8.5 mo early waking. needs help!

[*Liz*]

OT loop  .

I know your pain - DS did this to me a few weeks ago.

Is there anyway you can extend the next nap?

When J woke at 4am and refused to go back to sleep I got him up at 6.30am then put him back down at 9.20am. He woke and cried out for a few after 30 mins, but I ignored him and he went back to sleep, then woke again after another 45 mins and cried a bit harder this time but I ignored him, and after 5 mins he went back to sleep for another 1h 40 mins  . Half the reason I didn't go to him was because I was asleep in the room next door and just couldn't gather myself up. J doesn't go to sleep if I am with him though - only by himself.

When he was younger and clearly OT I could pick him up for a few, repeat my sleepy phrase and resettle. PU/PD just wound him up.

I mean with 2hrs A him will def be tired with such a horrid EW so is there any way you can extend?

[koe2moe]

We're all OT!!!  Thanks for your reply.  

DH got up to get DS up to prevent him crying so loud that would wake me up.  We discussed the plan for next 5 days last night, perhaps he thought he ought to stick with it but it's also possible that he's too tired to think.  

I just put him down A 1h50.  I don't even know to treat this as 1st or 2nd A but he seemed tired.  Hopefully he will be asleep by A 2h.  

I'll try my best to extend and i'll also try to ignore which i never did.  Perhaps I will do a full day of UT, it's better UT than more OT right?  At least hopefully we can get the prebed A to be no more than 3h30.  If he needs to go to bed at 6:30, that's fine.  Would this make things worse?  

ADD:  oh and he also stirred at 1:30.  Previous nights he was sleeping through to 5 or 5:30.  What do these stirrings mean??

Oh how can I tell if he goes to bed at night UT?  There was another day he stirred at 4:30 (he seems to transition always at 4:30) and i got him up as W2S and he wouldnt' go back to sleep.  That A was 3h20 and he slept 1h.  Can it be UT sleep because he had 1 1h nap and 1 1h35 nap that day?  (I'm just trying to understand cause and effect.)  

I know the feeling of not being able to get up.  hugzzzz  we both need support!  Glad yours' over.  Thanks for helping us.

[*Liz*]

((Hugs)) yes I bet you all are OT.

I HATE EWs. I would rather get up 3 times a night to resettle than have to get up for good at 5am. It is just painful.

The night stirrings are likely OT as well TBH. I also find DS enters a very light sleep stage at about 5am. If he is either OT or UT he just wakes up (or if anyone moves in the house  ) but if all is fine he just goes back to sleep.

Do what you think is right today and then post the whole day for me too see as well.

What baby 'type' is he?

The other option we could try is set nap times. Some los do very well with them at this sort of age, but it does result in having to 'ride out' a bit of OT.

Does he have a mantra cry that you know?

[koe2moe]

Hugzzzz... thanks.. i'm sorry that I keep posting...  i'll post the whole day at the end of the day.  Now put him down for 3rd nap, hopefully he will get an hour sleep at least. DH also down for a nap. 

I think I know his mantra criES.. he has tonnes, but when he start really crying with volume increasing, then we just go in.  He did mantra for about 15mins, then started crying.  If this next nap is no good, i'll let him cry longer... (not mantra)  

But he was quite happy after 2nd catnap.  Probably a bit UT after 2 x A2h.  I could be way off.  So I kept this A quiet before and after lunch aiming at around 3h30. 

Oh he's a textbook baby little spirited.  My gut feeling tells me that he likes the 1st A to be 3h.  I'm just not sure how to handle it when he's showing tired cues too early.  Or it he woke too early.  But I'm just guessing.  Before we started EASY (we did it around 12 weeks), he was like an alarm clock, 3h after previous bottle, WAAAAAhhhh woke up for bottle.  Then...  he suddenly wanted to tank up in the evening just like EASY.  All initiated by him.  I was just following his demands.  That's why when I noticed the sudden change from A2h to A3h, he's probably on to something. 

But today, i'll follow his cues.  At least not waking before 5.  It's just so hard.  DH is also working towards deadline for monday.  But he's still helping me heaps. 

The interesting thing is that he didn't have night stirrings for 3 nights.  Those days only 3 catnaps.  If I didn't know about EASY, i would have thought he had less day sleep, so tired enough to sleep through the night.  *pulls hair*  I'm going crazy

[koe2moe]

Quick update!  Super good news!  S 2.5h!!!  So aiming for next A 4h10

we all got a bit rest!!  thanks heaps!

[*Liz*]

I'd go slightly less TBH - remember that will have been a catch up sleep - doesn't mean he can do mega long A's again yet.

BUT yey for the long sleep 

[koe2moe]

oh... u mean 4h or shorter???  uh oh.. might be running late already  

[*Liz*]

4hrs max I would say. 4hrs+ is A LOT for a 8.5 mth old.

[koe2moe]

 A4h05 or 10 he's asleep..... (  i hope i didn't ruin it again.  

wish you a great weekend

whoops should add today:

4:30  wake up A  2h
6:30  S  30mins
7:00  A  2h
9:00  S  30mins
9:30  A  3h30
13:00 S 2h30 
15:30 A 4h05 or 10 
19:35 or 19:40  S

DS is back to himself, very happy, played nicely.  I want to hit my head for putting him to bed late.  DH and I always kid about what DS might say to his shrink when he grows up.  He might just go like this, "my parents always meant well, but they just weren't very good at understanding me...."   hehe

[*Liz*]

That isn't too bad - be interesting to see what time he wakes at least  .

Have a great weekend  

We are just hanging out so no doubt I will be online from time to time.

Or busy correcting OT after letting my DS have 2x 1 nap days  .

[koe2moe]

hope yours won't be as bad as mine!!

DH will be working all weekend.  (Today he ended up taking a 3h nap LOL.  i'm jealous!)  So no work done.  We'll definitely be in!!  I sometimes wonder so many moms just bring their babies everywhere they go whenever.  How do the babies cope and how do moms without EASY cope???  

time to bed nite nite

[koe2moe]

1:30 and 4:30 stirrings.  DH almost got up and I asked him to stay put.  10 mins later, DS settled and fell back asleep!  YAY thanks for the tip soooo much.

5:25 wake up  within 2 mins started crying harder and harder.  So DH got him up.  OT   My bad. 
Another day!  Gotta stay positive! 

[*Liz*]

Yeah - expected really - I think that 2h 30 nap was a ccatch up and he probably needed his final A to still be closer to 3hrs to allow him to 'sort himself out'.

Shoot for a sensible A this morning though - if he isn't doing a good nap with a super short A we need to get him to a sensible A for his age. ie aiming towards 3hrs.

I think if moving towards 3hrs A doesn't help we might need to try set nap times for a while.

Happy napping 

BTW - Jacob woke at 4.50am singing but nodded back off until 6am. So not awful but not great. Think the OT monster is coming here as well  .

[koe2moe]

 

1st A 2h05 S 40mins  cranky
tempted to put him down now for a catnap, it's raining outside, otherwise a walk can calm him or even get a nap into him... 

is it more important to get him rested now or to establish schedule...   

[*Liz*]

Just try and get a bit of sleep into him.

He is being quite resistant to 'catch up' sleep so I think I would just start to shoot for what would be a reasonable routine for him from tomorrow and hope he 'adjusts' to it.

Basically I would get as close to 3hrs A first thing as you can. He is 8.5 mths he MUST be able to do 3hrs, and then I would just stick to 3hrs ish all day including before bed.

I think you are right and he needs a predictable schedule.

We need to aim for something like
Awake 5.30am (aiming to get rid of soon)
Nap 1 8.30am - 10am
Nap 2 1-3pm
Then 7-7.30pm bedtime (7.30pm if he slept the full 2hrs)