How should I adjust our EASY when the LO wakes too early?

[afate]

Any suggestions would be appreciated, I'm worried that we might be starting a bad pattern. When LO's wake too early, should the next nap/eating time be at "normal" EASY times or should the whole day be flexed based on the new wake up time? My LO is a very spirited 6 month old. We started her on EASY at 4.5 months. It has worked perfect and has been a lifesaver!! But the past week, she wakes too early in the morning (530-6am) and won’t go back to sleep (after she’s gotten 10.5-11 hours of rest)…should we try and push her to the “normal” napping/eating times OR adjust her day according to when she woke? For example, she “normally” woke at 7am, ate, napped at 9am, woke at 11am, ate, napped at 1pm, woke at 3pm ate, catnapped at 5pm, ate at 630 and went to sleep, ate once throughout the night and slept until 7am. That WAS her “normal”, now she’s waking at 530/6am, and wants to nap by 820, wake at 10, eat at 11 (resulting in 1 hour nap at best), sleep at noon, eat at 1 (again shortening the nap), sleep at 3 (resulting in too early catnap), eat at 4…etc…her whole day is being affected by her waking early in the morning. My question: should we be flexible with her day and do our best to stretch her to the old “normal” routine OR be a bit firmer and push/force/re-train her to the “normal” routine until she is back on track? OR maybe its time to drop a catnap or put her to bed later or earlier??? She is the type of child that Tracy mentions in her book: when she gets overtired, she can do nothing but scream until she falls asleep which can take an hour and even then she will sleep fitfully. So I am obsessed with getting her to fall asleep at the “perfect” nap time so she doesn’t get overtired, yet is still tired enough to sleep her 2 hours. I want our EASY back!! Please help!

[~Sarah~]

Let's give you a bump and see if you can get a few more eyes

[afate]

Thanks so much!

[Yazzie]

Hey there hun, waking up after 10.5-11 hrs can't really be considered an EW although I understand it's not really convenient It looks like your little girl is ready to extend her A times, and that really is the spirit of EASY, to follow your lo cues and act accordingly.

The signs now are really indicating the need to start a transition to 2 naps, so I'd first of all start my day when she wakes up, and try extending that first A time by say 15 mins, so you'd have a total A time of 02.15 hrs, and then see how things go. As you transition you may find that some days your EASY isn't perfect and when u need to AP a catnap to extend, but you'll get through it:) This link will also give you a better idea:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64837.0

HTH

[afate]

Thank you so much. She was doing really well and was able to stay up during A time for 2.5 hours, then suddenly she reverted back to 2 hrs of A time and waking early in the mornings and from naps. But today I noticed a little coughing and it seems she might be coming down with a cold. So that might explain why shes been off during the past few days?? Thanks for the suggestion of extending the activity times a little longer. I will approach that again after she gets over this bug. Also, your comment "... the spirit of EASY, to follow your lo cues and act accordingly" was more helpful than you know. I've been struggling with EASY lately bc she has fallen off her routine a lot in the past few days...so I was stuck as to whether or not I needed to be more rigid and follow the clock regardless of how she flows or be more flexable and not worry about her creating a new routine. Your comment reminded me to be more flexable by following her cues-esp now that I think she's getting sick. After all, right when I thought we had it all figured out, she changed LOL.  Thank you so much.

[Yazzie]

....I totally understand about your struggles, it's been hard for me to be flexible as well and follow his cues, and clearly remember when my days used to revolve around ds's naps!...but this whole thing really is a learning process for us as well, to sort of guide them, but at the same time follow their cues...now, how come no one said parenting would be so much work..LOL

Hope your lo starts feeling better soon

[afate]

Thanks! One more question: when/how do babies eventually stay up later thus sleep in later? Do they do it naturally or must I (later) just extend her A time little by little? Her 530/6am waking is a challange for me (I know, its selfish). I'm working with it, but was wondering will my LO ever stay up past 7pm or sleep in past 630am???

[Yazzie]

Things will get better and easier as they get older as you'd be extending A times as she gets older:)