Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Our Sleep Needs Re-saving!

We used to have it sorted. My little man was a champion at self settling. Every nap. Until he came down with croup, and then it all went pear shaped. When he was unwell, he needed the extra cuddles and rocking. But then we made a habit of it. Many, many months down the track we are still there. Considering little man is 15 months old now, this is shaping up to be a big problem in the future. I need to start making steps to fix it.

As things stand at the moment, things aren't entirely difficult. It's more that I'm thinking about the future. It usually only takes 10 - 20 minutes of cuddles, rocking, and lullabies from his MyPal Scout. He needs to be asleep before he is put into bed, or he gets incredibly worked up once we leave the room. If he wakes up at night, that's a bigger issue. It has on occasion taken as long as 2 and a half hours to get him back to sleep. And given that we live in a unit in close proximity to our neighbours, that can be incredibly stressful. I remember the nights when night wake ups just required a couple of pats on the back with some shushing. Oh how I miss that. Especially in this incredibly cold weather we are having at the moment.

All those months ago, when he finally mastered self settling, we were using the techniques in Tizzie Halls book, Save Our Sleep. A controversial book for some people, but for us it worked perfectly. I thrive on structure and routine, and bub did too. However, now he's older. The techniques are different for toddlers. And little man is now more aware of being left alone, and has been through several bouts of separation anxiety. We must be strong though. I know this. I need to make sure all three of us; myself, daddy, and our little man, are in the right frame of mind when we start the arduous journey of teaching a toddler to self settle... Again.

There is sure to be a few more posts on this topic. Please cross your fingers for me!

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