Support and Chat thread for moms of early waking toddlers

[Aly Mac]

if she was consistent with 6am wake up, then I would be happy 

Thanks Layla - she had under an hour this morning, so not too far off (hard to get stuff done in that time hey? - goes so quick), then swimming and fell asleep in the car at 1pm, so we're not doing too bad at 2.05pm...

have a good weekend - thanks for helping me (yet again....) just couldn't see the forrest for the trees.....

[Layla]

Thats great!!! To be honest there wasn't too much of a consistency with the wake up time with us either. It ranged ALOT but I never really adjusted the morning nap to the wake up time... maybe 15mins or so if it was ridiculously early but it was around 6am (5.30 onwards), the morning nap was almost always at 9am.

[Pitkin2]

Hi Layla

Thanks

Did your LO extend night sleep when you cut it down to 1.5 hours?

He is wide awake when he wakes up.

He is also more sensitive to A time in morning so I will try 12 for nap for 1hr 30 mins today.

Also for 2-1 lady - we had all sorts of problems then he just got on track to one sleep !  I know it's hard to wake them up but in the end my LO was having 30 mins in morning and he would be really grumpy when he woke but otherwise he wouldn't sleep in pm.  Don't worry when they switch to one you'll have nice 2 hours to get things done!  And then it all changes again !!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all

[debo620]

well, I've just come back to say tht yup, Noah is only getting 12-12.5hrs at the most----unfortunately this has equated to shorter nights and longer naps:

so usually:
in bed for 7---but goes right to sleep
wakes 5:30ish
nap 11:45---til 2
bed 7

after a few days of this he is better rested overall, so I would like to move things ahead to asleep by 7:30-and sleep til 6 or so.

yesterday:
woke 6--but had been awake at 4:50-5:20 and then back to sleep
nap 11:45-----my dad could not wake him and he let him sleep til 2:45---so 3hrs   WTH??? I told him 2 at the latest.
needless to say he didn't go to sleep til 7:45, and woke at
5:20this am. (I'm lucky it wasn't 4am)

now hes tired today!!! possibly a little catnap this am...

Aleesa, I was going to say that with the 30min am nap, really 2.5hrs later in bed for 2nd nap----no longer or she will be OT for it.

[LisaM]

Layla - thanks for your response.

I haven't tried W2S because although she is fairly consistent with wake ups it is never the exact same time for a long period, she might do say 3 days at 4am and then change to 4.15 or something.  Do you think that matters?

We did try for a really long time leaving the morning nap til later and we never put her down before 8.30am to try and push things on later in the day but unfortunately it made no difference to her whatsoever, to make things more complicated I can't be completely consistent either because dd1 has playgroup on 4 days and 2 or these are mornings and 2 afternoons and it makes a difference which she has as to what times I can fit poor dd2's naps in so I have to wing it a bit at times.

When she has woken at night I haven't fed her, I have gone in and comforted her and most times ended up staying in with her, which tbh I think might have made it worse because I think now she is crying out to see where I am and might be thinking she needs me in there now to sleep!!  Hope not.  She did wake again last night and we did a bit more like wi/wo I think (though I need to read exactly how to do that properly I think).  It still took her a long time to go off to sleep but at least I wasn't in the room the whole time.

I think it may be that she DOES only need 10 hours at night as she has only slept 11 hours about twice in her life and 12 hrs once only!!!  DD1 used to sleep 13 hrs when she was a baby - what bliss!  Anyway, I could live with it if putting her to bed a bit later made an impact but because the 7pm bedtime didn't help she just got by on 9 hours instead, I didn't think I should carry on with that.  What do you think?

BEcause of the NW last night she then slept from 4.15-6.15 (great for her cos normally will only sleep another 45-60 mins after a long wake up) I will try for a nap about 9ish (I really struggle to know when to put her down each time as she normally does 4 hrs A time but can do 5 on playgroup mornings, but if she has a late nap its so hard to get her to go down for 2nd nap plus she will only have a short one if its later in the day).  Should I wake her after 45 mins (seen some of the other posts) and then try for another nap 3 hrs later?

Thanks for your time, sorry this is such a long reply.  Hope everyone else got some good sleep last night and a nice lie-in for the weekend!

[Aly Mac]

Good luck LisaM.!!  I wish L knew when it was the weekend....we got a 5.50am this morning - probably awake since 5.30.  I went in at 5.50am as she was calling out, and we sat and read/played with a book, then she realised, hey hold a sec, milk please! and I bf.  trying to not bf her straight away with weaning in mind in the next 4-6months.  She just seems so ravenous when she wakes - anyone else find this??

Been doing 45min at 9am today - dh thinks i'm mad mind you.... - and down for 1pm but she only slept 1hr.  no bed early unfortunately, so will pay for that tomorrow I think -we had an engagement party to go to this afternoon adn the plan was to take her home aroun 5.30, but couldn't really leave just prior tot he cake, so she was asleep at 7pm....  will continue Layla's plan for this week and see how it goes!!!

hope you all get some late mornings too.

[debo620]

no lie in here!

yesterday:
wake 5:20
refused nap at 10:20
nap 11:45-1:50 I woke him
bed at 6:50--right to sleep
awoke at 4:50am---exactly 10hrs!!!!!! was he OT at bed last night, I sort of thnk so, despite the good nap. he was cranky and sort of hyper at 6:30/6:45---was it too long of a day???

I am so confused now,
I have been trying to limit the nap to 2hrs, but I don't know if it should be earlier in the day since he woke early and then to bed earlier?? or should the nap be even shorter??? how do I do that without leaving him totally OT and awake in the night.

or is he waking after 10hrs because he is just finished sleeping---I am thinking not since he goes right to sleep at bedtime----and then wakes exactly 10hrs later.
 
I am hopeing to get two naps today, that total about 2hrs, and then I'll have him in bed a bit early--so that he'll hopefully play before sleep and not be so OT---does that make sense?? thats whats worked in the past, but he was younger and I think that is what is also confusing me.

[debo620]

ok, see what you ae saying, but what do you think about him going right to sleep when I put him to bed? I always thought this was OT, deep sleep and wake 10hrs later.kwim?

[debo620]

well, I think part of the problem is that he has been waking so early that he ends up being awake for like 6-6.5hrs before a nap at 11:45, which I think sort of leaves him quite tired 5hrs later. KWIM? so ideally he would have his nap earlier but with swimming lessons, play group etc it just doesn't happen.

he looked exhausted this morning and took a 10-15min nap no problem at 10
now hes asleep again at 12:30,

I'll see how long he sleeps, but with the 5am wake-----do I shoot for asleep by 7, or asleep by 7:30?---seems like such a long day...I also have huge trouble trying to figure out how long it will take him to fall asleep, some days its 2min and other days its 30mins--and neither one seems to equate to a better/longer night.

he is also getting those bloody molars,  I have been watching the top right so carefully that I hadn't even noticed that he has the entire top left 2nd year molar. I am sure  that these haev been the cause of some of our NW.

[debo620]

hmmm, well Stacy, I think today was a bust..

wake 5am--in crib til 6:30
nap 10 for 10/15min
nap 12:30-2:20 when I woke him.
exhausted and tired looking by 6:15, asking for a nap at 6:40, we did quiet activity til 7 when I put him to bed
since then he has been crying and kicking his crib---totally OT, 7:40 and I think he might finally be asleep.

he doesn't need alot of sleep but gets OT easily, not a good combo...

I think we will have a rough night.

[rinajack]

Yep see what happens.  Sometimes Zara takes ages to fall asleep when we thought she was really tired earlier, then suprises us with a sleep through.

I am following cues, we haven't had any more wakeup for the days prior to 5am, which is fine, and she was sleeping through for over a week, then got an ear infection.  So, our life is pretty irregular (Zara makes it this way), and sometimes I belong here, sometimes 2-1 thread and sometimes NW LOL.  But on the whole she is pretty happy so I don't mind too much. I now just accept this is the way she is.

[Pitkin2]

Hi again

Well I cut nap back to 1.5 hours and on sat morning he woke at 6.25 am which was great - so he had 1.5 hours at midday then bed at 7pm ( talked until ten past) but then this morning he was up at 5.30 am.

Do you think I should keep with the 1.5 hours ?   I suppose it may take a few days for him to adjust!?

Emma

[**Clare**]

Hey! I forgot I joined this thread! Duh!

Harvey is now sleeping 12 hours at night if he has no sleep in the day and 11 - 11.5 if he does have a nap!! Hes sleeping from 8 until 8 at the mo (without a daytime sleep) havent managed to get him down any earlier to experiment but he did have a late night the other night, went to sleep at 9 and got up at 7 Strange!!

I think it was just getting him comfortable in his new routine and in his bed! He still calls to come out in the mornings which makes me laugh!! LOL

This is a great thread, so much advice and support going around!!

[debo620]

Emma, how did you cut the nap to 1.5hrs with a 5:30am start without making him OT.

did you just push him to 12 and let him nap til 1:30?

I am considering that these 10hr nights don't seem enough!

he woke today 5:30am after asleep last night at 7:40pm.

[Pitkin2]

Hi

Yes did just that.  He keeps going until 12.  I give him lunch at 11 which gives him more energy and he normally eats in highchair and does drawing.

I put him down at 12 today but he was crying so had to go and comfort him but I woke at 1.30 pm opened blinds and door etc and he still laid there - I felt bad as he looked tired but once he was up he was ok.   

Just given him bath and DH is reading to him so going to get him in bed by ten to 7 tonight and see what happens.

I'm so with you on this - I really don't mind if he sleeps until just 6 am every morning but 5.30 am is too early for all of us and it means he has a very long morning.

I've also noticed that he is eating loads at the moment so whether this is going hand in hand with a grow spurt I don't know.   It may be a case of having to ride it out a bit and then everything falls into place that's what happened when we switched from 2-1 sleep.

I'm going to give 1.5 hours sleep until end of week then see if there's a change.   

Emma