8m old won't sleep for more than about 70 mins in the day and he's knackered.

[bohemianbint]

But I don't know what I can do! Am trying to get him into some sort of routine at the moment after 8m of baby led hell, and it has been improving. A couple of days he actually had nearly 2 hours at lunch time, but yesterday he had about 50 minutes at lunchtime and that was it between 7am and 7pm. Today he had 30 mins this morning and has just woken up after 40 mins at that will be it if I don't manage to get him back off now.

It's frustrating because it's not enough sleep for him and I feel like I'm just firefighting; I was just getting things out to make cakes with DS1 and DS2 woke up and that's that. I feel very guilty about not getting a decent chunk of time with DS1 in the day and it woudl really help if I could just get DS2 to have a decent sleep.

What can I do? Any advice?

(should say, am aiming to get him to have a nap in the morning at around 9am for 45 mins or so, and then to sleep from about midday to 2pm a la GF)

Bugger. I really thought he might go back to sleep there for a while, but obviously not. I could cry.

bb sorry to hear that! The one thing i took from the baby whisperer was that my dd could be awake for about 2 and a half hours / 3 hours between each nap! So once she woke up from a nap, no matter how long the nap, i would wait for 2-3 hours to pass, look for signs of tiredness and put her down again, we went from three short sleeps in the day, to eventually settling down to a long morning nap and a shorter afternoon nap. It tooke me awhile to realise that my dd was knackered and not grissly and needed to be "put to sleep". Eventually she stopped doing such short naps and i used to get a lovely long morning nap of almost two hours and about 45 mins to an hour in the afternoon.
Hope this helps a little!

Hi bb

I know just what you're going through. My advice would be to try for a slightly later afternoon nap time - say 1 rather than 12. I got this from the "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book" and it definitely helped stretch my DS's naps out a bit.

Anjelika

Hi, im following a book at the moment called the Sleep Easy Solution. It is mainly for help getting baby to sleep through the night but also has a section on naps. My 9 mth old used to have 1 nap a day until a few days ago when i started reading this book. I was following his lead but now i decide when he goes for his 2 naps a day and put him in his cot at these times. The first 2 days he did cry and protest but i simply checked on him at 5, 10 and 15 minute intervals. After 3 days, he went to sleep with no crying at all!

Thank you for the replies - I might try pushing his nap back to 1pm to see if that gets him good and knackered. Was so much easier with DS1!

my only advice, having lived through 3 under 3 (youngest is now 3), is to grit your teeth, do the best you can, keep your head down and try to believe that this time will pass.

you have my sympathy.

well i have a similar problem but only that dd will not sleep in her cot during the day for longer than 40 mins but if she has been out in her pram or care seat she's off for two hours. so maybe try aking him out for a walk and let him sleep in her pram? if only to give you the time!

i have same problem so watching in earnest!

oh, the other advice is; since youve decided on a routine and when he should sleep, for the good and sanity of you all, at the time you have decided, take him to his room, have a putting down routine which is exactly the same every time, simple, without fuss, and then leave the room and ignore him.
be consistent.
give it a fortnight.
dont second guess yourself until then.

i bet it works.

But Vaguely, if he woke up after 40 mins when you wanted him to sleep for 2hrs+, would you just leave him up there for the 1h20m until it was time? I'm not sure I could do it, am hopelessly soft, can only bear light grizzling when he's very tired.

then that is your downfall.
im as soft as they come too, but being overrun taught me a thing or two.
namely that if you are so tired, stressed, guilt-ridden (and in my case depressed by all that) that you cant see how you will get through the next hour, let alone the rest of the day... and the day after that ad infinitum... well, youre not much good to anyone.

secondly, that they often give up and sort themselves out if you dont hop to it the moment they grizzle.

thirdly, that a more consistently rested child is happier and easier and will result in a more happy adult and that in turn is reciprocated

fourthly, that no matter how hard you try, you cannot get every single thing absolutely right, but that that doesnt actually matter.

just a no doubt unnecessary point to mention is that the last post refers to MY experiences. wouldnt dream of stating facts about someone else, let alone someone ive never met. feel free to brush it off if it doesnt apply to you

oh, and fifthly, that i dont know all the answers. that quite often, actually the baby/child knows the answers and will find their own way given the space to do so. (talking about settling themselves here, but applies elsewhere too)