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

[Feefeena]

Hi all-am desperate to break my 15.5 month old's EWU cycle. It's pretty much been between 5.20-5.40am since he was about 7 mths old although we do get odd days or weeks here and there that he will wake later so I KNOW he can do it. Seriously considering W2S to break the habit and I did briefly read on this thread somewhere about someone who had been successful with it by doing it for one week solid and by going later each day to stir the child in 10 min increments. Ive tried to find that post again to double check the method but can't seem to find it...can anyone help at all please? Will be v v v grateful...TIA

[*Becky*]

do you mean this?
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=13214.0

[Feefeena]

Yes, thank you! X

[essexlemon]

Bloody daylight saving!

3am anyone?

I've given up trying to get him back to sleep and am now hiding out downstairs for fear of waking his brother. We're working on getting our other DS back to a 4.30 wake up.

Bah

[*Becky*]

oh no! Are things still bad? Have you tried a gro-clock?

[babyrose]

We are also joining this thread, ayden has been waking up at 5 now for ages. He recently dropped the nap in sept and now refuses any kind of nap even in the car: 

B/times are just so early and I feel like its just a vicious circle, just needed to moan a little about it!

[Jessleigh]

Just following along. MY DD just turned 12months. Her WU's had been getting earlier and earlier, hanging out in the 5:30/6 range. 6:20 was a lucky day.

I used to think anything before 6 was crazy early. Now i'm longing for those days back! Now getting wakings in the 4 range (!!)for about a week. i think it's due to OT with trying to adjust things with 2-1 transition, but this is just crazy.

Trying to get her caught up now with doing set nap at 8am (i know, that's crazy early) unless she wakes later than 5, and hoping to get her to sleep as long as possible for 2 naps.

Well, this morning's nap was only 30mins, which means i had to try again for nap #2 2.5hrs later. I got a 1.5 hr nap from 11:40-1:20, but 1:30 is when her 2nd nap normally starts! So I did a super EBT of 5:30. Seems so counter-intuitive! I was so tempted to force a CN on a walk, which she would have been happy to do, to get a later BT, but i know this usually makes things worse.

Having a hard time seeing how this can ever be fixed! Sigh... going to bed at 8:30 lately so i'm not a zombie.

It's no fun feeling like I've somehow royally messed things up when i've been trying so hard (since day 1) to get things right.
I guess it helps to know i'm not the only one.

Here's to early mornings!

[clairebear79]

Hiya jessleigh

Hugs on the ew, they totally suck. We had almost a year of them with ds so i know how it feels, but its just a phase that will end i promise! I never thought id be the one saying this but i often have to wake my almost 2.5yo ds up at 9am now, & he used to be up between 4-5am most days. Just to give you some hope!

One of the biggest things i discovered about ew is that it is strongly linked to the timing of the morning nap, and also to being ot. If the morning nap is too early, then lo is able to catch up on lost night sleep at the morning nap, & so will continue to wake early. And the long days resulting from waking so early will make lo overtired. Both perpetuate the ew cycle. I understand your reasons for the set 8am nap, but i suspect this may backfire & the ew may continue. What worked for us at this stage was to very gradually push the morning nap later, by no more than 10-15mins per week, until it starts no earlier than 9.30am. This will push nap 2 back to the afternoon & eventually enable you to reach a decent bedtime. She WILL get OT so be prepared for that, but if you stick with it for several weeks things will omprove. If by pushing the morning nap later, she starts to refuse her afternoon nap or resist bedtime, then you are in 2-1 territory & need to either cut back one of the naps or push the morning nap out towards 11am & go for the 1 nap. Its a tricky time & i think you'll find once sges fully on 1 nap the EW will go. Hth.x

[Jessleigh]

Thanks Claire!

Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I agree, the 8am is early, but i was desperate to get her caught up as she was only taking 2 30-40 min naps and only sleeping 9.5hrs at night, and that's what another moderator suggested. (OT started bc i was pushing those A times out, but i think it was just too much)

I think it did the trick and we've had 3 days in a row of good naps. One short and one long. and wakings in the 5-5:30 range (yay! never thought i'd be celebrating that).

 So now I'm moving the am nap out again (very slowly).  And because of a 2.5!!! hour pm nap (NEVER done that!)  i was able to get BT out to 6:30. So the advice to slowly move the am nap out is helpful. It will have to be VERY slowly for our LO as she is SUPER prone to OT. Spirited, Touchy = fun times with sleep.

Always good to hear the success stories. 9am!!?? I'd be in heaven. Getting my hopes up to know this won't last forever!

[Mattsmummy]

Hello!
Just jumping on here to see if anyone has any ideas for me...
My DS is 17.5 months...He has been on 1 nap since about 13 month - which was way to early - but nursey forced it as they only do nap once a day...anyway...

He is a chronic EW and VERY prone to OT'ness.

His routine is something like this (bear in mind it varies almost daily)
WU - 4:00am - 5:30am -
A
Nap - 12:30 - he sometimes doesn't fall asleep until closer to 1pm
A
BT - 6:30

He is falling asleep on his own now (thanks to GW) and for the most part STTN - may have one or two short NW...

It is the EW that are just brutal...Sometimes I can APOP him to a later WU but not consistently.

He usually will fall asleep in the car on the way to nursery if he's had a very early morning. This results in a catnap of anywhere between 15-30 minutes...

He has been super cranky the last few days and is starting to teeth his canines (can't see them yet but gums are a bit swollen)...

I suspect his has accumulated OT and that is what is causing the EWU...When we did GW, we did EBT of 5:45-6:00pm and it resulted in later WU but I wouldn't think 30 min would make that much of a difference would it?

Anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? I would be happy with 5:30/5:45 as I have to have him up by 6:00 anyway for work/nursery...

Thanks

[Whatbit]

We got a Groclock for DS when he was almost 2 and it really helped.  We gradually moved the wake-up time to 6 but it has stayed there pretty much since.  Sometimes he sleeps in now but his EWing sister shares the room so... she uses the clock now too but we still have EWs from her but she seems to get it now that it isn't worth yelling until the sun comes up because we won't come get her.  As soon as the sun does come up though she goes from talking to yelling!!  She's 16 months.  If we go in to resettle it just gets bad quickly.  Big hugs. Chronic EWs are no fun at all!

[*Becky*]

uggh, yes we are there too and have been for most of dd's life tbh.
I am hoping a combination of the clock change in April and a Gro-clock around the same time will help.

[Whatbit]

Some kids just are EWers... It would be nice if the next one wasn't!!!  I think DD is currently a bit OT and could use a day or 2 of really good sleep to catch up.  She nodded off twice today which tells me she's super tired but right now she's chatting it up and it's nap time so tonight will likely be rough again.

[gwcarnes]

OK ladies I need help!  I have twins  that are almost 26 months old and we have always done BW.  They sleep in the same room ( don't think they would sleep without each other).  My nights are a total nightmare right now!  One twin wakes up at least 3 times a night and when she does she goes totally crazy!  Screaming, throwing her baby, kicking the wall!  It's awful.  I do WI/WO sometime it just takes once sometimes it may go on for 30 minutes.  Then she almost always wakes between 4- 5:30.  Of course she's so tired she is almost unbearable!  Other twin has always been a good sleeper but has had quite a few NW's lately too.  I try to keep them on the same schedule but it's really hard right now.  However if the they don't wake each other up with the EW I let the other twin sleep.    What's going on?  It's been happening for 2 months now.  Here's our schedule...

4- 5:30 -up/ usually had a few NW's too
11:00-lunch
12:30 - 2:15/2:30/2:45/3:00? Really never know how long she will sleep and almost always wakes crying
5:00 dinner
7:30 bedtime
A few months ago when we were getting 10.5 to 11 hours at night she didn't get up till 6:30 or 7 so she won't napping until 1 and bed at 8.  But I am trying to make up for all the sleep she has lost lately.  What's going on with my child??

[Bexpex]

OK ladies I need help!  I have twins  that are almost 26 months old and we have always done BW.  They sleep in the same room ( don't think they would sleep without each other).  My nights are a total nightmare right now!  One twin wakes up at least 3 times a night and when she does she goes totally crazy!  Screaming, throwing her baby, kicking the wall!  It's awful.  I do WI/WO sometime it just takes once sometimes it may go on for 30 minutes.  Then she almost always wakes between 4- 5:30.  Of course she's so tired she is almost unbearable!  Other twin has always been a good sleeper but has had quite a few NW's lately too.  I try to keep them on the same schedule but it's really hard right now.  However if the they don't wake each other up with the EW I let the other twin sleep.    What's going on?  It's been happening for 2 months now.  Here's our schedule...

4- 5:30 -up/ usually had a few NW's too
11:00-lunch
12:30 - 2:15/2:30/2:45/3:00? Really never know how long she will sleep and almost always wakes crying
5:00 dinner
7:30 bedtime
A few months ago when we were getting 10.5 to 11 hours at night she didn't get up till 6:30 or 7 so she won't napping until 1 and bed at 8.  But I am trying to make up for all the sleep she has lost lately.  What's going on with my child??

Hi there I am new on here. My son has just turned 2 and recently has been waking anytime between 5.15 and 5.45 and if you try to get him back to sleep he has a massive tantrum. I am of the mind set that anything before 6am is still night time. Now i dont mind early but by 10 am he is exhausted and behaviour is dreadful.  He has got a good routine and generally goes to bed without any fuss and also has one nap in the day which lasts anywhere from 1 -2.5 hours.
Any suggestions on how to get him to sleep later?