Son not napping

[LittleBen]

OK, so once again it has been a while before I have posted--sorry about that. 
Anyway, his sleep has been very sporadic, it will be good one night and then the next it is terrible.
My husband was gone all weekend from Friday am until Sunday pm and that seemed to be an impact on his sleep and his mannerism.  As he had been waking more that weekend and some since Jeremy has been back.  He is teething too, his gums are big on top and bottom and we think he is starting to teeth his one year molars in.
He has been having looser stools and his bowels have been very messed up, we thought at first it was from teething, but after he went 6 times yesterday in 6 hours and one stool was very odd, my sister took him to the pediatrician for me as this was while he was at daycare.  She said she thinks he's maybe fighting a stomach virus, he hasn't had a fever or acted different, he's not dehydrated, and hasn't been vomiting. 
Today he went 3 times already in 3 hours, 2 were very big and the last one wasn't too big but they were all still loose.
Last night he slept better than Monday night, as Monday night he was up every 1-2 hours and was very restless.  Last night he slept from 7:40 pm till 11:30 pm woke and I got him to sleep, then he slept till 12:30 am and I got him to sleep, then he woke at 3:00 am and I got him back to sleep, he woke at 5:30 am and didn't want to go back to sleep in his bed so I had him cuddle with me till I had to get up at 6:00 am and then he laid awake with his bunny next to daddy.
I am hoping he does ok today for my sister and that he doesn't have anymore stools today.  We'll keep our fingers crossed.
Oh and to answer your questions, he is waking anywhere from 5:30 to 6 am, so earlier than he was, as he used to wake at 6:30-6:45 am or we had to wake him.  Then he is going down for his nap at 11:00 am and has been sleeping 2-3 hours, but this week since the bowel problems he has only been napping 1.5 hours.   I have him in bed no later than 7:30-7:45 pm unless something is going on that we can't control.
Yeah, the naps are great, he is doing a lot better and he doesn't even fight or fuss for my sister when she lays him down.  It is an improvement.
At night, when he wakes I usually go to him and lay him back down if he is sitting or standing up, if that doesn't work and he starts to cry I pick him up and pat his back till he calms then lay him down and just pat him until he starts to settle, then I step back and if he doesn't try to get up anymore or cry I leave the room and usually he is fine until the next waking.  I just don't know what if anything I am doing wrong. 
I am being a bit more laxed this week since he is ill because I don't want to get him too upset, but we have definitely been trying to be consistent and still are being consistent but a little more cuddly.

[momofclaire]

While he is ill the best advice I have is to keep him comfortable.  Try to not do to much AP but if the little guy is sick there's really nothing you can do.  I am glad he is napping better for your sister.  So he is down to one nap right?  Is there any way you can get him to bed a little earlier than 7:45.  I would try to have him in bed earlier as you may find he will sleep later in the morning for you, I know it sounds odd but it is very true.

[LittleBen]

I thought the same, that he needs to be comfortable.  What is AP??  I am glad he is napping better for her too.  Today he only napped from 11:10 to 12:15, so it was not as long at all.  He woke up and went potty after about 15 min of being up and it was still loose.  He has gone 4 times today already.  He hasn't gone anymore since the one around 12:30 pm.  We have him on the BRAT diet w/ yogurt per our pediatrician.
I will try to get him down earlier, about the earliest that would work would probably be 7:00 pm as that would give us time once we are home from work to make dinner for him and us, eat, give him his bath, read a story or had some play/cuddle time or nurse time and then go to bed.
I will try to push his sleep time up some and see how that goes.

[momofclaire]

Ap= Accidental Parenting, meaning doing things that would cause props or dependance when the illness is over.

I hope is better soon.
 

[LittleBen]

OK, once again I know it has been quite a while since I posted. 
We have gotten over the tummy trouble, now we are battling his 1 year molars.  I sware, it never ends.  He is doing good napping during the day and he just had his first day long visit at my parents house, he stayed from 9 am till about 10 pm last Saturday and Sunday he stayed from 10:30 am till 8 pm.  He did very good, he didn't fight his naps or going down for bed, on Saturday he took a 3 hour nap and was in bed by 7:30 pm on Sunday he took about 1 hour 45 min nap and was in bed by 7:10 pm.  He has been waking still around 10 pm for the past week and is very fussy and screams, we usually end of having to give him oragel and Tylenol as he acts like he is in pain.  Sunday night and Monday night he was to the point of being almost inconsolable and was screaming and crying and fighting us for  about 45 min.  When we finally got him back to sleep we were exhausted from the battle.  Then he woke around 12 am and then again at 3 am and 4 am and was awake at 6 am.  Last night he went to bed at 8:30 pm as we had my nephew's open house at school to go to and got home late, he woke at 9:45 pm and didn't go to sleep till about 10:30 pm, but he slept all night until 6 am this morning.  I am hoping we are on the path to progress.

One good progress made is that on Friday September 14th he started sleeping in his own room in his crib and he has been doing this since.  he is doing pretty good with it.  A couple of wakings since he's been in his crib, if we can't get him back to sleep in his crib, we have been putting him in the pack-n-play in our room and he'll sleep the last few hours in there, but that is only if we can't get him to go back to sleep after trying for a while.

Please let me know if you have any tips on the night waking, or if you think it is because of teething.

[momofclaire]

That is great news!  It sounds like you are seeing tons of progress. 

It is always something.  They really make life interesting don't they? 
I think you probably are dealing with teeth.  I would maybe give a dose of pain meds before bed to help him sleep better.  Oragel is great to take the edge off just a bit so that they can get back to sleep.  Do you see swollen gums?  For us, the molars were tough. 
I would keep consistant with the waking as much as possible so that you don't fall into any accidental parenting.  Generally once they break through the pain is much less.

[lilmonkey]

We found that Motrin works better for the teething.  Could you maybe give it a try?  Good Luck.

[LittleBen]

We have been using Motrin on and off, but with Ibuprofren being know to cause stomach upset sometimes we try not to give it too him too much.  If he is REALLY fussy we give Motrin over the Tylenol.

Yes, they do make life interesting.  It is never a dull moment in our house.
Yes, I agree I think it is the teeth, we usually give him a dose of Tylenol and some Oragel right before bed, if he's really fussy we give Motrin instead of then Tylenol.
Yes, his gums are very swollen, they are actually HUGE.  We have noticed the teeth looking like they are going to come thru then a few days later they aren't there anymore, but his gums remain swollen.  He has had swollen gums for several weeks now, they are up a little higher than the top of his other teeth. 
We have definitely been trying to stay consistant with the waking.  If he wakes we go in and lay him back down and pat his back for a few seconds tell him we love him and it is time to go night night and he goes back to sleep.  He hasn't been in the pack-n-play since Monday night and that was only for 1 hour before we were all up for the day.
Tuesday night and last night he slept basically all night thru.  I laid him down Tuesday at 8:30 pm and he woke at 9:45 pm and we got him back to sleep at 10:30 pm and he slept till 6 am.  Last night I put him down at 8:30 pm again because we were running behind and he woke for less than 2 minutes at 10:00 pm all it took was my husband going in and laying him down and he went back to sleep and he slept in his crib the rest of the night without waking until 5:50 am this morning.
I definitely think we are making progress.
Please let me know if you think we are on the right tracking and doing things well.

[momofclaire]

It sounds like you are doing all the right things.  You have made a ton of progress.  Sleep is often disturbed with teething, illness or milestones but it really does sound like you are handling things well.

[LittleBen]

I NEED HELP.......
OK, I need some help or major advice. 
1. First of all, my happy sooth himself thumb-sucker got hand-foot-and-mouth about 2 1/2 weeks ago, since then he has been reluctant to suck his thumb and his sleep has been disturbed because of this as well as his general attitude.  We have encouraged him that it is OK to suck it and he puts his thumb to his mouth and then pulls it away like he's afraid to suck it.  He had the sores in his mouth and on his hands and really bad on his thumb (that he sucked) but they have all healed now.  I think he quit sucking his thumb because of the pain from the sores.  Do you think that he will start sucking his thumb again??  I know that we won't want him sucking his thumb later in his childhood, but right now we don't mind.  We figured we will discourage it around 3-4 years, if he ever starts it back up again.
He is also not really taking a pacifier very well either, as he has never really been a big passy kid, but we thought it was worth a try since he hasn't been sucking his thumb.  He needs something for him to do for his own self-soothing, but I don't know what to do.  He has his bunny and blanky that he holds but he had those along with his thumb before.
2. He is taking naps well, they are anywhere from 1.5-3 hrs (1 nap a day, starts at 11-11:30 am) he also goes down to bed well at night too, lately he's been wanting to get ready for bed by 6:30 and in by 7:00 pm.  I've tried to get him to stay up a little later (no later than 8 pm), but he is clearly ready to be in bed by 7:00 pm.  Last night I tried to keep him up till 7:30 or 8:00 pm and at 6:30 pm he came up to me did the sign for milk (I still nurse him), then he went to the couch, grabbed the Boppy I use when I feed him, put it on my lap and then held him arms up for me to pick him up.  I started nursing him and he instantly started relaxing and getting into the sleepy stage.  I had him in bed by 7:00 pm.  He woke around 11:00 pm, I went in his room right when he woke and told him it was ok and time for night-night and to lay down (as he was sitting up) and he laid down and I rubbed his back for 2 minutes (I timed it on the clock in his room) and he was back asleep and after 1 minute I left the room (3 minutes total).  He then slept until 4:30 am and woke and didn't lay down and go back to sleep for me, I took him in our room and let him lay by us to see if he'd sleep until I got up (6:15 am), he laid there jabbering, fidgeting, and sitting up on and off for about 1-1.5 hrs.  Then he didn't fall back asleep until about 6:35 am.  He has been doing this on and off since he was sick from the HFMD a few weeks ago (at the same time he was cutting one of his 1 yr molars which is thru now).  I don't know what to do.  I think a lot of it stems to him not being able to self-sooth because he used to use his thumb for that.
Please provide any advice possible on the sleeping, and does anyone know of tricks to get him to START sucking his thumb again??  I miss my happy baby and my little thumb-sucker. 
Please HELP!!!!

[momofclaire]

This is a tough problem. 

My first thought is to try to replace the thumb sucking with something else.  It wouldn't be horrible if he still sucked his thumb but because you will have to discourage it later you may think about taking a positive from the illness and letting the thumb sucking go.  That said I can't think of anything to introduce.     You could make a big deal about a new lovey or bedtime cuddly item.   When Claire was really tiny and wouldn't take the paci I put 5 or 6 granuals of sugar on it.    We were in the midst of an emergency situation. I wouldn't rec putting sugar on his thumb...but it might work. 

[LittleBen]

Yeah, tell me about it.  Craziness.......It sucks.  Last night wasn't any better.  We tried the paci again with his blanky and bunny and he just spit the paci out.  So, therefore I didn't push it.  We did our usual bedtime routine, but later because we had to run to the store and my parents.  I thought getting him to bed would help, but it didn't.  He was up after about 1.5 hours and would not lay back down for Jeremy and go back to sleep.  He tried patting his back, rocking him, holding him, and finally he laid on the bed in Ben's room with him and he fell asleep then we just moved him to his crib.  I hate doing that though, I prefer to get him to go back to sleep in his crib.  Sometimes I think he does better if I am the one to go in because he never seems to settle for Jeremy but he does for me in minutes.
Anyway, He woke again after only 45 minutes from being put in his crib and wouldn't settle for me.  I was so tired (from all of the weeks of interrupted sleep) I was bad and put him in our bed.  He fell back asleep after about 10 minutes, but was restless all night and kept waking occasionally crying out and very fidgety.  I just don't know what is wrong or what to do.
I actually thought about putting something on his thumb or paci that tasted good to get him to suck it, but wasn't sure if I should.  I am just not sure what to do anymore.  I know where you are coming from with trying to take the illness as a good way to stop the thumb sucking, but if we can't find anything else to sooth him what do you do??  It obvious he still wants his thumb because when he gets upset or tired he is constantly taking it to his mouth or just putting the tip of it in his mouth and then pulls it away...its like he doesn't know what to do and is afraid (I'm sure he's worried that it will hurt). 
Who knows...maybe we will try the sugar or something like that and see.

[momofclaire]

For the record, I don't think the sugar on the thumb thing would be advised by the AAP.  It may work though.  I feel like I read a post a while ago about a baby refusing his thumb after that same illness.  Maybe post in medical/health and see if someone responds with experience.

[LittleBen]

I am very sure the AAP won't reccomend the sugar on the thumb or even on the paci, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.  Right??  I will go ahead and copy my post from yesterday and today into the medical/health posts and see what I get in response.  Thanks. 

[LittleBen]

We tried the sugar on the thumb tonight, but I didn't work how we had hoped.  He just licked it off his thumb and didn't suck his thumb once.  But hey it was worth a shot. 
I also have posted at the medical/health area and I received the suggestion to put him to be earlier or no later than 7 pm if possible.  I am just not sure if that is the answer or not.  I never received any advice on the thumb-sucking so who knows.   If you happen to think of where you read the post on the thumb-sucking please let me know as I wasn't able to find it but searching by posts regarding thumb-sucking.
I guess we'll see how tonight goes and if he sleep thru the night or not.