New EW - why???

[Mjaz]

Hi Wendy-
Thanks for your response.  I LOL when you asked me what my gut feeling is b/c I am so tired from being up every morning at 4 (of course, *I* don't get back to sleep!) that I'm not really sure...

Today he had 2 1.5 hour naps and is currently in his catnap.  We're on schedule for a 6ish bedtime, as it has been all week. 

I guess my gut feeling is that cutting back his napping isn't going to matter.  He had one day this week when he only got 3 hours and 45 minutes of day sleep...and the night was exactly the same.

I don't get it ;(

Thanks for your continued help...

[Mjaz]

You guys are the best - thank you for hanging in with me!  Today he only had two 1.5 hour naps and a 35 min. catnap...so we shall see..that's probably the least amount of day sleep he's ever had!

Yesterday was a great day - today was not - he was pretty OT and I didn't time his naps well :/  Here is yesterday:

Awake:  5:40 (after being up at 4:30 - figured I wasn't getting him back again)
E: 5:50 - 8 ounces
A: 2:13 total
S: 7:53-9:29

E: 9:50 - 8 ounces
A: 2:09 total
S: 11:38-1:38

E: 1:50 - 8 ounces
A: 2:15 total
S: 3:53-4:27 (ALWAYS 35 min. - don't know if this is UT or OT)

E: 5:30 -8 ounces
A: 1:33 total
S: 6:00

NWs: 12:45 - easy, right back to sleep; up at 4:15 am, ate, fussed for 30 min. then slept another hour

[Mjaz]

I would like, in an ideal world, for wake up to be ANY TIME after 6am!  He had a great night - slept from 6pm to 5am straight.  I  don't know if it's b/c he had 3.5 hours day sleep, was a little OT or...just b/c he gives us a great night sleep every now and then!  So - I think the BIG question is - if he's awake at 5am for the day, how do I start to push bedtime back???

Thanks ladies!
Melinda

[Jiinx]

love your new profile pic! sorry off topic but just wanted to pop in and see how you're doing *hugs*

[Mjaz]

Thanks, Sarah

So the major dilemma here - if he wants to sleep 11 hours, how do I create a 13 hour EASY with 3 naps?  I don't think it's possible!  I had to give him an extra CN today just to get him to 6pm.  So if he wakes at 5, I'm back to the same scenario tomorrow...  Hmph. 

Should I post on the EASY board?

Thanks, ladies.

[Tweakster]

Hi there, you could try:
Awake 5
Nap 1.5 hrs @ 7:15 - 8:45 (A = 2 hr 15)
Nap 1.5 hrs @ 11:00 - 12:30 (A = 2 hr 15)
CN 3 - 3:45 (A = 2 hr 30)
Bedtime asleep by 6 (A = 2 hr 15 min)

Now, this means he will likely be up by 5 again.  It's what happened to us, we were in an early to bed/early to rise loop for a long time...still kind of are.  BUT several things will work in your favour 1) there is a big jump in A time between 5 - 7 mths so you should be able to push him out again soon, even 5-10 mins will help push your day out and 2) this scenario gave us decent nights so Finn woke well-rested and we started counting his crib time as 1/2 A time.  So if he was up at 5 we considered him up at 5:15.  And the day pushed out from there as well.

It only went wrong for us when he short-napped, or when he fought the CN.

You could also try to limit his first CN to say 20 mins, then do a second short CN of maybe 15 mins at what would be his bedtime, wake him and then put him to bed slightly later in the hopes to reset his body clock a bit.  It has been known to work for others.  Finn would use that latest CN as part of his night sleep so it never worked for us really.  And he really didn't like it when we woke him from what he considered night sleep.

Let's see what Jane's got :-) 

Certainly you could see what the folks on EASY have to say.  Lots of mums with early wakers over there too.

[Mjaz]

Hey Wendy,
Bless you! Thank you for sticking by me on this - I am trying to pay it back by helping newbies going through nap hell    I tried the 2 CNs today - both 35 minutes - with an hour in between and when we put him down to sleep at 6, it took him 40 minutes to fall asleep.  So I am assuming he was OT.  Sigh. 

Eli would flip if we woke him up from his night sleep, I think.

I've never tried an A time of 2:30 before the CN.  He keeps taking these 35 min CNs and I can't figure out if they're UT or OT!  He's not cranky, but not excited to be up either.  I tried extending today - hoping to give him a little extra sleep and it was a no go.  Maybe I'll try to push him further and see what happens. 

I'd love to get to a 7pm bedtime and a 6am wake up - but we seem to be going in reverse!   But you have a good point - this is probably pretty temporary b/c as he pushes his A time, I'll be able to extend his days a little.  The 3.5 hours of day sleep just seemed perfect for him!

Thanks again...