this morning s I can search & link better. Try this: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=223809.0

[jessmum46]

I actually think with a 6-6.30pm bedtime that 5.30-6am WU is very reasonable, though I'm sure it doesn't feel that way!  But it is 11-12h overnight and I honestly don't think you can expect more.  I'd be doubtful that W2S would work in that case as rather than it being a habitual waking it could just be when he is done with night sleep, and nothing will make him sleep longer if he isn't tired.  Some LOs are brilliant at super-long nights, my first was like that and I learned the hard way with my second that they aren't al the same!  DS was a 5.30am waker for forever, and the only thing that 'fixed' it was actually a later bedtime.  Expecting him to do 12h regularly was just unrealistic so we set bedtime at 7pm aiming for a 6-6.30am WU which suited us for getting ready for work etc.

I would be tempted to treat it like daylight savings, push your entire routine forward 1h all at once, nap time and bedtime, and ride it out for several days until the dust settles a bit.  What do you think?