Why does teething have to cause a disruption to our regularly scheduled program? Preston had a good thing going there. Wake up at 7:30am, nap from 12pm-4pm, and bedtime at 8pm. I mean, we could practically set our watches to this routine. But a vacation in Florida and two molars have f***ed this flow up. Why? I want to scream from the rooftop. Why? Our schedule, if you can call it that now looks like this: bedtime at 8pm, won't fall asleep until 10pm and during those lovely hours cries if you leave the room. Then wake up at 3am. If you have the energy to insist that he stays in his crib, it takes him 1-2 hours to fall back asleep (with you in the room) and if we bring him in to our room, he falls asleep instantly. So as I said, depending on our energy level and our desire not to reinforce this new need for dependence, midnight awakening can either be short or long. If it's short, he wakes up around 7:30am usual. If not, then we are looking at 9am/10am. This then pushes nap time back about 30 minutes but also extends it anywhere from 4pm-5:30pm which then affects bedtime. It's a vicious cycle I tell you. (SN: I started writing this entry in his room while waiting for him to fall asleep).
So why the rant? I think deep down I need some reassurance that we will eventually go back to our regularly scheduled program. I'm not opposed to change, but I also don't like the fact that he is not sleeping through the night anymore or that it's taking him so long to fall asleep. Does his nap during the day need to be shorter? Isn't there a cardinal rule that says never wake a sleeping baby?
The confusing thing is that he doesn't foster dependence at nap time. I lay him in his crib, read a book, kiss him and tell him it's nap time and that I'll see him when he wakes up and leave the room. He lays there, chit chats to himself and then falls asleep. No whining, no tears, no insistence on having us in the room. So what's different about bedtime?
Please someone in blogland, reassure me that this too shall pass?
3 comments:
His nap might be a bit too long. My 2 year olds are still taking 2 3-hour naps. . . all because they wake up too early.
Have you tried tylenol or ibu before bed? Ibu lasts for quite awhile, it might be enough to get him through that midnight wake up.
I hope he gets back to his old routine! It sounded like a nice one!
Jill
I don't tend to let HP nap more than 3 hours. His sleep has been screwed up for about a month + Ugh.
A shorter nap might be worth a try. And as much as it kills you, don't let him sleep in past his usual 7:30. He'll be crabby for a few days, but maybe this well put him back into his routine. His clock may need a little help resetting. And good luck!
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