Our 11 month old has been a pretty good sleeper. Good naps in the day and waking briefly at 11 or so for a pat, and then at 4 where we have fallen into the habit of giving him a bottle.
Last two weeks he has been completely off the rails. He wakes up multiple times. He takes forever to get down, he'll wake in the middle of the night and take an hour to get down.
Sometimes we think we're going to just let him cry it out, but we break down after 10 minutes and go in and get him. It's sending him mixed signals but we don't know what to do. It's so frustrating.
He's also working us. He knows crying will keep us in the room now. I don't want to reinforce that but what do I do. If he cries and I go back I'm telling him "cry and I'll come if you don't feel like falling asleep" if I don't go in he howls bloody murder.
What to do?
Normally we mellow him out, wind down, change him, zip him in his sleeper, then slowly bounce him until he gets heavy eyes, then lay him in his crib and pat his back until he is out.
If we try and leave earlier than that he cries. As soon as we get near again, he stops crying. This type of thing is all new in the last few weeks.
I'm totally worried that he is controlling us with his crying. We aren't in control and this will continue as he matures. My mom is a huge fan of COI and keeps telling me to just let him wail.
We're caught between all these different methods and we don't know which way to turn.