I'm sitting here writing this in tears with my baby sleeping on the sofa beside me. May be slightly hormonal due to pregnancy but I just don't know what to do!
Ryan has been pretty perfect at sleeping since 6 months, 2 naps in the day in his cot and bedtime at 6.30 for at least 12 hours. The last couple of weeks have been a nightmare though. He used to clearly become tired at 6.30, so i'd take him in his room, give him his last feed and pop him in bed, where he'd settle himself to sleep. This started taking him a bit longer when he learned to sit up by himself at 9 months, but he was still fine. However recently he will not settle himself, and when I put him in his cot he just screams.
It's not the sort of cry where I can just leave him to calm down for a few minutes, it's a proper scream, with tears, which just escalates if I leave him. The only thing I could do was cuddle him to sleep, but he now has to be completely asleep to get him in his cot, as if he notices he's been put in there he just wakes straight up again. The past couple of nights we've just had to bring him in the front room with us until he passes out, which has been as late as 11, and we can safely get him in bed without waking him. And now he won't go in his cot for a nap either, even though he's exhausted.
I don't know what to do. I feel like we've taken a hundred steps backwards, and I know i'm doing everything wrong with the cuddling, but if left to scream I think he'd make himself ill, and it's surely making the whole experience worse for him. I've tried to make his cot fun, he has toys in there, and i will play with him in there, and he's fine in there when he wakes up, as in the mornings he'll happily play by himself for a little while so I have chance to have a shower etc before i get him up. But last night, he was pretty much climbing up me to get away from the cot, and it was heartbreaking.
I can't get anything done as I obviously can't leave him when he sleep on the sofa in case he rolls off. The only other time he will sleep is if we are out in the car / pram. And now I've lost my evenings so i don't even have time to do anything then.
Has anyone got any advice on what to do with him?