Why is my 11 month old so unpredictable w/his sleep?

[kmcmerrill]

I am an EASY believer with an almost 3 year old who almost never has had a sleep problem.

Along comes the next one.  Worked on PU/PD at 1 month, again at 3 months, 5 months, 8 months, now at almost 11 months, still not really "getting it."  Goes into crib fine, but cries and cries unless I go in and let him hold my hand for 5 minutes to drift off.  Am I the prop? 

Next problem, wakes at different times on different nights.  Sometimes he's wide-eyed and ready for play, sometimes is "screaming" and can't comfort him.  We have done it all - patting, shh shh, paci, bottle, hand holding, ignoring and on different nights, different things work.

I need guidance on where I went wrong.  I need to sleep thru the night and not fear "what's going to happen tonight?" 
kmcmerrill

[naunmom]

I don't think you're doing anything wrong.  It's more likely that #2's temperament is just different.

Personally, I think doing different things is ok ... because he may be waking due to different reasons, sounds like your situation.  In that case it can be difficult to pinpoint one reason.  You might try to see if you can identify/group the different types of wakings .. i.e. the screaming might be night terrors ... the waking up wide-eyed, ready to play ... was he overtired that day, not tired enough, or didn't nap well (I've heard and experienced the phenomenon that good sleep begets good sleep .. if they nap well during the day .. they tend to sleep better at night).  Once you identify these "groups" - then maybe it'll be easier to strategize a way to handle the wakings.