Well, since getting back from Washington, Lucy's sleep has been getting worse and worse. At this point, I just don't know what to do.
Before the trip, she was going to bed at 7 and waking up between 6:30 and 7am. She was taking 2 one to one and a half hour naps a day.
Now? She goes down at 7 and is crying off and on until about 9:30pm. She always goes down well but it seems like she wants a lot of reassurance EVERY time she stirs. We go up and tuck her back in and she goes right back to sleep, no fussing. She sleeps until 5am, when she wakes up crying and goes bonkers until we put her back down. She then sleeps fitfully until about 5:30, when we go through the routine again. And again. Then we let her get up at 6 with the rest of the family.
She is down to one nap a day. She goes down well and sleeps peacefully for an hour. Then she falls asleep on me for up to two more hours.
This morning when she woke up, I got her up at 6 and she slept on me until 7:30.
We have a problem and I don't really know exactly what it is. I know she needs more sleep than this. We've tried putting her down later - she still cries off and on for about 2 hours and wakes up at 5. She can easily take a one hour nap and have a mostly cheerful day, but it's obvious she needs a longer nap when she sleeps on me for two more hours every single afternoon.
My problem is this - how do I gauge how much sleep she needs when she's waking up cheerful but sleeping the day away on me? Should I be forcing her to cry it out? I'm a huge advocate of kids fussing themselves back to sleep, but it's difficult to figure out what she needs at 5am when she's had almost a full night of sleep, or after she's already napped for an hour.
Andrew and I are exhausted. These sleep problems are killing us! I need help - every and any idea would be greatly appreciated. Lucy DOES need more sleep - we just don't know exactly how much and when and we're starting to lose our happy sleeper AND our happy nights. I also need to break the "napping on Mama" habit before I have another baby who needs to be held more than a toddler...Help!
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2 comments:
Laura,
I think you are right..Lucy needs to sleep by herself in her crib. She knows right now that you'll pick her up and cuddle and let her sleep on you which isn't encouraging her to sleep on her own. (Lucy probably senses things are about to change and you can find other ways to have special Lucy time).
When baby #2 comes along, it is hard because you have baby #1 who still needs you but baby #2 requires so much more of your attention...this happened with Meghan and she was only 14 months old...I feel kind of bad looking back now because I had her grow up a little bit when Maddie came along. She kind of had to share her mommy and daddy time but my kids never slept with your dad and I either.
They knew they always had their own bed and room and that was their sleeping place, they didn't sleep anywhere else.
Maybe Lucy truly needs two naps. She is still young and if she isn't getting enough at night her daytime is interrupted.
She just needs a consistent routine that you stick by. I stayed home and kept with the routine, granted there are days you can't help it, but 99% of the time I kept to a routine. It grounded me at home but my kids were my main priority afterall.
I am sure things will iron themselves out and Lucy will settle into a routine...just make it that. Daily.
Hope this helps somewhat. You are a good mama and you'll know how to tweak things to work.
Love,
Tammy
Sometimes when Nate is getting off schedule by getting up too early, I'll have him go without naps for a day or two. It's hard to deal with a cranky toddler who just wants a nap, but it usually seems to work. The trick is, I need to put him down for the night before he starts crying. He sometimes gets overly tired, and will stay up and scream for 30-60 minutes if I don't get him to bed before it starts.
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