Advice on W2S

[Grace's Mom]

Thanks Zoey. 

I tried W2S at 27 minutes a few more times and it isn't working either.  For the last few naps I have decided to just let her wake up when she does and then go in and put her back to sleep and she has gone immediately back to sleep so it actually hasn't been too bad. I still would love to figure out what time to go in and do W2S. Maybe I'll try the 20 and 40 again (she was waking up before I could get in there to do the 40).  Should I maybe do 20 and 30??? It's a hard call.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I know Baby Whisperer was down on my end for the last few days and I am very thankful it is up and running again.

Melissa

[Grace's Mom]

We'll do 

[joyfulmom]

Hi..  I hope you don't mind me jumping in with a question?  My son wakes at the 40 min mark every nap and has done so since he was 6 wks old.  He is almost 18 weeks now.  Yesterday he actually took a 2 1/2 hour nap without waking......But I remember looking at the clock and thinking in 5 minutes he will wake up, then two minutes later the door bell rang and teh dog barked.  I thought it would wake him and it never did.  I wonder if it made him wake before he went through that sleep cycle.....  Kind of a natural W2S?  Anyway, I tried W2S when he was about 8 weekd and it didn't work and I got tired.  I wonder if it would work now.

What is my goal when going in at 30-35 min?  Do I just make him move or does he have to stir?  Should I try the doorbell again?  I'm kidding about the doorbell.  Ha HA

Thanks for your help!!!

[Grace's Mom]

Joyfulmom...To stir Grace I have to tickle the back of her neck or she won't move.  Some babies only need their cheek burshed and then they take a deep breath and they are good to go.  You don't want to wake them up.
Talking about the door bell....we had the worst thunderstorm this weekend.  It was so loud and she NEVER woke up but if she hears me walking and the floor creeks she wakes up  ??   Who know's. 
-I don't know if you read all the posts but Stacy had me go in her room for a few naps and keep a log of exactly when she did things so that I knew when she woke, etc. so that it would make it easier for us to figure out when to do w2s since not all babies wake at the exact same time.

This last nap she actually slept through and I went in at about 28-30 minutes (it's so hard to tell exactly when they are asleep).  I am in shock because she is still sleeping.  I am going to keep doing this even if it doesn't work all the time.  Stacy is right....I just need to keep at it especially since going in at this time has at least worked a few times. It is the only thing that h as worked thus far and I am ecstatic.

Hope this helps some.

Melissa

[joyfulmom]

This is great.  I have tried this W2S (going in 10 minutes before nap and making him stir) for 5 naps now and only 1 did not work but he woke at the 1 hour mark instead of the 40 min mark...so may be it did work. 

How long do you have to do this?

Will I always have to go in at the 30-35 min mark?

How does it teach him to sleep longer?

Thank you for your help!!!  I'm so excited!!!

[jwhitt]

I'm jumping in here with a question if you don't mind....

I attempted W2S for the first time today...it didn't work.  That's ok, I think I went in too late.  I went in at 28 minutes, he stirred but then woke up 5 minutes later.  He also had a weird morning, didn't get a good morning nap at all and I tried this for his afternoon nap so the weird day could have contributed as well.  I'm attempting this again tomorrow.  I think I'm going to go in at 20 minutes because it seems like he's actually been waking after 30, but then not crying for 10-15 minutes....I've gone in to check on him after 35 several times and he usually completely awake at that point.  Anyways...back to my question.  If I go in at the 20 minute mark, get him to stir and he goes back to sleep, do I need to go back in after another 20 minutes or do I just leave him and wait to see when he wakes?

[jwhitt]

It didn't work again this morning.  I stayed in his room til he fell asleep so I knew the exact time he fell asleep.  I went back in after he'd been asleep 20 minutes and got him to stir, I checked a few minutes later and he was asleep, but he woke up at 34 minutes into his nap.  Do you think I should try going in at 24-45 minutes?

[Grace's Mom]

Ok...thought I would send an update.  W2S works once in awhile...I am fine with that because she normally goes back to sleep fairly easily.

Well, she turned four months on Wednesday (august 2) and everything changed (textbook baby?).  For the first few days after she woke she kept waking up every 10 minutes. I tried keeping her up longer but it really wasn't working too well and she let me know.  We decided it was time to start weaning the swaddle (because she is going to start rolling and we want to get rid of the paci and we want her to be able to use her hands to sooth herself). 

This morning dh and I went for a walk and she ended up staying up for almost 2 hours (hooray).  We had one arm out of her swaddle (1st time).  She fell asleep fine.  She woke up 25 minutes later cooing so we left her in there.  Eventually she started to cry a bit so we went in a tried to put her back to sleep.  After a half hour we realized that she was not going to go back to sleep so we got her up.  She was happy.  We fed her at her normal time and then did some low key playing so not to overstimulate since she really didn't get a nap.  Well, she happily stayed awake for almost 2 1/2 hours    .  We put her down and again fell asleep fine. I thought she would surly stay asleep after being awake about 4 plus hours with only 25 minutes of sleep (usually gets 1 hour 15 minute naps).  But, she woke up after only 30 minutes, making silly noises again.  When she started to cry a bit we tried to put her back to sleep but again it didn't work.  She is just laying in there now making noises (we have an hour or so until her next feeding and not even an hours worth of naps and she has been up since 6:20am and it is now 11:40). 

Do you think this has to do with the swaddle or turning 4 months? I am glad she is staying awake longer but I know how important naps are so I don't know what to do.  Tomorrow she is getting her shots so I know that is going to throw everything off as well.  Is this a normal transition for lo and will she start napping again?  I know she needs her sleep.

Thanks.
Melissa

[amacasi1]

Stacy, I've read through everything I can find on W2S and sleep cycles, but am still not quite clear at which point in the sleep cycle we should be doing the cheek-brushing - is it while the baby is in deep sleep and before they move to REM? From what I can tell after observing around 20 sleep cycles, my LO seems to be in deep sleep from about mins 20 to 32, then in REM until a jolt at min 44.

[joyfulmom]

Update and encouragement to all of you trying this!!!!  Yesterday, I did not do W2S for my lo afternoon nap and he woke at the 45 min mark but cried out once and went back to sleeep all on his own....I know it's a miracle!!!!!!!  I am still going to do W2S for another week and then see how he does on his own again.

[Grace's Mom]

Stacy,  Just wanted to let you know that Grace switched herself to a 4 hour EASY 2 days ago cold turkey.  The past two naps have been wonderful.  I did w2s and she slept the entire 2 hours.  I think that may have been what we needed.  Things are perfect but they seem to be improving. 

Melissa

[amacasi1]

I stopped doing W2S because we weren't getting anywhere, he continued to jolt at 45 mins and wake up etc.  I'd tried all sorts of times and both versions. On Thursday I was in tears most of the day because of my lack of success and having spent every minute of every nap for a week or so in with him watching his sleep patterns.  On Friday I had enough and decided just to go with the flow and learn to live with 45 min naps, and to make the most of those 45 mins of free time (which after all is more than I ever got to myself in almost 20 years in the workplace). All of a sudden the little demon started sleeping 1 1/2 hours 3 times a day, with the occasional 2 hour + nap thrown in for good measure, as well as his usual 8+ hours at night.  Have to laugh really!