what is considered ew & what to do?

[lilflav]

Hello all!  I have been working on my 6 month olds sleep issues w/ some success.  I have almost broken her of her props, have had some naps that have lasted longer than 45 min, and a few really good nights (for us).  I'm trying to figure out a schedule for her, but sometimes she wakes earlier than usual.  We have a later schedule than most, we go from about 9-9.  Now usually she sleeps until around then, but sometimes she gets up at 6:30-7:30.  I was wondering how many hours earlier than the normal wakeup time is an ew?  I am sure babies don't need the exact same number of hours of sleep every day, and 10 hours of sleep is in the normal range.  When she gets up early how do I adjust her nap schedule for the rest of the day?  Should I make everything earlier & put her down early and hope she sleeps to a normal hour?  A little while ago she was habitually waking at 7 on the dot, so I moved her bedtime to 8, then we started having ews at 4:30, and she was staying up.  She eventually stopped (after she did her own w2s @ 6;30 one morning, lol), so I ended up moving her bedtime a little later again, and no more staying awake at 4:30.  This leads me to think maybe she sometimes needs a little less sleep.

This morning she woke 2 1/2 hours early, I put her down about 2 hours after she woke (what her normal a time is, and I've been getting good naps at this time), and she woke after 30 min and is now cooing in bed.  I was paying very close attention to her cues, and she was cooing & smiling up until right before I put her down.  Next time should I put her down even though  she is playing nicely & doesn't seem sleepy?  I just get so frustrated trying to figure out what her ideal schedule should be because she always does something different to confuse me.  I just want to give up sometimes. 

Thanks all!

ETA:

I know you are going to ask for a schedule, So far this is what I have to work off of:
I think I have her morning naps worked out (usually)- I have been having her asleep by 2-2.15 hrs after waking, and she takes a 1 1/2 hr nap.  And she seems to do better w/ less A time in the evening-like 1.5-2 hrs before bedtime. 

Now yesterday I had the best day in 3 months, here was the schedule:

W-9:30 (I guess I should wake at nine, but if she doesn't wake me I don't usually wake up)
S-11:25
A-12:55
S-2:40
A-4:45- the first 2 hr nap in a long time! I put her down a little sooner then usual because she seemed tired, and I was right!

Now I wanted her to have a cat nap aroung 6:45ish-7:15/30, but df was watching while I was at work, & he didn't try to put her to sleep for long enough, or feed her enough (but that's another issue) so it didn't happen.  I got home from work & fed her & decided to put her to bed early at 7:45(she was ot & it took lots of rocking).  She woke up 45 min later-8:30- (which she does often), but she was very awake (she usually falls right back to sleep).  So I fed her (to try to make up for missed calories) & tried to get her drowsy for a while, but she wasn't having it- it was playtime!  So eventually I put her down around 9, & she was quiet so I left her.  She kick around for a while & talked, but was asleep around 9:30. 


Also an update on today: She woke at 7:00, took that short 1/2 hr nap, Then I got her back down around 11:45- she seemed ot- but is still asleep (1:00).  Maybe I'm getting this figured out more than I thought??  Do you think she woke early because she had more day sleep (consolidated hrs & total hrs) yesterday then she has had in a LONG time?

[Purplecattypants]

Hi there 

Ok soooo....is there any reason you want to stick to 9-9? Babies have a natural bedtime of 6:30-7:30pm so you may find is easier to switch your routine to that....but obvioulsy you dont have to, and if you prefer 9-9 then that fine 

Contrary to popular belief, late bedtime does NOT mean late wakeup. In fact, an earlier bedtime often helps then sleep later, especially on a day of bad naps as they can catch up on lost sleep. If she wakes "early", then yes you need to adjust her day so that she goes to bed 12 hours later or she will get OT.

I think your issue is a combination of OT from such a late bedtime, and needing to lengthen A times...they are rather short for her age. Average A time for a 6 month old is 2.5 hours. If she is waking early but is HAPPY, then this would indicate that she is ready to increase her A time. Cues do start to get unreliable around the 6 month mark....a yawn can now mean boredom. So I would try watching the A times a bit more, and stretching them slowly.

What do you think?

[lilflav]

Hello again, I'm sure you remember you helped me a few weeks ago?  I was the one w/ the premie (5 wks) & my A times were all over the place?  I guess I put her down one morning at 2-2.15 hrs  (just like you said) & she finally slept for 1.5 hrs, so I just kept doing that & she kept having long naps! Then I also started having a prewind down for naps at 1.5 hrs where I lay her on the floor & either sing/read/talk/massage & when she starts looking away or fusses I put her down.  It worked for the past few days, and I was getting some really good naps-something I haven't had in months.  But today went horrible!!  All 30 min naps!!  And I had to do lots of rocking & use the pacifier to get her settled!  I just don't know what happened!  I had a few nights where she was falling asleep totally independantly & naps had improved.  She was sleeping so well, how did she get so ot all of a sudden?? 

There are several reasons why I put her down later- one is it seems she sleeps better when I put her down later.  This whole mess started when I moved her late bedtime to 8, before that she was sleeping from 10-5:30/6:30, eating, back down immediatly.  Then a little while ago she was waking at 7 everyday, so I decided I needed move her bedtime back, when I got to 8 that's when she started waking at 4:30 & staying awake.  Before that she'd wake, but go right back to sleep.  Boy was that tiring.  But one morning she woke at 6:30 (she did her own w2s!)I got her back to sleep, & since then she has been sleeping later-although we do get a very occassional early waking.  I don't understand why this happens when I move her bedtime, maybe someone can shed some light on it?

One question, if she wakes really early-like 7:30- would she really go down that much earlier if she is used to going down later?  Then if she starts going to bed that time (7:30) every night and wakes earlier (like 5:00), how do I keep her bedtime from creeping too early?  Ok, that was 2 questions, but thanks for listening & helping anyway!!

[Purplecattypants]

Ah yes I remember 

Hmmm i'm afraid I have no experience with such a late routine  In my experience, babies to well doing 7-7...I think I mentioned before, they have a natural bedtime of 6:30-7:30pm. So maybe thats the issue? She's telling you she wants to change her routine?

Its likely a developmental thing...around this age, many babies DO go through ew's...I know we did. From 6-8 months we had them! And if you search the boards you will find many other mums in the same situation.

Has she learnt anything new recently ie sitting up/crawling/rolling over etc? teething? Is her room blacked out? Any noise waking her?

In my experience yes, she would go down for an early bedtime if she woke early.....but thats just my experience. That said, most babies like a 12hr day 12 hour night, so I would imagine she would go down for you...if not, the OT cycle will just get worse.

[lilflav]

Hello!  Yeah the ew's are a new thing, so I haven't really looked at those posts much. So I guess short naps are a thing from 4-6 months, & ews are from 6-8 months. I think light did start to be a problem. But then I made ghetto shades- one morning I took my df's suit pants & dark t-shirts & hung them all over the windows.  It definately helped.  She has been working on improving her sitting for a few weeks, and just started putting her feet in her mouth- is that a develomental milestone? 

Anyway, we had a really good night last night, which usually lead to good days!  So hopefully I'll get her back on track, I'll have to crack the whip on everyone to make sure she gets her naps on time. Little by little I'm learning more, and I've realized her early sleep cues are very hard to catch & she get ot very easily, leading her to have a 30 min nap, leading to more ot.  Thanks for all your help!  Hopefully I'll have this down before she's a teenager!

[Purplecattypants]

So glad you had a good night last night....LOL at the "ghetto blind"!!

If you have time have a look through some the the ew posts, they may be helpful to you. She sounds like a touchy touchy baby much like my ds....10mins one way = UT, 10 mins the other = OT  Bear in mind that cues do get quite unreliable after 6 months so it always helps to find her idea A time. A yawn can mean boredom etc.

Not sure the foot sucking is a milestone, but then I guess its a new thing she's learnt even if its not major...she may want to practice that instead of sleeping!

 

[lilflav]

Hello again!  I was in denial for a while, but I think I have to finally admit that she does have a little spirit in her.  So anyway, here is my update... I've been realizing that she seems really tired early on in the am, so yesterday I tried putting her down at 1.5 hrs & she napped for 1.5 hrs!! Then her next nap she fell asleep at 1hr45min, but I could tell she was ot already, and I only got a 30 min nap.  Today I had her down at 1hr35 min, I checked her at 40 min & she was up     This is so confusing and hard, and tiresome!  It's like she always needs different a times, one week 2 hrs cuts it, the next week it's too long!   I feel like when I have that first 30-45 min nap the rest of the day will be the same cause it is impossible to catch up on her sleep.  Thanks for listening!