Support and Chat thread for parents of Early Waking Toddlers #2

[Khalam's Mama]

I am joining in because 5.40 wake up is also a small victory in my house.
I am currently trying to cut naps in the day and do W2S in the mornings and we are having some success.I was getting 5am wake ups consistently but I have had 5.20, 5.40 and 6.40 the last few days and STTN last night so hopefully getting there. I would be happy with a 6.30 wu every day as I am back to work on thursday even though we used to enjoy 8-8 schedule so much.
Jane even though you got a 5.30 wake up this is almost 11 hrs sleep for him so maybe you will get consistent 11 hr nights and be able to shift the whole day soon like when clocks go back?

[Tweakster]

Our molars took from 9.5 - 12.5 mths to finalize.  It was brutal with a capital B - he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't sleep, he was clingy and fussy.  But once they were in, things got infinitely better and we didn't have any canine issues.  Some do though.  What you posted is a good day really, I know it's no solace but you are really doing all you can - hang in there :-)

[Khalam's Mama]

We ended up with a 1 nap day for the first time in ages so I am praying we don't get a really EW or lots of NW. I would be happy with 6.30 wu after 7.30 BT but it has been months since I got this so I am not sure why I am even thinking about that.
I go backto work this week thursday so maybe I will stop obsessing over naps then. Hopefully DH will sort it out. LOL.

[*Jo*]

ugh, back to 5.20am again..... so have done a 15min AM nap in the car and then another nap at 12.40, heres hoping that he sleeps long enough.
Do you think now hes having a later nap that i could push the bedtime back to 7pm or do you think this will result in another EW after being up since 5.20am?

[janecharlotte]

What time have you been putting him to bed when he wakes at 5.20?

[*Jo*]

depends if i get a catnap out of him, with a catnap in the PM i get a 6.30pm bedtime, wihtout its 5.30-6pm but with a long PM nap im just not sure. its now 2.10pm and hes slept 1.5 hours so not sure what to do

[janecharlotte]

Hmm in our situation I found that pushing it out too late meant a 5.30EW. I guess he still needs to catch up on sleep. What about 6.45?

[*Jo*]

yeah i think 6.45 is good, will try that thanks!

[janecharlotte]

Good luck, mine has gone down at 6.30- too early for me but she is sick and am expecting a long night.

[Khalam's Mama]

Yesterday DS woke at 5am and DH did pupd until 6 and he slept again until 8. I had hoped he would sleep later today and he woke 5.30 (at least not 5am) and Itied to pd until 6am but he was just awake so I didn't. I am going to move W2S back to 4.30 (did at 4.15 today) and hope this will yield the same results as a few days ago. i just want 6.30!!!

Do you guys do early BT with EW? I find the waking just gets earlier until it is a NW. I can't help but think if he does 10hr nights I have to do 14hr days. What do you think?

[Tweakster]

We had to, but only until he started pulling a longer night, and that only happened after teeth were through.  We now get 10.5 fairly regularly, although I hate saying that out loud for fear of rocking the boat.  10 hrs or less is actually short for us now and we would do earlier bedtime in that case to get him rested so we can push out his day the next day.  And this is from a kid who never did 11-12 hr nights from the get go.

IMO a NW is much better than an EW, we could get Finn back at a NW but never really at an EW, if he was too rested.  So that is why we went with a later bedtime, longer day, so that the chances of getting him back to sleep are greater for us when he's not as rested at that waking.  But we balanced this with a good nap at the right time.  It's tricky business and you really have to know your kid well...or as well as you can with these question marks :-)

With W2S we actually found that an earlier W2S helped more, so we would do it around 3 a.m. or so and then he would make it beyond 5:30 most times.  It was the best we could get.  If we did W2S at 4:30 we were in danger of him being up for the day then.

Hopefully the other girls will be along to share their stories :-)

[Khalam's Mama]

I have done W2S at  4.30 a few times and got a 6.20 and 6.40 wu so I am thinking that is ok. When I did 4.15 I got 5.30 so I will see. He has woken at 3am the last few nights anyway so I can't do W2S then. If it continues I will have to do W2S for that too! I did wonder if this would be enough to reset him but he has done this several times when ill and still woke at 5am. I might push it a bit earlier if 4.30 doesn't help though thanks Wendy. To be honest I could live with a late BT and 10hr nights but the later I put him the earlier he wakes and sometimes ends up with only 8hrs!!!. Saying that he went at 8.45 this this evening after a late pm nap so I hope he will sleep ok. He went down beautifully so I hope that will bode well. He is too like his Dad, wants to sleep all day and be up half the night.

[blueangelmilw]

Ugh! These early days are wearing me out. DD (Taylor) is 21 mo. A typical day goes something like this:

5:00/5:30am - Up for day. I keep her in her room until at least 6:00am, trying to get her back to sleep. Sometimes it seems like she's falling asleep, but then she pops up and starts talking or playing.
6:00am - Open curtains, turn off white noise, change diaper -- start our day. Give her some milk and dry cereal to tide her over until breakfast.
8:00am - Breakfast
10:00am - Morning snack
11:00am - Nap (1.25 - 2 hours)
1:00pm - Lunch
4:00pm - Afternoon snack
6:00pm - Dinner
7:15pm - Diaper, pajamas, brush teeth, read stories
7:30/7:45 - Bedtime!

She had frequent NW until May, when we implemented PU/PD. It worked great and she did really well. She STTN, took great naps, and woke up happy.

Over the past month, I've phased out the last two nursing sessions each day. Now she's waking early and crabby, and not napping for as long. And she starting to wake up once each night. Last night, she woke up twice. It's obvious that she's still tired when she wakes up, but I just can't get her back to sleep after 5:00am (sometimes even earlier!). She yawns, rubs her eyes and is all-around whiny and clingy. Sometimes, she asks to nap as early as 9 or 10am, but that doesn't work. She won't take a second nap later in the day, then she's crabby as sin for dinner. So, keep her awake until later in the morning.

I suspect the regression has to do with weaning, plus she's showing signs of being ready for potty training.

Any suggestions on how to get her back on track?

Thank you,
Cheri

[anna*]

At about this age Cheri you could try one of those clocks that show LOs when it's night and when it's daytime. Or a string of fairy lights on a timer switch.

I do think bedtime is pretty late considering such an early start. The NWs would seem to bear this out. Have you tried an early bedtime, like 6.30pm? I would definitely aim to have her asleep no later than 7pm after a 5.30am start, unless she had a super long nap.

[blueangelmilw]

At about this age Cheri you could try one of those clocks that show LOs when it's night and when it's daytime. Or a string of fairy lights on a timer switch.

I'll definitely look into something like that. Thank you!

I do think bedtime is pretty late considering such an early start. The NWs would seem to bear this out. Have you tried an early bedtime, like 6.30pm? I would definitely aim to have her asleep no later than 7pm after a 5.30am start, unless she had a super long nap.

Unfortunately, that will be difficult. We eat dinner at 6:00pm because that's when DH gets home from work. We're usually done eating around 6:30/6:45, then Taylor needs time to wind down. This 30-45 minute stretch is the only time DH gets to spend with Taylor during the week and it's really important to him. He has even left work dinners early just to get home in time to kiss her good night.

I suppose we can try earlier dinners and bedtime on the weekends and see how it goes. If it helps significantly, maybe DH can check and see if he can start & end his work day a little earlier? I don't know if it's possible, but I can ask.