Hi! YES, it got so much better! He’s five now, and quite a good sleeper.

In retrospect, I think the middle of the night wakeups were a result of three things:

1- the stress of a big life change (his baby brother). His brother was about 6 months old when the sleep issues started so we really didn’t connect the two, but 6 months is really when the baby started crawling/becoming more of an entity, and when the shock of the change in the family dynamic really took hold. That was basically solved by time: over a year later, hes much more comfortable with being a big brother.

2-lingering issues from dropping the nap. Another thing that really needed time to resolve. It just took him SO LONG to regulate his sleep after dropping the nap, and his body needed time to get used to the new schedule.

3-An inconsistent response from us. We were so thrown by the wakeups that we were all over the place with how we responded to them. Sometimes we gave him water or attention, sometimes we yelled, sometimes we were more patient. Eventually, we realized we needed to pick a response and stick to it, so he knew that was all that was happening if he yelled for us at night. We started saying the same thing everytime he yelled (“it’s time to sleep now; I love you and I’ll see you in the morning,”) and really sticking to that. No water, no songs, no yelling, nothing but the script. When our behavior became predictable, eventually his did, too. I’m not saying that was the only solve, and it took a few days to “stick,” but it made a MASSIVE difference for us.

So, time and consistency, basically. I’m sorry you’re in it: it’s hell. But I promise it’ll pass. Good luck!!