Sleep Regression

Our days of having a perfect sleeper are gone...they bit the dust. For about two weeks now Paxton has been getting up earlier and earlier. Usually when Jared's alarm goes off around 7:30, he's already awake in his bed talking. This kid used to sleep until 9:30!

He also used to take two two hour naps...from 11-1 and 3-5. They were amazing. I could eat lunch and talk to Jared, I could do the dishes and pick up the house, I could do laundry, and after all that I usually had a little time for some trashy daytime tv. That's all over. Today, Paxton has taken three 20 minute naps. That's it. And saying the most recent one was 20 minutes is probably a stretch. He goes down fine...but then he pops right up and is ready to play. I have absolutely no idea what to do. I have done research...but all I can find is that this is completely normal. His brain is developing super fast right now and he wants to practice all his new skills, like pulling up. The websites say that as he gets less sleep, he gets overtired which leads to even less sleep. The websites do not offer a solution. They say it's a stage.

The only sleep training methods I'm aware of are the cry-it-out method, and its less harsh cousins which allow the parent to go in sporadically and reassure the crying baby. Well, that won't work. Paxton isn't crying. He's playing and talking and laughing. So far, he has been in his bed awake for 20 minutes and is still just laughing away.

I have tried feeding him more in the hopes that he was waking up hungry...nothing. I have tried going in and laying him back down and telling him it isn't time to wake up yet...he just laughs at me and gets even more hyper from the attention. I have tried the blinds closed and opened. I have tried reading to him before he goes down so that he's calm. Nothing made a difference. His sleep just keeps regressing.

The lack of naps is not good for my sanity. I need my breaks! He needs his sleep! It also isn't good for him...he gets fussy quickly. He screams at restaurants. He gets mad really easily.

I guess we'll just desperately hope that this is a phase and that in a week or so he will go back to sleeping until 9:30 and taking his much-needed real naps. Until then, I'll just do my best to enjoy the extra long days with him and fill them with as many activities as possible. And when our next kid turns 10 months, I'll remember this and take a long trip out of town that month.

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