I'm 24 weeks pregnant and have a 2 1/2 year old son. My husband is away with with the army for a month. We're two weeks in and my son is still refusing sleep. His normal sleep routine is go down for a hour nap somewhere between 11am and 1pm, then cup of milk, bath, brush teeth, two stories and sleep time by about 8/8.30pm. At the moment, it takes me about 3/4 hours to get him to go for his nap. Sometimes I settle for no nap and 'quiet time' is his room. Then after his normal bedtime routine I battle with him until around 2am when he falls asleep. Then he gets up at 7am.
At his normal nap/bed time he's visibly tired but pushes himself to exhaustion and by the time he falls asleep its like he's drunk. Can't talk, eyes rolling back, loses co ordination but still refuses to give in to sleep!
I've tried everything. Cutting down/getting rid of his nap means hes miserable for the afternoon and will fall asleep on the floor around 5pm but wake an hour later (pushing his 2am sleep time back even more.) controlled crying doesn't work, never has, nor do the usual tricks we've used successfully in the past- rocking him, stroking his back, sitting with him and slowly leaving etc etc. from when I put him to bed until when he falls asleep I sit in the hallway and every time he gets out of bed I put him back in. But being pregnant, exhausted and spending 6 hours lifting a toddler into bed is pushing me to my limit.
Tonight he fell asleep at 9:30pm and I was joyous. He then awoke at 11 and is still awake.
To give a bit of background, DS usually has a sleep issue for a couple of days when his dad goes away but never for this long. Also for the past month, my husband has been working quite long hours so is rarely home at bedtime anyway. When he is he does give him his bath and put him to bed. He then also gets him up in the morning to spend time together and wakes me up when he leaves (about 7am)
Other than that, there's been no change in his routine.
Anyway, sorry if this is a bit discombobulated, I'm really really tired!
Can anyone suggest anything?