Going mad in Montreal... !!

[cassidyJamiesmom]

Hi Sherry in Montreal.  I am Sheri in Montreal.  Also have an 8.5 month old who wakes most nites a few times but luckily USUALLY resettles herself.  Sometimes she even plays for like half an hour and I end up plugging in her paci and she eventually fusses back to sleep.  I can sympathize with your prop (bf) bc we have ours here as well.  Hang in there, this is a great place to get advice and support!!  Good Luck

[Dairy Queen]

Hi Stacy,

Here is the new schedule...

6:30 Wake [but lately, it has been earlier...]
6:45 Milk
7:30 Breakfast
8:00 – 9:00 Activity
9:00 - 10:30 Nap 1
10:30 Milk
11:00 - 12:30 Activity
12:30 Lunch
1:00-2:30 Activity
2:30-4:00 Nap 2
4:00 Milk
4:30-5:30 Activity
5:30 Supper
6:00 – 7:15 Activity
7:15 Milk
7:30 Sleep

Bedtime use to be at 8:30pm, but I changed the routine around, per your recommendation.  It gives my hubby and I an extra hour to be together.  Sweet!

On a side note, he woke up about 5 times last night but settled back to sleep 3/5.  I did PU/PD 2 times.  The only thing is... he actually woke at 5:30am and would not go back to sleep, so I did PU/PD until 6:00am, he then calmed down and played in his crib until 6:15am, and then I "pretended" that it was morning and we were now starting our day.  So... if I don't count the night waking, he gets about 13 hours of sleep per day [7:30pm to 5:30am + 2 x 90 minute naps] 

Cutting the second nap did not have much of an impact on his nightime sleep, it just made him a little grumpy in the evening.

[Dairy Queen]

Hi Sheri in Montreal,

Thanks for the support; I wish I had discovered this site many months ago, instead of just talking advice left and right from anyone [although I am glad I never tried the "cry it out" technique!]

I'll be crossing my fingers for tonight.

Ciao.

PS: your children are adorable   

[Dairy Queen]

I cut the second nap from 1.5 hr to 45 min for 3 days. 

13 hours is good, I was just hoping that wake up would be later than 5:45am [pespecially with 3-4 wakings per night!], but I shouldn't complain   On a positive note, PU/PD is working really well and 'wind down' in his room has gone from 30 minutes to about 5 minutes.  Plus, I completely cut out all the rocking before bed.

Thanks for all the great advice!

[Dairy Queen]

Thanks Stacy!

One more thing... How can I really be sure that it is not hunger that is waking him up in the early AM, at 5:30am?  Since I am trying to stick to the 6:30 waking time, I do PU/PD, but is it possible that it would actually be hunger [the reason I ask is that I pulled supper time from 7pm to 5pm to tweak the new routine]?   

Oh... and one more thing... I tried to BF today after supper, but he drank for 2-3 minutes and then closed his mouth.  I am a fan of forcing him to eat/drink... but 2-3 minutes of BF'd really can't be much.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Dairy Queen]

Sorry... I meant to say that I am NOT a fan of forcing him to eat/drink... 

[Dairy Queen]

I give him a big dinner with lots of protein last night at 5:30pm, followed by the breast at 6:30pm.  He went to bed at 7:30pm and I crossed my fingers... and toes ;-)

As for quantity... I can't really say how much he is drinking... since I am still breastfeeding...

Anyhow, to test and see whether he is getting up so early as a result of hunger, I tried the following:

I actually picked him up out of bed at 6:20 am this morning and let him play in his room.  I waited until almost 7am before breastfeeding and observed his behavior.  I figured that if he were truly hungry and had been waiting for milk since 5:45am [i.e. when he woke], then he's probably be cranky and irritated.  However, he seemed OK.  Does this make sense?  [Needless to say, at 7:00am, he emptied both breasts rather quickly]

Thanks again for all the great advice.

[Dairy Queen]

Will do.

Thank you Stacy!

[Dairy Queen]

Hi again,

He got up at 5:15am [seems to be getting earlier and earlier...] did PU/PD til about 6:15 and then offered the breast and we officially started our day.  He seemed to drink quite well - probably not as well as yesterday when he drank closer to 7am though.  Anyhow, by 8:00am he was ready for his morning nap, but I kept him up until about 9:00.

On a positive note, he slept through the entire night [oh no... am I going to jinx myself?].  It is only day 4 of PU/PD! Yipeeeee! 

[Dairy Queen]

Despite the 5:15am wake, he he napped for only 40 minutes [instead of the regular 90min] this morning... I let his fuss for an extra 20 minutes alone in his crib but finally went in to pick him up.  Should I have left him in there for the full 90 min, since he wasn't really crying?  He was just standing and banging against his crib with a little bit of whining...

Also, how do I adjust the feeding times?  I ususally BF when he wakes up... so I wait the extra 30 min [and opt for A time] and then BF, or BF directly when he wakes, even if he naps only 30-40 minutes?

Thanks!
Sherry

[Dairy Queen]

Thank you Stacy!

When I first posted this thread, my son was waking 3-4 times per night.  I took your advice, and it has been a few days now that he's doing a full 10-11 hours, and is in a much better mood during the day.  Yipeeee!  I can't beleive it took only about a week of 'sleep training'.

Thanks for the great advice