New Routine

After two tough weeks and some new discoveries Tyler has hammered out a new routine for himself. After we returned home from Florida Tyler started waking up from his naps very upset after only 45 minutes. I could tell he was still tired because he was VERY crabby and still rubbing his eyes; however I couldn't get him back to sleep. I tried letting him cry it out, rocking him, holding him and nothing seemed to work. Jim and I would watch him from the door and he would just squirm around in his crib. He also started waking up at all hours of the night in every different position imaginable. Needless to say, it was a rough time here for a few weeks. I just felt so bad that he was not getting the restful sleep he needed and in turn was not having good awake time.

I knew that soon he should start to transition to 2 long naps a day instead of 4 shorter naps but he seemed unable to sleep for longer than 45 minutes during the day and I couldn't figure out how to help make his naps longer. Then two things happened that helped us solve this problem. First, Jim and I tried putting Tyler to bed earlier at night, based on a book I had read on solving sleep problems. This worked great! Now, he was rarely fussy in the evenings (turns out he was just tired!) and he still slept through the night.

The second thing was all Tyler's doing. One night, after being asleep for the night for several hours, he started to cry. After 5 minutes he stopped and when Jim and I peeked in on him he was on his tummy! Apparently, this is the position he was trying to achieve during all those naps. Now, he naps on his side or his tummy and will sleep anywhere from one and a half to two and a half hours!! Occasionally, he'll roll over onto his back and wake himself up but if I turn him back over and pat his butt for a few minutes he's out again. Now he's back to his happy self during awake times and he's totally mastered the back to stomach roll. Yay!!

So now here's how his day (usually!) looks...

7am: wake up and eat

8:30 or 9:00: morning nap

between 10:00-11:00: wake up and eat

12:30 or 1:00: afternoon nap

between 2:00-3:00: wake up and eat

5:30ish: rice cereal and bath

6:00ish: milk and bed