SO FREAKING FRUSTRATED!!!!

I AM SO FREAKING FRUSTRATED!!!!

Let me first say that I love my child! I really do but I am so frustrated with him lately. After many months of terrible sleep habits Owen finally settled into a routine around 8 months. Things have been great ever since.... until last month when he got sick. Now, naps, going to bed at night, staying asleep and waking up early have become daily problems in my house.

He was taking a two hour nap, going to bed at 9 and waking around 9:30 each morning. NOW he's sleeping maybe an hour at nap time, going to bed at 9 and waking anywhere from 7:30 - 8:30. The lack of consistency is what's giving me such a hard time. I need a routine. I am not dealing well with this at all. On top of that he is crying (for up to an hour) and bed time, waking around 2 or 3 sometimes and then again around 7 too. I realize that as he gets older he requires less sleep but I just can't seem to get us back on track. What do I do?!!!!! He's crabby all day and I am at my wits end.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

I dont know hun.I think his night time routine isnt SO bad tobe honest.maybe you hate me for saing that.I'm sorry if you do,but Tia-li doesnt and never has had (except when she was a newborn) 2 hour naps.She would have 2 one hour in the mornnig then one inf hte afternoon until she was about 9-10 months,then it spread out to just one at lunch time and that only lasts 45 mins sometimes an hour if I'm lucky.At night she goes to bed at 7:00 pm and will mostly sleep through 7:30 which I htink is really good.There are time when she wakes up,if she does I'll sometimes go in and see her,rock her n give her a cuddle and then make sure she's got a drink before tucking her in.In the last month she's been awale a few times and each she has played for anywhere between an hour and 2 hours in the middle of the night.At first it annoyed me but she wasn't crying,she was just talking to herself and sure enough she wanted to sleep in the next mornig.I put a stop to that by yanking her out of her sleep hehhe.I just went in at the usual time (maybe 20 mins later) and got her up.She soon stopped the waking up thing.She does it too if/when she has had a cold or cough,having said that,she's only been ill maybe 3 times so I don't know,it's hard to tell.I guess all babies are different.What do you do when he wakes at night? Have you tried not worrying so much about the nap,but putting him to bed at 7,it's wonderful coz you get 2 more hours of YOU time,I think a mum can cope WAY better with crabby kids if she has enough chill out time.I can hardly wait for bed time most nights.But glad it's at 7 n not later coz on some days I would go nuts!lOL anyway,you're not alone and I am sorry it's being so hard on you! hugs xxx

Thanks for responding.
It wouldn't be so bad if he would just play in his bed but he screams on the top of his lungs. When it first began happening he was sick so I would go to him and cuddle/rock and lay him back down. Then I think he expected me to come so I've been letting him cry in the night but if he wakes up any time after 7:30 I usually will leave him for a while. Sometimes he will go back to sleep and sometimes he wont.
I don't mind a shift in his sleep pattern - I expected it at some point - it just seems to be all over the place right now.
He and I both work better on a routine and nothing seems routine about it!!!! I am hoping things will settle down again soon. Some of it may have to do with all the cold weather. We are stuck indoors a lot more so maybe he's just not tired enough!
I did put him to bed about a half hour earlier tonight mainly because he was so whiny I couldn't take it anymore! He went down with no complaints so I know he was ready. It will be interesting to see what time he wakes in the morning.
I like to get up and get dressed before he gets up. It really makes a difference in how my day goes. I used to have time to get completely dressed, check my email and read my Bible. Now it seems like no matter how early I plan to get up he's awake before my alarm clock has even gone off!!!!!

Thanks again!!!!

awww,let us know how it goes.Could be that this is the change.Is he warm/cold...maybe wet in the night,I know these are really obvious things but stuff can be bothering them that we don't think of.Did you check his toes? Remember the hair n Tia-li LOL! It's probably not.But there are little adjustments you can make,waht about a fan in his room? white noise helps Tia-li STAY asleep,she doesnt have a problem getting to sleep but she is SUCH a light sleeper.Anyway,it will get better at some point honey! hugs hang in there! x

What time does he nap during the day? Have you tried an earlier nap and then an earlier bed time? I have heard that earlier bed time usually means they sleep better and don't necessarily wake earlier, it's just 9 sounds late for a baby of his age. How about putting him down for a late morning nap and then bed at 7pm? Maybe he is just overstimulated by the time he goes to bed and is not getting into a deep enough sleep? Just a thought anyway x

Oh Lou Lou,
They go through so many stages. Could he be working on teeth? I definitely agree that 9 could be too late to get him to bed. Here is my little guys schedule. Oh and does Owen have a comfort item maybe if he had a blankie or something it would help. Oh and keep in mind it take three days for them to form a schedule and if he knows what to expect it will be easier on him.

Wake up: 6:00-7:30 - I think sometime he hears my husband leaving the house and if his door is open I will find him in our bed staring at me as early as 6 but most days he just stays and plays in his room until I get him up at 7:00.
7:30 - He gets about 6 oz milk and a banana. He used to eat his oatmeal then too but lately with his teeth he hasn't wanted it until later in the morning
9:30 - fruit and cracker or juice and a snack of some sort
11:30 - Milk and lunch
12:00 - Naptime. He will usually sleep until 3:00 sometimes 2:30. He sleeps till 4 for my husband. Sometimes he will stir and even get out of bed but he usually crawls back in. Oh and I usually never let him sleep past 4 unless we got a late start on nap and then never past 5.
3:30 or whenever he gets up from his nap he gets another snack with his sippy.
5:00 - milk and dinner - I have been moving this back a little because he seems to like eating with daddy so I will do his milk and fruit at 5 and then he eats with us when dh gets in.
7:00 - Bathtime, book, snuggling
7:30 or 8:00 (depending on how long he napped) is bedtime. Sometimes he will get his blankie and take our hands to take him or if he is just super cranky he goes to bed.

He is in a toddler bed so he will crawl in and out and through the windows and over the top and every which way. He even went through this thing of taking a pair of socks out of his drawer and taking them to bed with him. But he usually goes to sleep within 30 minutes. If he doesn't it is usually because he is poopy. So we change him and toss him back into bed.

I suggest moving the bedtime earlier, and having the nap after lunch between 12:30-1 pm. As toddlers progress, they burn a lot more energy than they once did, they sometimes are ready for bed earlier. It may be that he is getting over tired and not sleeping as well. Try putting him down between 7 and 7:30 pm and see if that helps. It may take multiple days to see what the results will be, but it may be that his body is trying to change it's sleeping clock for whatever reason, and maybe he just needs more sleep. Plus if he is not napping as long, then he is definitely going to be ready for bed at an earlier time.

I know it is so frustrating when they will stick to a routine. LM's normal nap is 1.5 hours. She falls asleep by 7:30 pm, and wakes up anywhere between 6:30 and 7:15 a.m. She still wakes up in the middle of the night and plays, it's so ridiculous, but that's just her. I don't allow her to sleep past 7:30 a.m. because then she does not go down for her nap on time.

Now that it is cold out Lucy started waking 2 or 3 times in the middle of the night too. I think she was just getting cold and it was waking her up. She hates blankets and kicks them off alot. I switched her to blanket sleepers with the feet in them. She is nice and toasty warm, and sleeps much sounder at night.

We do the same thing when she is cranky, early bed lol. If we put her down early we wake her enough to give her a late bottle when we are going to bed 11-12. Her normal bedtime is also 9pm, and she wakes up in the morning as her daddy is getting up and about around 6:30 - 7:00. He has trained her that he won't get her out of the bed until he is dressed, so unless she has wet thru her diaper and jammies she just sings and talks to herself until he comes to get her out of bed. Other than that she normally takes a 2-3 hr nap after lunch.

Well he took a regular two hour nap yesterday and then slept 12 hours last night so we will see what happens next.
Our bed time is 9 due to my husband's works schedule. If I put him to bed much earlier my husband would never get to see him.


I was talking to mom last night and we have a theory. I have been talking to Owen about his diapers a lot and we talk about being wet or having a dirty diaper on. My mom said he may be waking when he wets because he is more aware of it. It makes since to me.

I'll keep you posted!!!

Lou Lou that may be true also! LM started waking up a lot it was driving me nuts, and she would be SOAKED. I changed her to a size 6 diaper and it absorbs much better, and she is sleeping much better now.

LOL! Size 6!!!!???

Owen in still in a size 4!

Wish us luck tonight!!!

Maybe it is just the diapers. I had to switch the the pampers premium absorbency (just for nights) or else Isaac was always soaked in the morning. But we are still in size 4 too.

Isaac and LM would be good playbuddies. He is 31lbs and 36 inches. He is bigger than most of the two year olds we come across and everyone expects him to be older and talking.

Lucy is in size 4. They are big on her, but we had to switch because she was wetting her clothes with the size 3s several times a day. I also have been using the Pampers Baby Dry ones, they seem to help, but every few nights or so she still wets thru her jamas.

Tia-li wears a size 5 but can fit in a size 6 too.she's 30 lbs as well and also has wet clothes sometimes at night.I change her right before she goes to bed even if her last diaper change was only an hour before.I remember it happening with Teo too,i think they just get to an age where they produce WAY more urine.LOL.Anyway,yeah the nighttime,more absorbent diapers might help make him more comfy and a size bigger maybe? so a 5,but of course if it gapes and doesnt fit snuggly enough the same thing will happen.Either way I hope this sleeping through thing carries on now,could be he was just having a hard time maybe with his teeth.who knows,these phases happen though. hugs xx

well, Owen is only 22 lbs and we use Huggies Overnight diapers size 4 at night. They actually fit really well.
I hate spending so much on diapers but they are totally worth it!


Still working on a new schedule..... but I'm not nearly as cranky about it as I was when I wrote this post!!!!!

Lou lou- emy hasgone through a few sleep phases too. We switched her bedtime 30 minutes later from 8 to 8:30. We also gave her oneof those turtles that glow and puts stars on the ceiling because she was crying obout the scary dark(she has a night light). Emy doesn't get milk or anything to drink before bed anymore so we don't have diaper issues anymore. But when she did I found the best diapers ever for night time, at day we use pampers cruisers and I have used the extra absorbancy pampers too but the diapers I found beat them out by far. I don't knowif you can get them where you live but they are worth trying to order online if you can I guarantee it. I still use them for flying. I know its crazy because they are genaric but I and every friend I have told now swears to them as awesome sleep diapers.
http://www.safeway.com/ifl/grocery/CategoryDisplay?catalogIdentifier=MMMomToMom&identifier=MMSupremeDiapers

Thanks Chris - I'll have to look in to those. We don't have Safeway here but I could probably order them.

I think the main culprit is his eating habits. He wont eat anything these days but I figured out that by giving him a yogurt about an hour before bed time seems to help. He is now going to be at 9pm and waking around 8:30. AND he's been taking his normal 2 hour nap. I actually pushed nap time back by about an hour and this did the trick. May be he just wasn't tired enough before - it's also making the hours after nap time and before bed time better too!

Hopefully things will settle down for a while now! Thanks again for all the advice and support!

Man ChrisB, thanks for the tip! Safeway is only a couple miles from our house, I am going to run not walk there!! Sometimes we overflow the super absorbant pampers ones at night, so we will definitely give them a try.