changing sleep pattern-14month old

[putput]

Mushi,

My daughter just went through the same thing and like you, I struggled with letting her cry this time. I guess it's because they're older and have more obvious personalities and you can hear the distress in their cries. Now, I've dropped one of her naps so she's down to one to see if that helps and even though she's worn out during the day as she adjusts, she seems to have got over the screaming as soon as I lay her in her cot and the hours of crying in the middle of the night.

The other thing is seperation anxiety which my daughter had big time last week. It was obvious during the day and even more so at night which is another reason i struggled to let her cry alone. I stayed with her during her crying bouts and sat on the floor next to her with my arm through the bars and my hand on her back which gave her security.

Hope this helps!

 

[shoni]

Hi Mushi,

Just some thoughts......

1. Is he getting too much sleep during the day? I find that my daughter is very timetabled and will get hungry and semi sleepy at the same time everyday regardless of how tired she is. We are in the process of swapping from two naps to one and regardless of how tired or not she is at the time of her previous naps she starts to rub her eyes and yawn, but she cannot sleep as she is not tired enough. If your son is used to going to sleep at 7, that is his bedtime clock, but he will wake earlier if he has had enough sleep. So, maybe he gets too much during the day.

2. Is he hungry? He may be gowing through a growth spurt? If you dont feed him anymore at night maybe try a dream feed before you go to bed for a couple of nights to see if that helps. I occasionally put dream feeds in now if my LO starts to wake in the night or wake early.

3. Mornings are very light now, try darkening the windows to see if this helps.

 

[snagito]

Oh I do sympathise. I'm struggling with the early morning wakings too. Can anyone tell me WHY oh WHY is HK so bright in the early mornings? It is brighter than other places, right? We have blackout blinds but simply not effective. I will have to put something else on the windows. I have never seen anything like this early morning light that comes in - 5 am today! Mushi why don't you try a black out - or do you already have one?

 

[mushi]

hi ladies, thanks so much for all your advice and help.....it has got much better now......but yes i had to do co-sleeping.....it has worked out well as there is no crying and anguish for me and he seems to know i am around so has stopped waking up at night.he does occassionally stir but i sh-sh him and he goes back to sleep.....mornings are also better now as the same sh-sh works for atleast 30 mins more!!...........i will be continuing this till another growth spurt!

 

[starbucks2]

My baby has started to do this too. He used to be so easy to put to bed, no crying just straight to sleep for day sleeps and at 7pm for his night sleep. Now at 15 months he has started to cry a lot and stand in his cot crying out when he doesn't want to go to bed. Usually it is one sleep a day which he protests - either his afternoon nap or his night sleep. So frustrating too as you know that they are not going to sleep when they are standing up in their cot! We did CC too but he is teething too so never know whether they are in pain or are just being wilful given that they are older now. Will persevere with CC (together with teething gel) and hope that it is a phase that passes. It is so stressful though and that is tiring in itself.

Good luck.

SB2

 

[southside852]

sounds like everyone has great advice and in the end it's personal preference and what works best for you and your baby. personally, i never co-sleep with my son who is now 17 months old. my husband and i never get any sleep and i would not want him associating sleep with me.

 

[aliciaooi]

Hi Mushi, I have a 18 months with me, he used to cry a lot when he was young. But, what worked for him is, I need to keep telling him it's bed time and he needs to go to bed, mommy is here with him, and mommy loves him. I believed even from your tone, they can really tell or feel your love.

This should comfort them and of course there is no magic, it does take time to have them get back to the normal sleeping pattern. Babies or toddlers, they are always trying their luck so as they can get more from those who loved them... Be patient...

 

[putput]

Hope you don't mind me piggy backing off your thread, Mushi! Can anyone who has done the two-to-one nap transition tell me how they went about it? I think we're getting there but some days I feel like I've got timings all wrong and am wearing my 14 mth old out! She definitely can only manage one nap now, btw.