14 month old - such an erratic sleeper!

[dejags]

here's hoping you can help.

DS has always been a fantastic sleeper, sleeping through the night from 11 weeks old. He has slept through teething, colds, sickness etc.

About a month ago my MIL came to live with us and since then DS's sleep patterns have been totally up the wall!!! He will sleep one night from 7.30pm - 8.30am the next morning and the next night will wake at 4am . I feel as if we are on a slippery slope and that things are getting progressively worse.

I have limited DS's sleep to 1.5 hours on non-active days (i.e the days he stays at home) and to 2 hours on active days (days when he goes to nursery). I have caught MIL allowing him a nap in the afternoon in the pram but have discussed this with her and she swears that he is not sleeping away the day!

I am at my wits end. Any helpful hints would be most appreciated.

BTW - his room is totally blacked out so I know that this isn't the problem.

Thanks in advance
dejags

dejags, could it be that your ds is picking up on you not being completely relaxed () with your MIL in the house, and this is unsettling him? I know with my children that things that they seem to be taking in their stride during the day are often reflected in disturbed sleep.

Doesn't help much until you can get rid of your MIL, I know!

5 months, 1 week and counting

Ah, but just think of all those brownie points you're storing up ... your dh will owe you bigtime for ever and ever after this ....

Hi
Can't help much ( tho I sympathise!!)but... Dd was a brilliant sleeper for her first year - then from 12 months to now ( 18) she has been rather more erratic - we have just had a few nights of her waking in the middle of the night - basically full of beans and wanting to play. After reading as much as I could around the subject ( I'm a fan of Richard Ferber's book) I decided that this was possibly because of her going to bed too tired - and I have to say that since then I've made a point of putting her to bed half an hour earlier/letting her sleep 2.5 hours at lunch sometimes if she seems to need it ( she's a GF baby but goes to nursery 2 days a week and on those days only sleeps an hour in the day so gets a bit overtired)and she has stopped waking in the night since I started doing this. May be coincidence - or not??!! Who knows - but the one point I would make which is definitely true is that too tired is as bad as not tired enough in getting babies/toddlers to sleep IMO - so be careful to get the balance right...

Agree with Bayleaf too tired can also be a problem IME. Same with eating - too hungry as much of a problem as too many snacks.