I'm just looking for a bit of advice on whether or not to just go with a later bedtime in order to get DS to sleep through.
He?s only recently started ?sleeping through? and even now its not every single night. We?ve recently cut out the night feeds (he is BF) which has led to an amazing improvement in his night wakings (i.e. from 3 to 4 per night down to just one).
His pattern is as follows:
5.30ish wake and have BF and snuggle
7ish Get up for day
9.30ish tired and has 1.5 ? 2hr nap
6pm bath
7pm BF and sleep
Now, with this 7pm bedtime, I?ve noticed that he is likely to wake up between 3-4am and ends up in our bed (this is how we?ve done things since he was a baby ? starts in own cot invariably ends up in with us). He seems to have accepted that I won?t BF him at this time now ? but kept me awake for an hour last night chatting and crawling around the bed?
However, often, if we are out and about in the afternoon, he will fall asleep in his pram late afternoon, say at about 4pm and nap for up to an hour if he?s allowed. He is therefore obviously tired then but the problem with this is that napping at this time means that he just won?t settle down for bed till a lot later, sometimes 9pm. The upside of this is that he will then usually sleep until around 6am in his own cot ? which means lovely uninterrupted sleep for me and DP!
The most obvious thing would be to say lets just give him an afternoon nap and then a later bedtime and have a good nights sleep but as much as I love DS and enjoy his company it is nice to be off duty for a while in the evenings? I?m so tired that I?m in bed by 10pm sometimes which means I have almost no time with DP, can?t cook, watch a DVD or just generally relax if Ds only gets off to sleep by 9. He is going through a bit of an ?anti dad? phase at the moment as well so only wants me in the evenings so I can?t even palm him off to DP whilst I make the dinner! However, if I can be confident this is just a phase then I could probably resign myself to having less of an evening for the time being to have more of a night time!
Oh yes, should mention he is teething at the moment, several molars coming through at once so this is probably having an impact on sleep I expect?
What do fellow MNers think the best way forward would be? Would be grateful for your thoughts or shared experiences on this.
PS: sorry this appears to have become an essay ? thought it would just be a quick query!