I've been toilet training my 3.5yo DS for about seven weeks now. We couldn't do it earlier because he has CP and wasn't able to sit down on a potty (still can't) or sit up on a toilet until this stage, so I know it's later than average. I don't know if this is sheer coincidence with the developmental stage he is at, but his behaviour has got worse and he is also waking a lot in the night very upset and saying he has had a bad dream. He's also got scared of being left by himself to go to sleep - he was fine before now (with the odd period of difficulty like summer nights when he was younger, or after we moved home last year - understandable then). He will get hysterical if I try and leave him to go to sleep alone, and I've taken to lying down on a matress next to him till he sleeps because it's just easier than trying to go controlled crying (nothing controlled about it), and I'm also hoping it's a phase he will come out of again and am trying to reassure him. The other thing is I am also pregnant, 30 weeks now, so I don't know if that might be affecting him too. He is not the most biddable child (mild understatement) and getting him to go up to the toilet can be a long and lengthy process. As well as being knackered, I'm starting to get really worried that this could continue all the way to the baby being born - and as DS came two months early, I'm still worried that the same thing could happen again, ie in 10 days time.
Last night was absolute hell as I couldn't sleep anyway for ages because of pregnancy insomnia, prob had an hour and a bit on and off between 1.30-2 and 3, then DS woke sometime after three and didn't sleep again until nearly 7 - I was supposed to be in work at 9, had to email colleague and say I needed to sleep and got in at 12.30. Thank god I'm finishing on Tuesday, but tbh being at home with DS is not exactly restful as because he still can't walk independently he needs more help than your average child and needs a lot of interaction. He's often not great at playing on his own for long, and I think this has got worse recently because his dad will put the telly or comupter on for him more readily than I will, as he has poor sleep and health problems anyway. I'm starting to see my wit's end approaching. New baby coming = even less sleep. DS is due to start nursery in September, and I am really hoping that the daily routine of having to by in by 9am every morning is going to help him settle a bit. Dreading if the opposite happens. I wonder if I should just start a really rigid routine (which will be difficult because I'm not very like that, although he has always had had a fairly regular routine, and has a bedtime etc. He was a very easy baby to put to bed, and I look back fondly to the days of him going to sleep at 7pm and sleeping through till roughly 7 the following morning). I'm not usually downstairs before 9 every evening now and I'm a person who needs to have my own time to wind down before bed.
Any suggestions/experiences welcomed.