Yay! A great night's sleep!! Almost perfect really
I also prefer a NW for hunger to an EW.
Yazzie - oh dear, I think that you are right about adjusting the morning A based on the night sleep. I find myself lacking flexibility lately.
I would imagine the nap should come a bit sooner if the night was short/broken? It is so tricky, isn't it?
I did some reading about sleep in academic journals when pregnant, and apparently there is a trend for babies who wake early to take naps sooner after rising. I think that in general terms we talk about them not having the incentive to go back to sleep when a long nap is coming, which is probably a good way to synthesize it. But, from what I remember, the reason also has to do with the chemicals that are produced in our bodies to induce arousal vs. sleep. The morning nap does indeed become an extension of night sleep (in terms of how the brain functions, *I think*). Overall, if they wake early after quite a bit of sleep, then it is hard for them to fall back to sleep (I think that many moms can identify with this problem!!). So, they get up for a while, but their bodies have sufficient 'sleepy chemicals' to make them tired sooner and then take a good nap. At the end of the nap, they probably feel more like they have woken up for the morning, not from a nap (I have definitely been there myself!). From a practical standpoint (i.e., trying to get a baby to sleep later), the idea behind pushing out the first nap, is to get their bodies used to taking night sleep during the full night (from a biological perspective, inducing arousal/sleep states at more appropriate times). Not sure how easy it is to do though. If you read books targeted at parents regarding infant sleep, they often talk about the importance of the first nap (although some say do an early first nap and keep it short, and then do a long pm after a very long A -- so, who knows if that helps with EWs
).
I am not sure of any scientific evidence about OT and EW - just read it on these boards over and over again (and unfortunately have some anecdotal evidence from DS too). My heart goes out to them when they have an OT EW. I fed my little guy one morning after he woke early to get him back to sleep, and he actually jolted out of my arms - seriously. It frightened me; I can't imagine how he felt. Must be a bit like waking up by falling out of bed, or being hit by a frying pan
I should qualify that I doubt there is any scientific research that has considered multiple predictors of EWs...I was basing my statement (i.e., that OT and the early nap are the best predictors of EWs) on what these boards say (and more generally, what sleep books seem to say). I am sure there are many reasons why they wake early, but it seems that many people have success with limiting them by address these two key issues.
So, in my opinion, I think that the advice on the NW board is probably quite reasonable. Trying to keep the first nap at his max A, and then making sure that the day doesn't get too long. However, hopefully none of this matters and he is already back to sleeping like a CHAMP!!
Argh on the 1 hr nap. Those always confuse me. 1 hr is the max length that I try to extend. Good luck this afternoon!
