~Hi, I have posted a couple times before regarding an easy schedule for my 10 month old who has never even heard of a schedule before and so it is hard, but I'm willing to try - I just have a few questions. I have been trying to wake him at early times (he is used to waking and going down pretty late) and he has almost always had a nap after two hours of waking and now that he is waking much earlier, he usually is still tired and so within an hour after waking him early he is already yawning and rubbing his eyes.
~Now, I know there are sleep signals and now that I know this, I watch for them and try to act on them because he is almost always way overtired and overstimulated (too many toys - but he seems to get bored with just a couple) so I've been trying to calm him down and try to put him down when I see these cues, but should I be waiting for a certain time period after he wakes to give him his first nap or do I follow his cues? Should I try to put him down every time he looks like he is ready for a nap? Because if I wait too long, then he NEVER sleeps!! I see almost all the other babies sleep for like 15 hours a day and mine only sleeps like 9 and has been consistantly doing so for many months.
~Another problem I have is when he gets tired, he falls down a lot, no matter where he is or what precautions I take and he usually hits his head. My mother and everyone else told me to make him wait an hour after hitting his head to let him go to sleep, and I have been diligent about it, but then that means that I have to keep him up much longer than he is tired and by the time an hour is up, he is usually either overamped and won't go down for hours, or is so exhausted that he can't hold himself up in anything he does, whether standing, crawling, or sitting and I have to strap him down to keep him safe (which makes him tired and he tries to sleep and I gotta keep him up)
~I read somewhere that any nap under 45 minutes is not to be really considered a nap, but that is usually the kind of naps he has. I think I'm supposed to have him on two naps, but if one or both of them is under 45 minutes, then should I slip another nap in?
~Unfortunately he is still the victim of massive accidental parenting and so he cannot sleep 98% of the time without help. I'm trying to do the pu/pd but he thinks I'm mad at him when I don't pick him up so he screams for hours until I just give up and rock and sing to him. I know I gotta stop this because it must be awful to not have the capability to put yourself to sleep. I need more advice and support on this because it is just so hard on the both of us and he has dark circles under his little eyes.
~Thank you for any advice, Jennifer
