Hello Baby Whisperers
For the past three weeks or so we have been having lovely early wakings, 5:00 and up for the day. I am at a loss as to how to try and fix this problem, mostly because I can't figure out what is causing it. I am hoping you all have some ideas and suggestions (as I have always received awesome advice here in the past
Here are some of my thoughts, please forgive the rambling, I am confused and have been waking up at 5 every morning.
My one yr old ds has started taking 2.5 hr naps for his first nap of the day (not that this would ever be a problem
it just makes things confusing). I may also add that he has NEVER done this before in his life. I battled the 45 minute nap monster for the first 6 months then had 1.15 minute naps that I was very excited about. So horray longer naps are emerging, however I am thinking that this means he is just beginning to make the 2 to 1 nap transition. Not that I think he is ready, I am just thinking it is comming. This adds another problem to the early wakings, other than being annoying, I can't see how I am supposed to slowly push this nap back to a close to normal midday nap time since he is waking up so so early. Here is what our schedule looks like on a day that he gives me a 2.5 hr nap
5:00 wake and in crib
6:00 out of crib
7:00 bottle
8:30 breakfast
9:30- 12:00 nap
12:00 lunch
1:30 bottle
3:00- 3:45 nap
4:30 bottle
5:30 dinner
6:00 bath/ bed
This seems like too much daytime sleep??? I've tried pushing his bed time later for about four days but that didn't change the early wakings. He is also so tired, rubbing his eyes and cranky, if I try an keep him up that late at night.
I am thinking he still needs that pm catnap, which would be another way to cut down on daytime sleep, because I'm not sure he can make it from 12 till bedtime, honestly I am a bit afraid to try. Do you think I should???
Another theory of mine is that maybe he is just stuck in a 5:00 am wake up rut. I would be thinking that if this is the case I should try w2s at around 4:00 am. I haven't tried this yet because I am still trying to wrap my head around this whole thing.
Now to complicate this further, occassionally I can get him to fall back to sleep at 6:00 am. If I go in his room, change his diaper and do a mini wind down, it almost jump starts his sleep pattern and on those days he will go back to sleep till 7:00. Still early wakings the following morning though. Here is our routine on those days.
5:00 wake
6:00 diaper change/mini wind down
6:15-7:00 back to sleep
7:00 bottle
8:00 breakfast
9:45/10:00- 11:00 nap
11:30 lunch
1:30 bottle
2:00- 2:45 nap
4:00 bottle
5:00 dinner
5:30 bath/bed
HELP! All suggestions welcome
