17mos - Should I start WI / WO now?

[vuhoo]

My 17mos DS was sleeping great since 5mos.  Of course we would have our occasional set backs.  Just recently (a couple of months ago) he has been waking up early 5am - 5:30am and taking 30mins - 1hr naps.  Before he was sleeping until 7am and napping 2 -3hrs.  The sleep issue started with the time zone change, teething, and a recent cold.  With the holidays, it's been a challenge to put him back on track.  He wakes up crying and hysterical every time.  I miss those times when he used to wake up happy and jabbering.  Just the past few weeks I have been moving his naps and bedtime earlier.  I've never had to use WI / WO and I'm wondering if now is a good time to start.  With the grandparents coming to visit and the holidays, maybe I should wait afterwards.  I would like to avoid the cycle of overtiredness.  Plus, the grandparents can't stand for our DS to cry at all.  I've tried to put him down for a quick afternoon nap but he refuses a second nap, unless he's riding in the car.  He's been a one napper since he was 12mos old.  Putting him down is not a problem, he can fall asleep on his own.  Thankfully, he's still sleeping through the night (hopefully I just didn't jinx it).

Here is our schedule:

5:30am wake up
6:30am Breakfast
10:30am morning snack
11:00am nap
12:00pm wake up
12:30pm lunch
3:00pm afternoon snack
5:00pm dinner
6:30pm - 7:00 bedtime

Any suggestions?

[vuhoo]

Ok, so I've decided to try WI / WO.  He cried hysterically every time I left but since I started the WI / WO I felt I needed to give it some time.  I leave for about 10secs and then come in, rub his back, say 'it's naptime', and walk out.  After 20mins, the crying started to settle down.  Then he stood up, not crying.  I came in and put him back down and say 'it's naptime' and walk out.  Well, the crying started (not sure if I should've put him down since he wasn't crying).  After another 10mins or so with the WI / WO, the crying started to settle again.  I've been watching him on the video monitor.  He's standing up in his crib (not crying) so I am leaving him alone.  I figure if he's not crying then I shouldn't go in his room because the sight of me will get him upset again.  He's playing in his crib now.  How long should I allow him to play in his crib, after only 30mins of napping?  Right now, he's not crying.  Also, once I start a routine I like to stick with it.  So when do I know to use WI / WO...after 30mins of nap?  45mins of nap?  What if the nap is an hour, should I do WI / WO?

[mari]

I would try to stretch his morning to nap a little later, perhaps 12.30.  1 hour isn't a very long nap and if he goes down a little later perhaps he will have a longer nap. It could be that he is overtired and that's why he wakes early, so a later, longer nap might solve the problem.  It might be hard at first due to the early wakings, but hopefully it will even out.
Good luck

[vuhoo]

Thanks, Mari, for your reply.  12:30pm was his naptime when he was waking up at 7:00am.  I'm concerned that if he's waking at 5:30am, it might too far of a stretch of awake time (7hrs) before his nap.  I can tell he's tired because he's yawning before his 10:30am nap.  Other than that, he's not fussy and is pretty much in a good mood. 

After 30mins of him playing in his crib this afternoon, I decided to get him up.  He wasn't crying and was happy as a clam.

[mari]

It will be hard at first to get his nap time stretched as, due to his early waking he will be tired early, but if you can stretch it to around 12 mark I think he will have a longer nap and sleep longer in the morning.  Why did you change his nap time to an earlier time? was it because he was waking early?  I think if you stick with a later nap he will get back on track for you, they tend to get overtired if they are awake for longer than about 5 hours and therefore don't sleep through the night if that makes sense.

Now, perhaps someone can tell me why both my LO's kept me up most of the night!!!  I have matchstick holding my eyelids open and I am waiting for 2 children to arrive for a full days play.  Not looking forward to today, early night tonight I think!!!!!

Ah the joys.........................

[vuhoo]

I changed his naptime because someone suggested that he may be overtired.  So, the suggestion was to move his naptime and bedtime earlier.  We tried that and it seemed to help a little but his naps weren't consistent and his wakeups weren't consistent.  He would nap 30mins - 2hrs and wakeup 5:30am - 6:30am.  We'll try for a later nap today and see how it goes.  I'm ready to try anything.

So this morning my DS woke up at 5:30am.  I decided to try the WI / WO.  I did it for 10mins with 5 seconds of WI.  After 10mins he started to settle down.  I thought "wow, this is magic, I should have tried this sooner".  I continued to watch him on the monitor and for 10minutes it looked like he was trying to get himself back to sleep.  After being unsuccessful, he started to cry again.  I continued with the WI / WO but this time he got really mad everytime I left.  I would walk in, briefly say "It's night-night" and leave.  I decided to be persistent and it seemed he knew when I would be coming in because he would settle down but immediately be outraged when I left.  A part of me felt I was teaching him to cry so I can come.   Rubbing his back seems to work but I knew I couldn't stay in his room and do that all the time.  After 20mins (which seemed like hours) I decided to get him out of bed.  He was so hysterical (hyperventilating) that I knew there was no way of him going back to sleep.  As soon as I picked him up, he yawned and he has dark circles under his eyes. Poor thing, I know he's tired.  So my question are....Did I quit too soon?  Is the reaction normal at first?  My DS is used to me coming in and picking him up so I supposed he got mad when I didn't.  I think I will focus on adjusting his schedule to get him back on track because I'm not convinced that the WI / WO is the right method for him now.  He goes to sleep fine, he's just not sleeping as long as he should.  Thoughts?

[mari]

Perhaps 20 minutes is soon, but if you think that he was too stressed and you were upset about it too, perhaps this method isn't the right one for you, but the method did work for us and I am a great fan, I know though that it doesn't work for everyone so go with your instincts.  Have you seen the post about different sleep training techniques?  Have a read, but I do think that WI-WO is right for his age so I would give it another go, but ensure that his routine is consistent and you have the right frame of mind, I could have done it months earlier, I just wasn't determined enough IYKWIM, so probs would have given up too soon.
The problem is, if we try too many different things, half heartedly, then give up and try something else, then we will just confuse them.  We have to be consistent and they will catch on.
Saying that, you know you LO and I am sure that you know what is best.  Whatever you decide we are here to help you and answer your questions if we can and above all, support you whenever we can.  Good luck.

[vuhoo]

I agree, whatever we decide we need to be consistent.  I think right now with the holidays and grandparents in town, it might not be the right time.  The grandparents would not be able to handle his crying, he was pretty hysterical.  I'll continue to adjust his schedule and go with the WI / WO if his schedule isn't working.

I put him down for his nap at 11am today and he slept for 1hr, which I guess is better than 30mins.  I'll continue to stretch it until later.  He just looked so tired this morning that I felt he couldn't wait until 12ish.

[vuhoo]

Ok, well I'm a little confused at the moment because I'm not sure what the best route is for his schedule.  Yesterday, after waking up at 5:10am, he napped at 11:00am for 1hr 15mins.  This is the longest he has napped in a couple of weeks.  We put him down at 7:30pm but he woke up at 5am this morning.  This morning he was just so tired that I decided I'll try the catnap in the morning and try to stretch his afternoon nap in the afternoon which I hope he takes because he hasn't been able to take a second nap.  I know I have to be consistent and it will take awhile for his schedule to iron out.  I know his overtired so my question is do I continue with the catnap in the morning (with two naps) or try to keep him up until 12:00pm for one long nap?