Well it seems we've had MAJOR regression with our LO sleep schedule. We were doing well with the early wakings, moving it to 4:30am - 5:30am to 6:00am - 7:00am. Naptime was still an issue though. We drove (11hrs) to visit my in-laws for a long weekend. With all the excitement and busy schedule, our LO constantly went to bed later (8:00pm) than his usual bedtime. Since we were still working on the sleep training, the late bedtime started the snowball effect downhill fast. His naps continued to be 30-40mins and he started to wake earlier (5:30am) and earlier (4:15am) and earlier (12am AND 3am AND 4am). Because my in-laws can't stand to hear him cry at all, my DH and I made the mistake of staying in his room and even sleeping on the floor when our LO woke up early. We weren't consistent with our technique - WI/WO and gradual withdrawal so after a few minutes of crying, we would take him out of the crib. I truely believed this confused our LO because he didn't know if we were leaving or staying. Now the only way to settle him is to take him out of his crib, which is what we want to avoid especially if it's 2am.
My DH and I haven't been aligned with what we need to do for our LO so this has been causing some friction and stress. He tends to change things around often depending on how our LO is acting. I want to make a decision on a plan and stick with it regardless so that we're consistent. So tonight, we decided to come to an agreement with what we need to do and work together as a team.
I know our poor LO is extremely overtired. Our LO goes down fine for naps and bedtime but he just doesn't sleep as long as he needs to. We've decided to do the WI / WO, early bedtime (6:30pm - 7pm) and early nap (12pm). I found that if I put him down any earlier for his nap, he'll fight it or will wake up too early. We've determined to stick with one nap because my LO does not take a second nap unless he's in the car. I hope we're doing the right thing
. The crying is unbearable. I know it's going to take awhile for our LO to catch up on his sleep.
Wish us luck tonight. Tonight is my turn, my DH is bunking on the couch tonight so he can get some sleep. I guess it doesn't make sense for both of us to be sleepless zombies.