How do I stop 5am wake up?

[okinawamama]

his bed time is 6:45-7ish. He doesn't usually have trouble going down at night ( 80% of the time goes down without a peep, sometimes I have to shh/pat and very rarely I have to intervene more than that). The time when I have a harder time putting him down is nap, he'll talk to his feet, play with the crib  bars and maybe cry out (but very rarely actually cry) and then fall asleep. Also, does an OT baby always wake from a nap and cry? This morning after 2hr 20min awake he woke at 38ish minutes, and was talking babbling, singing....do you think he was OT or UT? Thanks ladies!

[marlowsmom]

I've heard that an OT baby wakes crying.   Maybe he's UT?  Maybe our kids are just built to have short naps?  God, I hope not.   She's had longer naps before.   I just don't know what to do.

[marlowsmom]

Success with W2S last night!    She woke at 215 for a BF and went back to sleep by 3am (that is late for her)   I went in at 4 am and moved enough that she kinda opened her eyes but then closed them and went back to sleep.   She woke me up at 630!    I was wrong earlier about W2S for night sleep.   You do go in one hour before her usual wake time.    Its the naps that you go in during the deep sleep cycle.    Anyway, make sure you get them to really move.   I picked up my LO and moved her across the crib a bit and kinda adjusted her position.   

[Tweakster]

If things don't get better for us I am going to try it.  3:30 this morning DH says (I was lucky and heard nothing until 4).  DH finally went in at 5 or so and changed diaper, rocked and got him back to sleep.  He was up for the day at 7:30.

He was also awake at 10:30 last night...stuck in the corner of the crib banging his head.  He wouldn't go back down and was screaming while I was rocking him so DH gave him a bottle and then nothing until 3:30.

Arrrgh...what is going on with 6 months!!!!

[marlowsmom]

I think our culprits are teething and crawling.   A cold or allergies were in the mix but I think that is over with for now.   I hope.    I also think I wasn't feeding her enough solids during the day.   

[MommytoJashn]

Wanted to know why would jashn wake at 2:30? Stuffy nose? Hunger?

How do I know she has had enough solids? Since she is bf I find it really diff to estimate if she has had enough

marlow's mumma : may be next time u could try keeping a pod of pealed broken garlic some where close while the LO is asleep will keep stuffy nose at bay

I know it is stinky but really helps

wendy: you are right when was I ever in control! Lol

Today is my third night doing W2S hoping I will break this 4:30 wake up habbit! wish me luck!

Life right now is really tough hubby is away for a few weeks and I have to manage all the wakings my self plus be back at work every morning am feeling constantly exhausted(apologies for the rant )

[marlowsmom]

MommytoJashn,
As far as feeding solids, I was told by Jane to give bottle feed then one hour later give solids.   I did it backwards last night on purpose to test how it would work out for my LO.    This AM I gave her a BF at 730 then solids at 830, then nice wind down and she was asleep by 920am.   She just woke up and at 1042am.  AWESOME!!
Has Jashn always woken up at 230 am?   Was she stuffy when she woke up?   I would give my LO saline nasal spray about 5 min before bedtime then suction out whatever mucus was in there.

[MommytoJashn]

No she has not woken regularly at  2:30 the season here is changing and the room gets really cold some where post mid night which gives her a stuffy nose that's my theory

I wanted to know about how to gauge amount of solid and milk that I am giving her is enough?

[marlowsmom]

I'd give her her normal bottle feed first (6oz) then one hour later give her about 2 tblsps of rice cereal (if she is just starting out eating)   For my LO I make about 3-4 tblspns and give her as much as she wants.    As a feed her solids, I touch her bottom lip with the spoon.  If she opens then I put it in.    My LO has been eating solids for about a week now.   Today I fed her half a small jar of peas and about 4 tblspns of rice cereal for breakfast and then the same for lunch.   My LO bottles are 4 hours apart and her meals are about 4 hours apart too.    I finish her solids feed about 30 min before her naptime.  I'm sure your LO will give you clues that she is done.   She may bat at your hand, turn away, or cry out.    Your main concern is her bottle feed since that is where the core of her nutrition comes from.    Does that help?

[okinawamama]

yay for W2S working. I've toyed around with the idea because we're getting into some habitual wakings right now, but we're getting to go on a vacation next week and I don't want to have to deal with it now, so I think we will when we get back. I never go in and get him during the NW, and I'm not even sure he's fully awake when he cry's out, so I just don't know why he doesn't just stop it already . Ugh. Today has been a TERRIBLE nap day, two 30 minute naps and he's in his crib fussing/crying just so I can get a decent ammt of time to myself. When does this ever end?

[marlowsmom]

Well since the W2S worked last night, I had two good naps today!!!   Yeah!!    It's possible if you try to stop the NW now you may have it taken care of before your vacation.    I have to do W2S for the next few nights and hopefully that'll do the trick.   Have you posted your schedule yet?

[okinawamama]

Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and do it He used to be a great night sleeper, and still had horrible naps, but maybe there's hope that one might fix the other. Here's my "schedule" for the past two days.

7:15ish 8oz
8:30 solids
9:35- 10:15ish he wakes up cooing and playing in his crib and overall happy.
10:45 6oz
11:30 solids
12:15- 12:55 ish will sometimes wake crying, try shh/pat and he thinks I'm playing and will have nothing to do with going to sleep
2:30 6oz
3:00-3:40ish sleep
5:30 4oz
6:00 solids
6:30 bath
7:00 bottle and sleep
he then has started habitually waking at 11:30 and 5. Neither time I go to him and he usually falls asleep fairly quickly.

Do you think the night waking are due to OT? When you did W2S did you set an alarm or just try and wake up?

[okinawamama]

also, I've played with the first awake time and it just doesn't seem to make a difference. For two days 2hr 20 min A gave me a long nap, but then when used again, it yields a short nap. I've tried longer and shorter and just can't seem to get it right.

[marlowsmom]

Well last night my LO got great sleep and her naps were 100% better today.    I say bite the bullet and try to W2S for at least the next 4 days.    It may take longer.   I do think you have to get the night wakings under control if you want the naps to improve.    It's all connected.    I have an extra bedroom next to the baby's room so I set an alarm to go off one hour before.   I reluctantly hauled my self out and over to the crib.   I picked her up under her arms, raised the upper portion off the crib and dragged her about one foot up and layed her down kinda on her side.   She half opened her eyes, readjusted and fell back asleep.
 Have you tried 2 hr 45 min from the moment he wakes?    If I'm reading your schedule right it seems that he is only getting 2 hrs A time.   Go for longer but no more that 2hr 45min.    If his first nap is short then his next A time will be about 2hr or 2 hr and 15 min.   
  We are going away for the weekend in about 2 weeks and I don't want a EW baby that is cranky and doesn't nap well.   It'll make me cranky.     Go for it!   What do you have to lose?

How old is he?   How does he fall asleep?   Is there a prop of some kind involved?

[marlowsmom]

Okinawamama,  I also noticed your LO doesn't get a nap between 340 and 7pm.   That is too long of a stretch.   At least try to get another 30 min out of him.   It will help.