Quick Wake to Sleep Question

[Johanne]

I have looked at the FAQ but couldn't see an answer. I have just successfully done wake to sleep with my lo (now 7 months ) and got him past the normal 45 minute mark - the question is should I do this again after a further 45 mins so he has more sleep (I suspect he's quite deprived) or just let him wake up naturally now when he chooses?

Jo

[Sylvia.]

interesting question, why not see what happens, if he wakes then you need to decide if 90 minutes is long enough, anyway congratulations you are doing a great job, remembe you need to do it for at least 3 days

[Johanne]

I went in before the 90 mins mark and he stirred and looked at me as I entered - but as really dozy - and then he fell asleep again but just for another 10 minutes or so. I think that was probably long enough though as he has lunch at 12 usually! I'm hoping he has another nap this afternoon - usually i get one 30 min - 45 min nap a day if I am lucky!

If anyone has a definitive answer to my question though, i'd love to know!

Jo

[KathrynK]

Hi Jo
what's your routine? At 7 months dd was having 2 x 1.5 hour naps and a 30-45 min catnap.

[Johanne]

Erm we're rather all over the place - i started him on EASY when he was born but when we started on solids early and I got PND it went by the wayside. We ended up with demand feeding and feeding to sleep, which i am sort of trying to crack atm but have some opposition because my husband wants me to BF on demand I think because he is worried Alex will get thirsty between feeds. Generally it is about like this:-

E - 6.30am (BF)
A - get dressed / play
E - 8.00 pm breakfast - cereal and fruit
A - 8.40 Out in pram for school run (he doesn't tend to drop off for this now)
E - 9.30 - 10.00 or thereabouts depending on when we get home and when he demands it.
S - 30 - 45 if I am lucky - if he doesn't fall asleep then he will need another BF a bit later to settle him off 
E - 12 noon - varies but either toast and philadelphia cheese or cauliflower cheese, lamb casserole etc followed by BF
S If he hasn't slept in the morning there is a good chance he'll fall asleep on the boob here but only for 35 - 45 mins
A
E - 2pm BF (to keep him going for school run)
A - Pram ride to school
E - 5pm Solid tea - either cooked tea with rest of family eg shepherds pie, spaghetti bolognese or maybe eg scrambled egg and bread and butter / sandwiches if he had a cooked lunch and the kids are having "kids tea". Jar of baby dessert / yogurt.
A - Get changed for bed / bath
E - 6.20 BF
7.30 Bed hopefully or he may need another BF to sleep if he wakes up before we get upstairs

Sorry if that sounds really bad....

Jo

[KathrynK]

hi again
It's great that you are trying to help Alex learn to sleep independently without BF. If there is a concern about him getting thirsty, why don't you introduce a beaker or cup or water for him to drink from? We did at around 6-7 months once dd was established on solids. At first she looked at me like I was mad as if to say What the h**ll's this? but I continued to offer it with every meal and she soon started to drink some. We tried a few beakers before we found one she took too- in hindsight I should have stuck with one and been consistent. With all things you try to change with babies, consistency is always the key!
I think he defninitely needs more daytime sleep. I am no expert on bf, but would guess one reason he doesn't take long naps is that when he stirs he is looking for your boob to help him go back to sleep. How does he sleep at night? When he wakes can he resettle himself?
I think you have rather a long first A time from waking to first nap. Appreciate when you have a school run it's hard! Do you wake him at 6.30 or does he wake himself? I would try to have him back in bed no more than 3 hours from waking. By 7 months dd no longer showed any tired cues and I had to go mostly by the clock- this is true of many babies. Possibly by the time he shows you he is obviously tired, he is already overtired and that's another reason he doesn't nap well.
That's just a few thoughts for now. Have you started trying to put him down while he is still awake so he can settle himself or does he need bf to sleep? I am going to ask my prop/ sleep mod colleagues to have a look and see if they can offer any more advice for you
kathryn x

[Johanne]

I forgot to put nights on the post, sorry

No he doesn't seem to settle himself in the night - he wakes up between maybe 2 and 4 times a night. I ususally have another wake up nd BF at between 9 and 11 which i class as the DF, but then I can get ones t 1, 3, 5 and 7 sometimes! A couple of days ago i had all of those though one to three wakeups is more the norm. Recently once or twice he's been wide awake at 1am and not slept until say 2.45 - no idea why - was completely out of the blue! It's this erratic night sleep which has really mad me HAVE to sort out his sleeping especially as the daytime naps are kind of zero! This morning I did wake to sleep and he slept for nearly 2 hours for the first time in months - but the afternoon nap was about 30 mins - i didn't manage the WTS in time .

He wakes up at 6.30-7.oo ususally - sometimes 7.30 or 7.45 but generally i need him up and about at 7.30 so i can do breakfast and a change and everything before school.

i will start a cup with water. Does it need to be cooled boiled water and do i need to steralise the cup always for water, or is that just for milk? My eldest son had formula in a cup from 4 months occasionally cos I was working part time but we haven't got round to it this time as I am a SAHM.

Jo

[owelley]

You can if you want to. Sterilize the cup I meant.  For your lo's naps, I would definitely work on the pm nap.  This is the one he needs to make it through to his nighttime sleep.  It is really up to you if you are comfortable with weaning your lo from all these breastfeeds. You see, if you keep giving it to him for him to sleep or calm down etc instead of just nourishment, this is what he depends on.  Is it safe to say he is "snacking" each time he is breastfeeding?? Because I'm nearly positive he's just needing it to sleep.  Have you tried to pu/pd?? If not, you could gradually cut those feeds if you don't want to cut them all as this would be too stressful for your lo but still possible.  For me, I decided to cut down our night feedings to 2 and kept those for a while until we went cold turkey with no night feeds or df at around 9 months.  LEt me know what you decide and we will work out a plan together.

~Noelle

[meispirit]

I have looked at the FAQ but couldn't see an answer. I have just successfully done wake to sleep with my lo (now 7 months ) and got him past the normal 45 minute mark - the question is should I do this again after a further 45 mins so he has more sleep (I suspect he's quite deprived) or just let him wake up naturally now when he chooses?

Jo

I have the same question! I did W2S like this today for the first time today. My DD woke after 1hr10 (which I was thrilled about because she hasn't slept over 40 mins without patting assistance before). I'd like her to sleep at least 1hr30, so do I need to go in at the 1hr mark and do W2S for a 2nd time? Or perhaps after 1W2S over 3 days, she'll get the hang of it and sleep longer than the 1hr10? Any thoughts would be appreciated!