DS (13m) has never been a great sleeper. Around about 12m, we got into the best routine he's ever had. He woke around 5am-5:30am, napped for 45 minutes around 9am, and about 1hr 30mins after lunch (around 1pm). He went to sleep at 7pm. Each nap and night time, I put him down to sleep, walked away and he shuffled a bit, and then went to sleep without a squeak. I didn't hear from him again until 5am. Thing is, I know he needed more sleep than that, and I was always getting him to bed early at night (6:45pm) but he'd then just wake earlier in the morning.
In the last couple of weeks I've gone back to work, and he is going to nursery 4 days a week. He seems to love it - happy on drop off for the main part (any tears last seconds), and happy but not clingy to see me in the evening.
However, his sleep has gone to pot. Nursery get maximum an hour out of him during the day (20 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes at lunch), and I can no longer put him down to sleep at night. Given pick up time, I can't really get him into bed any earlier than 6:45pm, but it takes up to an hour to get him to sleep. What I did tonight is pretty typical - normal bedtime routine (as has been the case since he was 3m) and put him in the cot and walk away. He immediately stands up and shouts.
I then walk back in, put him down and say night night, sleepy time etc., and walk away. He can be standing before I've left the room (and it's not a large room). We repeat this for a few goes, and then I try to shhh him to sleep. He gets calm, snuggles up and for a few minutes I think I'm there. He then gets bored, starts to play with his teddies, giggles at me, and so I say sleepy time, and walk away. We repeat the standing-leaving-lying down- pattern a few times, and then the shhing starts, and he might sleep, or he might play again.
Please help! I don't know what to do next. I don't mind shhhing him to sleep, but I must be getting the timing wrong because the first few times I try, he just wants to play, but then suddenly he'll sleep. That said, I am certain that this not wanting to sleep is down to nursery starting, and although I'm very sympathetic to that, I don't want to create bad habits (him needing me there to go to sleep), and more importantly, he needs to go to sleep earlier than 7:45pm, given that he wakes up now anything from 4:30am.
In the morning I cannot get him back to sleep - once he's awake, that's it. I've tried shhing in the cot, bringing him into my bed, just holding and rocking him and he's perfectly calm and happy, just chattering away, but he won't sleep. If I think I've cracked it, and he looks snoozy, I keep going (generally if I'm holding him) but he doesn't even go to sleep.
Please please help! This poor little boy needs to sleep longer!