My son just turned 20 months old and I took his pacifier away from him 2 weeks ago. The transition was really smooth, he doesn't even look for it and goes to sleep fine. The problem is he will wake up between 3:30 & 4:30 every morning and is up... i can't get him back to sleep for anything. this makes our morning rough because he is so crabby, he then falls asleep in the car on the way to daycare and then has been struggling to stay awake long enough to get through his lunch. He naps for about 2 1/2 hours at daycare. We get home a little before 6 and at 7:00 he's getting ready to sleep. We tried keeping him up...it doesn't matter. If he goes to sleep at 7:00/7:30 it's 3:30 - 4:00 he up... if he goes to sleep later it's 4:30. My question is ... how to i get him to "soothe" himself back to sleep. I hate the idea of giving him back his paci at 3:30 when he wakes up - but he needs his sleep - and so do we. Any advise? He has NO other attachments to anything. We've tried blankets, stuffed animals...nothing. His paci is the only attachment he has ever had.
try 830pm or later bedtime. then don't try to make him go back to sleep. let him entertain himself, it;s when we respond that they're being entertained by us.
I would give him back his paci....he is only 20 months old...and you need your sleep and sanity:) You could also use a cribside toy that plays music, my 16 month old and my 28 month old each have a Winnie the Pooh one, and I hear them wake up, push the button to turn the music on, and then they fall back asleep! It is a great tool to help them self soothe!
When I took the paci away i cut it down the middle lenght wise so if you look at it it still looks in tact but when you touch it it splits. Anyway, this allowed the kids to have it put it wasn't good to suck anymore so they just held it. My kids tended to hold one in their mouth while rubbing another one on the tip of their nose. I know but this way they could still rub it on their nose and smell it but would no longer put it in their mouth.
My son is 13mo old and goes to sleep with his paci and blanky to a Baby Einstein CD. It's a life saver. I even keep one in the car. It's called Lullaby Classics. (song #8 calms him down and #15 puts him to sleep it's really funny =))Sometimes he wakes up around midnight cause hecan't find it and we just put it on and he goes back down. Oh another thing, I know you said he's not attached to a blanky, but the blanky my son goes to sleep with is those fleece blankys that are tied all the way around and I've noticed he twirls it w/ his fingers or will even put the tags in his mouth insted of his paci. Just an idea.
Hope this helps you!
A.
I really believe that your son is reacting to the time change. Little kids don't know what time the clock says, just what time their bodies say! Try to keep him awake until his real bedtime.
He may need to go to bed *earlier*, not later. You could try that (maybe 6:30pm?) for a couple of nights and see if it works. (See Weissbluth - it's really true!)
Also, a sippy cup. My son must have a half-filled sippy cup in his crib. He also has a pacifier, but we're working on that!
Don't give the pacifier back! Just get him through this transition.
Putting a sippy of water in my son's crib after he fell asleep got us through this phase. Likewise, I would put a favorite toy in his crib after he fell asleep, as well.
