17 m fighting bedtime

[u/MuffinOrPuffin]

My baby was gently sleep trained with good sleep hygiene and with modified Ferber but generally never needed much in terms of ability to put himself to sleep independently. We had a solid night routine and he would even in the past month say bye as we walked out the door.

Seemingly overnight he now resists his bedtime routine with every ounce of himself and begins screaming as soon as I place him in the crib.

I’ve been camping out and stroking his back til he falls asleep although last night when I walked out he woke up and proceeded to cry a little but went back down independently in 5-8 min.

Will this pass?! What is going on and where did my great independent sleeper go

[u/Greedy4Sleep]

What does your schedule look like? Possibly it needs a tweak.

[u/MuffinOrPuffin → u/Greedy4Sleep]

We did recently night wean (like in the last month which has reduced his one night waking he normally had).

DWT is 6:30-7 (if he wakes up much earlier and doesn’t put himself back to sleep I’ll generally go in and hold him in the dark room and try to at least get 30 ish more min out of him).

Nap was previously at 12 but he’s been fighting those too so I’ve pushed it to more like 12:20. He was fighting sleep so much yesterday he didn’t get down til 1. I usually let him sleep as long as he wants but generally he sleeps for 2.25-2.5 hrs (a short nap day would be 1 hr 45 min and a long day 3 hrs).

Bedtime routine (including long bath) starts between 6:45 and 7 and in bed 7:30-7:50 pm.

His nights previously were 10.5-11 hrs. So we roughly are at a 6/5 for awake hrs.

He absolutely refused bedtime last night and was put in the crib at 8 but was scream crying til 8:30 coupled with times of me rubbing his back and calmness.

I feel like he’s tired he will try to sleep on his floor at times and is def showing signs like a yawn or eye rubbing. But will resist steps in the bedtime routine with his entire being.

He’s been doing this for 4 nights (it does coincide with my husband not being there for the routine, but my son has always been much more attached to me and so I have a low confidence it is that) thankfully some nights he’s slept through but the other nights he used to be fine with a short rock and hold then back in the crib but now he’s again crying as soon as I put him down.

[u/Greedy4Sleep → u/MuffinOrPuffin]

How much sleep has he been averaging within a 24 hour period over the past 4 days that you have been having the issues?

[u/MuffinOrPuffin → u/Greedy4Sleep]

1) day sleep - 1.75 hrs, night - 10 hrs (he had a split night where he woke up refused to go back to bed I brought him into my bed and he spend ~1.5 hrs singing to himself

2) day sleep - 2.25 hrs, night - 10.25 (woke at 6 am didn’t want to go back to sleep I think I held him for 30 min)

3) day sleep - 2.5 hrs, night - 10.5 hrs

4) day sleep - 1.75 hrs, night 10 hrs (he woke up again wouldn’t go back to sleep solo, I have a bad cold I caught from him so I dont currently have the energy, I brought him into bed he rolled around a little but went to sleep pretty easily once in bed with me).

Prior to this his sleep totals the week before after he recovered from being sick (and the week prior to being sick) were 12-13.25 hrs total sleep. I would say typical overnight is 10.5-11 hrs and naps 2-2.5 hrs.

[u/MuffinOrPuffin → u/MuffinOrPuffin]

Edited to say we don’t have a big history of cosleeping beyond when he’s sick and he’s never had issues transitioning back to his crib. He also regardless of being sick has always started his nights in his crib.

[u/Greedy4Sleep → u/MuffinOrPuffin]

I guess the rough average would be around 12.25. I would try to build a schedule around that and do some formal sleep training at bedtime and during night wakes. You could try the chair method. I think bringing him into your bed is possibly creating some confusion around expectations as well.