Support and Chat thread for moms of early waking toddlers

[debo620]

Stacy, is that your dog? I always thought it was bigger !?!

yesterday, nap--layed him down at 12, he fussed about til 12:20 and napped til 1:45
bed just before 7 and right to sleep! I am never all that sure how long it will take him---sometimes 5min and others 30!
awake in the night, cried out a bit but I didn't rush in and then all quiet---so probably awake 30min or so.
awoke at 6

anyway, moveing on---all is better since I joined and were geting 4am starts after the time change!

Thanks for all your support everybody, especially Stacy---I've always appreciated your help!

[debo620]

I thought I had moved but....

yesterday
nap was 12-2---I figured he needed the 2hrs because of the NW night before (probably 10hr of sleep that night)
bed and asleep by 7:15

woke in the night around 1am----back to sleep on his own with some crying off and on---probably 30min or so
woke at 5:30am

so again, is this OT?---considering the NWs
or am I not able to allow him the 2hr nap if his night has been decent 10hrs or more.

at work today, no idea what DH has done or what Noah has napped today.

[Aly Mac]

Deb how's it been going?

the adjusted routine has worked a treat, though now she seems to be fussing more for her afternoon nap.  I know this isn't about ew, but I think if I don't address it, it will come back that way.  This is what I'm doing:

6 wake up
9.15 - 10 nap
1pm start nap, but doesn't go down til 1.30 - sleeps til 2.45 or so
7 sleep.

Should I just start the 2nd nap later and be done with it? Or should I reduce the first nap to 30mins?  The wake and sleep time is going well - I know it's still early, but suits our weekday routine as DH gets to see her that way. (weekends of course later would be good, but you can't have it all!)

my gut says, to just make the nap later, as long as she's not fussing.  If she fusses, then I would shorten the first nap.

Any thoughts?  is my gut working??

[debo620]

Aleesa, I think that routine looks good--an extra 30min in her crib in the afternoon won't hurt her. seems as though you are getting about 13hrs and two good naps---so I would personally leave it be.
only cut to 30min in the am, if the pm nap cuts to 45min or you are getting EW again.

we are still not doing great!
think we are averaging 11-12 right now and it sucks!
last night was probably 10.5hrs or so
slept 7pm-5:30am, woke happy stayed in crib til 6:30
was going to try and shorten his nap today to 1hr 40min--have been letting him sleep 2hrs or more.
so put him down at 11:40--planning to wake him 1:30 or so
but he woke at 1:10---so probably slept 1hr20min

its 4:30pm and he is saying nap nap and laying on the sofa---don't think he'd atuallly take a nap if I tried though

[debo620]

I think I'd be happy with a longer nap and shorter night if our day just started later and ended later, but not so, I can't shift his bedtime from 7,  later to bed and hes up 1hr early.

so I'm back to thinking 1.5 hr nap---to see if I can get an 11hr night.
2 hr naps that end at 2 and he goes right to sleep, plays in the night for a bit and wakes early----in the end he is still quite tired at activities and such in the morning.

but today was a 1hr 20min nap after a 10.5 hr night and 5:30am start so in bed for 6:20--but still played til 7.

I'm off to bed early.

[rinajack]

Just spent a week in another state (different time zone).  The result - no wakeups pre 7am LOL (but that was 6am our time - so for Zara, still very good).  Short nights though...out to dinner and all that.  We all had a ball, but am expecting trouble now that we are home...it is 9:15 she still isn't asleep for the night (thanks to a late nap), and because daddy has laid with her to sleep for the last week, not so sure she will manage this on her own.

[LisaM]

Hi all

Well, things have been going a little better the last few days, the last NW we had was Friday night and was only for an hour so for Grace that was brilliant.  Last night she actually slept til 5.30am!!!  Wow, I know to most people (even on this post) that is early but to us when its usually 4-4.30am, its a lovely long lie-in!  We have been trying for later bedtimes and trying not to go in to her unless we feel she really needs us because I am convinced that she is trying to get us in the room since the NW started after she'd been ill and I had sat in with her.  The EW are another matter but I think she will only ever sleep around 10 hrs so we have to go with the later nights else we will never move on.  Naps have been better and she has been going down for them with no trouble again which is lovely.  I had thought maybe she was sure she was ready for 1 nap but thank god she is back to 2 a day at the moment.

Anyway, just thought I would update that we had a good start to the day today - if she ever wakes as late as 6am I will explode with joy!! 

Hope everyone has a good morning tomorrow.

[debo620]

well Stacy, to be honest I havn't really been waking him from his naps at all, I was just letting him sleep what he wanted until any sort of pattern emerged. I would much prefer a 11hr hr night and 1.5hr nap day to day is not consistant enough to even try that!

lastnight was pretty awful. I don't think its me, its him being OT.
he woke at 3:30, played and talked til 4:15 when he started really crying, so I did give pain meds just in case, now that was the only time I went in there.
he cried a few more times at like 5:30 and then was finally back to sleep at 5:45 or something and he slept til 7:50 when I woke him.

not sure when I should even try for a nap today, I am thinking still btwn 12/12:30

[samijoe]

deb....i still thinking noah is doing what he is doing, cuz he needs to do it.  although, i have to admit that you don't seem to stick with things consistently enough---unfortunately, this makes noah seem like he isn't sticking to anything either!  i'm with stacy---i would stick with the plan from last wk and let it ride for a few wks.

alessa~ i think that was your name---if she plays till 130pm, that is fine.  if she was grizzling and sounded like she was having a hard time going to sleep, i would be worried.  but really, she is extending her A time....and doing it in bed is the safest place.  she will fall asleep---just note times and see if she is consistently staying awake till the same time for nap 2.  and if she does fall asleep too late, maybe give a shorter nap to preserve bedtime.  good luck.



hth
sami

[samijoe]

oh deb, i also wanted to say that sometimes my dd does that 'tired' thing around 4pm-ish.  it could be a good nap day, a no nap day, a bad nap day....doesn't matter.
i let her know that it is ok to be tired, and tell her that she can go put the blanket out on the floor and have a rest.  sometimes her and the cat will lay on that blanket for half hour....playing, reading, but resting.  i don't think about putting her to bed...goodness, if she was that tired, she SHOULD fall asleep right on the floor.  BUT she almost never falls asleep there.  just wants a bit of time to relax.
noah probably does enjoy being able to tell you he is tired.....most by this age can as well.  but tired and bored are really really close in my books----

hth
sami

[debo620]

ok, so I really am trying to be consistant with a 7pm bedtime and he falls asleep when he wants, and a nap around 11:45.

realsistically though, considering we have 6hrs before the nap (which is usually ok), when should bed be on a short 1hr 20min nap???
that was yesterday.
And then a 2.5hr NW lastnight---thats OT and difficulty getting back to sleep when OT.he  layed in bed for 2.5hrs mostly fidgeting and fussing about--kind of like insommnia, kwim?
so we all slept way past our normal time, and he has just fallen asleep now at 12:30.

[samijoe]

when should bed be on a short 1hr 20min nap???

deb.  at the start of this whole transition, things like nap length used to seem to matter for us here.  now i am finding, with dd being older, that a 1hr 20min nap to her was as good as a 2hr one.  it's NOT always what i want for nap length, but it's fine for her---for that day.  i still put her to bed at the same time---unless i see that she is dying!  don't just assume that because he short napped for one day, then had a 2.5hr nw'ing, that it is ot.  Maybe he had banked enough sleep over the last few days and just wasn't tired enough??  Or maybe his teeth decided to bug him.

However, the one thing i think would have helped you...is to have woken him up for the day when you want it to start.  No fail...dd may sleep for as long as she wants...but when that clock says 730am, i wake her no matter what happened thru our night.  Then i think about and look for signs that she may need to nap 15mins earlier or so....but her having that consistent time to get out of bed---woken or woken on her own, i feel is important.

OMO.  hth
sami

[debo620]

thanks guys! I apreciate the fact that you have run out of ideas!

I think I'm mostly just venting, because there doesn't seem to be a lot of solutions.

All I can really say is that I am most concerned with accumalated OT, which is why he is so sensitive to A times, short naps, etc. if he was well rested I don't think he would be so touchy at his age.
and if he wasn't OT, then that rouitne you posted there Stacy, would work fine...

when I say I let him sleep, I guess I should of said to a max of 2hrs---

sami, we NEVER sleep past 6am, so when I woke and the clock said 7:30 and Noah was sound asleep, well we don't usually need an alarm clock.

so with his later and yes less then ideal wake today, he didn't fall asleep til 12:30, when ishould the nap end?
keeping in mind asleep by 7:30 is the best for him.

[samijoe]

 



good luck

sami

[debo620]

woke on his own 2:10