I followed her general pattern at this age - in which she needed to sleep about 1.5 hours after waking. He wakes at 6:30, so his first nap is at 8AM. I started last week and over the weekend just trying to get him to sleep at regular times (1.5 hours after waking). Then I started trying to put him into his crib for at least one nap a day ... and it was horrible. He was crying and screaming. He couldnt calm down. It would take 45 minutes to get him to sleep and he would wake up 30 minutes later. It was so frustrating, but (luckily) I blogged about this exact situation with Brooke.
I started being more regular: instead of one nap a day, he goes for all naps; instead of just putting him down, I now follow a routine, etc. He is a good sleeper, so I know the issue is his ability to settle down. I also know he can soothe himself, because he puts himself back to sleep at night when he wakes/stirs.
Yesterday was rough. He screamed and cried before every nap, falling asleep for only 30 minutes. He was so exhausted by his third nap that he slept for 30 minutes, woke, and then slept for 15 minutes more (yay!). I brought him downstairs and he passed out again, sleeping in his swing for another 1.5 hours. Poor little guy.
Today he took about 15 minutes to go down for his first nap. He slept 30 minutes, woke up, and went back to sleep for another 15. For his second nap he was out in about 2 minutes. He went to sleep at 11 and is still sleeping now (at 1:20). Did I just sleep train this little guy in a day?
In addition to the sleep sheep, I'm also using a routine (which includes putting on a sleep sack, reading a book, and using a paci), and a modified version of the Ferber method (which involves letting him cry it out, in some aspect).
