Early WU due to dropped CN?

[oneplusone]

We just got rid of the CN but now LO is now waking early, really early. I was hoping the dropped day sleep would be added to the night sleep but no such luck. Our EASY is like this:

4:30 AM - Early WU - I try to get him back to sleep until 6:00 which is his usual WU time
6:00 - BF & solids
8:00 - Nap (2 hrs)
10:00 - BF
11:30 - solids
1:00 - Nap (1 to 1.5 hrs)
2:00/2:30 - BF
3:30 - solids
6:00 - BF & bed
DF - right now 9:30 as I am weaning it slowly

Day sleep is a total of 3 to 3.5 hrs and Night sleep is 10 hrs. With the CN he was getting 3.5 to 4.5 hrs of day sleep and anywhere from 10-12 hrs of night sleep. So... why the early wake up???

I know the first A time is really short (2 hrs) and the last A time is really long (4 hrs). I've tried and tried to increase his first A time but he'll have none of it. He seems to have fallen into a 2-3-4 pattern naturally. I know it's not BW, but it's a pretty common nap pattern. His naps are so easy, like he's asleep in 5' after our routine that I don't really want to mess with them. Any other suggestions about how to get rid of the early WU? I can't push his BT any later b/c that would be 4 + hrs and that's way to long. 4 hrs is his max hence the early BT.  With the CN he would be going to bed around 7 or 7:30 and sleeping until 6 or 6:30 the next AM. I can't get him to CN anymore either. I've tried AP'ing him to sleep and he just screams x 45'. I'd like to lengthen his second nap, but not sure how to do that since he's already getting the right amount of day sleep. Please save me from another 4:30 AM wake up! Thanks.

[ZacsMumme]

I really think you need to push that first nap out later if you want to prevent EW. It looks like that long early AM nap could be robbing from his nights

[oneplusone]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. I know he needs more morning A time. But I just can't get him past 2 hrs. Getting to 2 hrs is a stretch... Ugh. I guess I'll be up at 4:30 AM tomorrow.

[ZacsMumme]

I know it is a rotten time but have you tried W2S an hour before the EW is occurring? It could reset his sleep cycle skipping the waking...

Do you think the EW could be hunger or temp driven?

[oneplusone]

I don't think he hungry bc I wait until 6 to feed him and he's eating normally. Not famished or anything. Prior to this he would occasionally wake between 4:30-5:30 and I'd just stick his soother back in and he'd go back to sleep. Now because he's at about 10 hrs of sleep at that point he's not tired enough to go back to sleep quickly. I hope he's not a 10 hr night sleeper. I've done wts for naps so I guess I'll have to try it again. This will be the third night so I'll leave it for tonight and hope it sorts it's self out on its own.

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs we had a lot of EW with the dropping of the CN. Hang in there, I think it's apart of the transition for some, they get a bit OT and things get a touch messy.

Keep him in his cot as long as you can, and keep the room dark until a reasonable time for WU, whatever you make it. He will adjust over time

[oneplusone]

Thanks! He made it to 5:30 this AM! So much better! I put his soother back in and left him for 15'. He was just grumbling a bit, tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. So I got him up and he had soaked through his diaper which he hasn't done for a long time. So I changed him and fed him at 6 his normal time. Maybe he'll make it to 6 AM on his own tomorrow I really hope he's not a 10 hr sleeper. Can you change a 10 hr sleeper to a 12 hr a night sleeper?

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs, good one this morning
Mmmm re can you change him...we had EW forever ( acid reflux didn't help but still) the Ew stopped with the 2-1 which for Issas 10-11 months. For the first time in ages we are back to short nights, but I'm pretty sure it's molars and a bit of OT from me missing the need to change his routine a bit.

So they do adjust, but it can come back. For us Z is sTTN so I'm less worried that Irene was waking as well. The main things I learned in the process of short nights were.

Work out a time you will start the day - for us it was 6am. Treat everything before that as NW, stay in the dark, cuddle ad feed if you have to, but no lights on and no talking like its morning. I also tried to keep Z in the cot as long as I could too.

You can try W2S by stirring your LO at9 hrs. This can reset their sleep cycle so they sleep longer.