For the past 6-8 weeks, my 17-month-old has not been himself. He's been very fussy which is not at all like his normal temperament. We've attributed it to teething, the normal catch-all for bad baby behavior. Yet, no teeth ever seemed to come in and the behavior was just getting worse. By dinner time he was a complete disaster: fussy, whiny, throwing his food, crying--the whole enchilada.This past Thursday evening he was particularly bad. I even commented to a friend who was visiting that I didn't think I was going to survive the 2s & 3s. As we often did when he was out of control, I yanked him from his high chair and put him in bed so we could at least have a little peace at dinner.
The next morning he was happy for about an hour and then started in again. With it only 8:30, I decided I couldn't take his craziness that early in the day and just put him in bed. He went right to sleep.
Now the wheels were turning. The night before, our visiting friend was telling me a completely non-related story about a kid she knows who is always whiny and fussy and how she thought it was lack of sleep driving her behavior. I emphatically agreed at the time, but failed to even draw a parallel to my own situation. But now...it was all starting to make sense.
When school started (about 6-8 weeks ago), I began working him down to one nap out of scheduling necessity and because I thought he was old enough to handle it. I definitely made sure he got an afternoon nap, but some days even those were cut short because of daily activities.
But last Friday I had a life-changing epiphany: He's not ready for just one nap. He still needs two. So for the last four days I've been giving him two naps a day and he's a new boy. He smiles again, plays by himself, he's not fussy or whiny. My boy is back!!
I can't believe it took me 2 months to figure out the mystery of his behavior. I've always said that anytime my kids are fussy or whiny, that's a pretty good indication that they are sleepy. It's been the formula I've always worked off of. I just forgot to take my own advice.
DUH!
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