2nd Yr Molar Sleep Chaos!

[JennVanessa1083]

I'm back again 😫

Last month and a half has been crazy in the sleep department between maybe a regressionfrom speech development as well as getting second set of molars. Once upon a time we were attempting this:
WU 7 am
S 1-3 pm
BT 8 pm

Unfortunately never really saw if this was a good routine bc of the molars and speech development messing with sleep. Anyways one molar is through and he's finally starting to cut the second bottom one. He tends to be a slow teether where one or two cut at the same time at a snails pace. Since then his sleep is everywhere. This is typical lately:

WU 7:30
S 1:30/2pm (2-2.5 hrs)
BT 8:30 pm (but actually falls asleep closer to 9:30/10)

He now averages 9-9.5 hours of night sleep when he used to do 10-10.5 with a 2 hour nap. So I wanted some opinions on whether I should cut the nap despite teething bc it appears he might be UT but then OT? He wakes up happy but tired most mornings but also wakes up cranky. He gets super wired too. His sleep is dwindling and I'm getting anxious bc I'm starting to notice him become moodier.

Do molars really cause this much craziness? This is the worst for us! Please heeeelllllpppp!

[creations]

Molars really do cause this much craziness - at least they did for my DS as you know.  Awful!

As the morning WU time has moved a bit later I think there is an option there to wake him at 7am so that the nap doesn't get later and later, then you might be able to get him down a bit earlier for BT.  It's hard to wake him when his night is so short but I think otherwise you might be moving later and later on both WU and BT.
I think I'd cap the nap at 2hrs max, as he's grumpy maybe just go in a few times to see if you can rouse him at a good point in the sleep cycle when he might wake happier.

I suppose another option would be to quite dramatically cap the nap to say 1hr instead. So something like 1.30/2 to 2.30/3pm with 5 to 5hr 30 A time following and 7.30/8pm BT.  There is a chance he could be in a better mood with less day sleep and more night sleep.

But molars are horrible. Truly. I am only glad that the teething process of the adult teeth doesn't seem to cause so much pain and upset, my DS has a couple of his adult back molars cutting and two new front teeth and has barely mentioned any of them.

[Haribo2012]

I'm with creations, with DS1 it was awful....hours of NW for months!

At that age for us we had to start to cap day sleep a bit, 2 hours max and 13.5 hour day x

[JennVanessa1083]

Thanks ladies! At least I'm not alone in molar hell lol

Good to know that the adult teeth aren't nearly as painful because I promise you I'm ripping my hair out bc of this mess!

Ok so I'm assuming nap at 1:30 is with a 7:30 wakeup? So I think even 2 hour naps are causing issues. When he sleeps for 2 hours such as yesterday he had a short night but it could have been the extra long day too. He did:

WU 7:30
S 2-4 pm (tossed and turned until he finally dropped off. Definitely pain)
BT 9:45 pm (eek! He resisted sleep since 9 pm according to DH)

I notice that even if he has a really long morning A and does 2 hour naps he will resist normal bedtime bc I guess not enough A?

Should I cap further?

[creations]

It's really hard to say cap the nap further when LO is in pain but if you feel you can then it could help.
I think you already know my LO couldn't cope with capped naps but they work for many.

[JennVanessa1083]

Hmmmmm that's exactly why I don't want to go down the route bc I know he's in pain and he might need the sleep. So what's a good A for after a 2 hour nap?

Today he did:
WU 7:15 am (9.25 hrs of sleep)
S 1:55-4 pm
BT ?

Maybe I'm just not putting him down at the right time given his molars?

[Haribo2012]

I'd give pain meds and try at 8.45!?

[JennVanessa1083]

Ahhhh he ended up falling asleep around 10 pm 😧

I think DH put him down too late though. I think it was around 8:30 pm. He did give him meds though. Maybe he's UT? Or so OT that he's wired?

Also, any advice for moving LO into new room as a toddler? We tried but A. We realized we need blackout curtains bc it's too bright. B. He just wanted to play for over an hour.

Should I start a separate thread when we get out blackout shades?

[creations]

For moving bedrooms I'd start doing A time in there now before the blinds arrive.  Lots of time to get used to the room and have a good look around, a bed safari (walking around the outside of the bed, crawling on the whole surface of the bed, climbing up and down various sides and parts of the bed etc) and talk about how it is LOs room.
At the move it will likely cause disturbance again but getting used to the room before hand is the only prep I can think of really.
Mine has always had a very plain room, no visual stimulation, he doesn't even like coloured or patterned or the kiddie bed covers, we tried that and had to change back to plain cream/ivory.

[JennVanessa1083]

Ok good advice!

We decided to postpone until molars are over.

He only slept 7 hours from 10:25-5:50 am ☹️

What do I do for today to help him catch up?

Definitely the worst sleep he has ever had!

[creations]

What meds are you giving?
I used to alternate between paracetamol and ibuprofen so that there was only a few hrs between meds (never going over the does in 24hrs of course). I know others did too (we used to have a teething thread where we shared our woes!).  Ibuprofen I would time for BT and I'd reserve a dose of para for the night time and either give it at a NW or give it at my own BT like a DF time. I half woke DS by talking to him really loudly saying something like "I've got medicine get ready to take it - swallow" (in a syringe). Sometimes he fought me but mostly it worked out one way or another.

That's a very short night - horrible

[JennVanessa1083]

Lol that's a good method. Yea we have been using Motrin at bedtime and I added a second dose at a NW. I think it's a mix of teeth and built up OT that gave me last nights craziness!

I pushed him to 12:30 to avoid deviating to much from his schedule and he did 1.5. Planning to have him down by around 7-7:30 and pray he sleeps at least until 6:30 am.

[Haribo2012]

Fingers crossed x

[JennVanessa1083]

He didn't fall asleep until almost 8 and then had a few NW and currently awake at 5 am!

Ok case he doesn't go back to sleep. What do I do for the day?

This is insane.

[Haribo2012]

How did it go?