Is this an early wake up?

[oneplusone]

I'm not complaining... in general things are going fantastic. Our EASY is 4 hours and approximately like this...

E - 6:30
S - 8:30 - 10:00
E - 10:30
S - 12:30 - 2:00
E - 2:30
S - 4:00 ish for 45'
E - 6:30 (sometimes 5:00 & 7:00 since I think he's having a bit of a growth spurt)
S - 7 or 7:30 (bedtime routine & falls asleep pretty easily)
DF - 10:00
Sleeps until 5:00. Yay!

It's 10 hours of night sleep so I don't think it's considered an early wake up, right? Even if he's up at 5 I don't feed him until 6 or 6:30. When he wakes he's not hungry. He just squirms a bit, so I give him his soother to see if he'll sleep again. 15' later if he's still squirmy I'll change his diaper b/c by this time it's soaked. He's still not hungry just looking around. This morning I tried to rock him back to sleep and he slept for another hour and easily fell asleep in my arms so I think he could make it 11 or 12 hours so I have a decent wake up time. He has done 12 hours a couple times. I'm totally OK with 6 AM, much better than 5 AM. I know the first nap is crucial for the early wake ups. If they wake up early (like 5 AM) how are you supposed to keep them up later/increase their A time so they nap at a decent time without getting them OT? Thanks for any advice

[Bex09]

Well under 10 hrs of night sleep is considered an EW, so I guess you are on the borderline! Still IMO it isn't ideal so lets see if we can get you all a bit more sleep hey?

OK so I noticed that your DS is doing his longest A time after his short CN, this could well be leading to him becoming OT and that can cause EW too. Have you ever tried an early BT? Does he wake earlier if he goes to bed at 7 instead of 7.30? He is having quite a long day for his age and this alone can lead to LOs becoming OT. You are really aiming for as close to a 12 hour day as you can get.

[oneplusone]

Thanks for you suggestions! I'll try an ealier BT. I usually aim for 7 pm bed time but then he doesn't necessarily fall asleep right away. I'll try for earlier. Funny thing is today he woke at 5:30 and I put his soother back in hoping for an extra hour like usual, but it's almost 8:30 and he's still sleeping. Should I wake him up to keep him close to his normal feeding times? Since he slept through them I guess he's not hungry. I really like the saying of never wake a sleeping baby. I think sleep is just as important as food. What do you do if they sleep in? Try to feed them at their normal times approx or stay on a 4 hr EASY?Thanks!

[Bex09]

He may well be catching up on some sleep if he has been a bit OT. I would stick to the 4 hr EASY, so feed when he wakes and then stick to 4hrs after that and also your usual A times too. This could well get you on track to a longer night as you 'should' be able to get him down to bed 12 hrs after he wakes without it being too early in the day yk?

I know what you mean about not waking a sleeping baby, but just bear in mind that if you aim for a 12 hr day his BT will be 8.30 which is pretty late. I always wake DD by 8am or else it messes up her BT making it too late.

[oneplusone]

Yes, I'm going to wake a sleeping baby from now on! Yesterday was a disaster. He woke up at 8:30 and I tried to keep him on a 4 hour EASY, but naps didn't turn out great. He slept from 10:45- 12:15 and then 2:30-3:00 and 4:30-5:00 and finally went to sleep at 7:30. My husband slept with him last night and I got to sleep in the spare room (yay best husband ever). Apparently he was up every 45' from 2 until and finally my husband brought him to me at 6 to feed since he couldn't get him back to sleep. I'm sticking with the 4 hour EASY again today and we'll see if we can get him to bed earlier tonight.... he was pretty fussy this morning since I keep him up until 7:30 for his first nap. I have no idea what time he actually got up but I'm sure he had two much A time. Oh well, he's 1.5 hours into his first nap so at least he's having a good nap.

[Bex09]

Oh dear! I struggled for ages deciding if it was best to have a set wu time as it felt wrong to wake my DD, but if they sleep in too late it really does mess up your day by making it too short. I hope you have a better night.

[oneplusone]

The problem is I sleep in if he sleeps in since I haven't used an alarm clock since he was born. He's usually so bang on with his wake ups. I know he's still little, but hopefully soon he's really consistent with timings. He's usually pretty close, within an hour or so depending on when he woke up. I guess it might be unrealistic of me to want a perfect routine everyday. I mean I don't sleep perfectly every night so I can't expect him to as well. Anyways, thanks for your help I did get him to sleep at 6:30 last night and with only a couple brief wake ups in the early am for a soother he made it to 6:45 and is now having a 1.5 hr and going nap so hopefully we are back on track. I will try to bump up his first nap since I see that will also push the cat nap back and make him less OT before bed. He always seems the most tired in the am and has his shortest A time then. Thanks again!

[Bex09]

Great that the EBT worked for you.

Just take it slowly if you are going to lengten his first A time, maybe just 10 mins every few days. The last thing you want now is short OT naps, especially if he is a little OT already. Good luck!