11 month old and EW's - need advice

[NancySipera]

My 11.5 mo used to sleep until 7am but in the last month or so, has been waking up earlier and earlier each morning. We are now at 6:15am and my DH and I are not sure what to do - and we're tired! I read some posts on this, and it looks like I should cut back her naps and increase her A time. But I don't want to wind up with an OT child either.

I'm posting her schedule below. I appreciate your help, thank you!

Wake Up: 6:15: crying in crib, not usual happy self (as when she sleeps until 7am)
E: 7am: 8 oz bottle
A: 6:15-9:30am
S: 9:30-10:30 or 11am
E: 11am (cereal, finger foods + 5 oz bottle)
A: 11am - 1:30pm
S: 1:30pm - 2:30pm, sometimes until 3pm
E: 3pm (cereal, finger foods + 5 oz bottle)
E: 6pm (cereal, finger foods + 8 oz bottle which she usually finishes by 7:30pm)
A: 3pm - 7
S: 7:45pm

I have tried a catnap at 5:30 and she used to take them, but not in the past few months. What should I do differently?
With her EW's she's getting 10 hrs of sleep at night + 2-3 hours of naps.

[deckchariot]

I'm guessing it's time to start the 2 to 1 switch.  that's about the only time we ever got EWs with dd.  have you checked out this link:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95670.0  it's got some really helpful suggestions on the 2 most common ways to begin the transition.

hth
michelle

[NancySipera]

I read through the postings on 2-1 transitions. Yesterday I made sure my LO didn't sleep longer than 1 hr and 15 mins for each nap. I clearly woke her on the am nap before she was ready - and she went down easier for the afternoon nap. I kept her up until 8pm, 15 mins later than her usual bedtime. The result? this morning she woke up 15 mins earlier than the day before - 6am. UGH.

I went into her room at 6am after a few minutes of her crying, and did PU/PD and stayed in her room, standing by the crib for 30 mins, because when i tried to leave she started crying. when i stood next to the crib, she layed back down and talked to herself, but didn't go back to sleep. I didn't want to wake up the rest of my family with her crying, and i'm not sure what the next step is in this situation.

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do when I go into her room that early in the morning - do I try to keep her in her crib until her usual waking time, or should I just take her out and begin her day? Thanks.

[deckchariot]

It can take several days of routine tweaking before you see a change in her wake up time, so don't despair on that.  I notice that her first nap is pretty early in the day, so in addition to limiting total nap length, I might try extending that A time a bit.  Early naps can often reinforce EWs.

How you handle the EW is really up to you.  Most mums have a "no earlier than X" time to start their day, so anytime lo wakes up before that, they do pu/pd or whatever to get them to go back to sleep.  Or if they're not crying, just leave them.  For us, it's 7am - so anything before that, we do wi/wo to keep her in bed til 7am.

I would keep working with tweaking her routine towards the switch and see if that helps.

[NancySipera]

So here's the update since my first post 6 days ago - I've cut down my LO's nap times to 1 hour in the am, and 1 hr 15 mins in the afternoon. I've pushed back her bedtime from 7:45pm to 8pm-8:15pm.
By bedtime she's so tired that she's putting her head down on the sofa. Then once she's in her crib, not a peep - she's zonked.

She's waking up in the morning at 6:15 - mantra crying, then back to sleep on her own, then up at 6:30, crying, not the mantra crying that she does when she's putting herself to sleep, but a crying that just gets louder and more upset. I turn on her music, pat her back and she lies down again. At 6:45am, she's crying and my DH takes her out of the crib.

So the good news is that she's waking up later than last week. But this crying and frequent wake-ups are new to me. Not usual for my LO. She turns 12 months this week - is this normal for this age?

My other question is about bedtimes - my gut tells me that keeping her up later isn't helping her. I've read that "sleep begets sleep" - i'm thinking of putting her down to sleep at 7:30pm or back to her earlier schedule. Your thoughts on this?

[deckchariot]

If you think she's OT by bedtime - by all means put her down earlier!  Especially since she's waking so early, the 13.5 hr day may be too long for her. 

Have you been able to extend the A time before that first nap any?  If it's too early, it can actually reinforce the EWs.  This is a really tough time, because of the 2 to 1 switch.  I'd check out the support thread on naps and Toddler Sleep and you can get some other routine ideas from there as well.

{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}

[NancySipera]

I read through many of the posts about EW...and I am certainly not alone! And it could be much worse!

By accident this week I came upon a success - my LO took a 30 min nap in the morning and wouldn't go back to sleep. Then 2 hrs 45 mins later she napped for 1 hour 45 mins. The next morning she slept until 7:10am!

My experimenting with shortening the morning nap to 45 mins, plus a 1 hour/15 mins nap in the afternoon is giving me the same EW results.

What do you think of a "power nap" in the am?

[deckchariot]

by all means do it    She's definitely ready for the 2 to 1 switch - that 30 min nap is really just a catnap to get her through til her pm nap which is her "proper" nap for the day.  Eventually, you'll just ditch that 30 min catnap, move her pm nap a wee bit earlier and you'll just be on one nap.   I think it's fantastic!

[NancySipera]

the last 2 days her wakeup has been 7am. My fingers are crossed as I write this that it keeps up. This morning I had to wake her at 7:10! yay!

So she's sleeping 11 hrs at night, and 1 hr 30 mins for naps - that doesn't seem like it's enough for a 12 month old. Is she on the low end for napping hours?

[deckchariot]

If she's happy and content during the day, I'd say she's just fine   Her sleep totals are about 1 hr less than "average".  If her waking starts to creep earlier, I'd suspect some accumulated OT.  Is there a particular reason you woke her this morning?

[NancySipera]

I am a bit delayed in responding, so I probably woke her because I had to go to work that day.
I have been keeping her on the am cat nap and afternoon 1 hour + 15 min nap - but I am getting some NW - 1am, 2am, then 5am last night - each time she puts herself back to sleep - but it wakes me up and DH, not so great.

And then some mornings she wakes up an hour early and she's crying terribly. I have been taking her out of her crib - which I really don't want to do - but I know she's not going back to sleep. What do I do in these instances?

[deckchariot]

That sounds like OT is creeping in to me.  Will she sleep longer in the pm than 1 hr 15?  If so, I'd let her go longer.  If she's naturally waking at that time, I might let her catnap go a bit longer.  Can you post her EASY routine so we can see when she's taking those naps?

[NancySipera]

Here was today's schedule:

Up at 630
E: 6:45 (7 oz bottle)
A:6:30 - 9:30 (did not fall asleep until 9:50, did some crying and then settled herself)
S: 9:50-10:30 am
E: 11am (bottle and lunch)
A: 10:30-1:30pm** (did not fall asleep until 2pm, needed PU/PD today which is unusual)
S: 2-3:20pm (I woke her, as she was sleeping through next meal)
E: 3:20 (bottle and meal)
A: 6pm (bottle and dinner)
bath
S: 7:30pm (usual bedtime is 7:45 pm but she was showing signs of being tired)

**I would have tried to hold her off until 2pm, but she nearly fell asleep on the way home from errands while in the car, so I thought I'd put her right into her crib, but I guess she got a second wind which explains the difficulty in putting her down.

No trouble putting her down for BT at 7:30pm

I don't know what tomorrow will bring....her naps were longer today than usual - hope she doesnt' wake up too early. But I have been reading other posts about earlier bed times, and I am curious to see what will happen if I move her bedtime up by 15 mins.

[NancySipera]

An update: LO awoke at 7am this morning - hooray!
(I gave her meds last night for a bumped lip - that could have helped too:) looking forward to hearing what you think about her schedule. thank you again

[deckchariot]

Glad you got a later wake up today!!! 

I actually was going to suggest moving her bedtime earlier   (see - you're already on the right track!).  Most bubs at her age are still doing best on roughly a 12 hr day/night - though you do sometimes need to extend the day as you go through the 2 to 1 transition. 

Her overall A times seem a little on the low side - so I might try pushing forward that first nap just a tad - 3 hrs is more like what a 7/8 mos would be doing.  Since it looks like she's OT, I wouldn't wake her from that 2nd nap.  At her age, you want to aim for 3 - 3.5 hrs of total day sleep and 11.5 hrs at night.  So if she naps for 40 min in the am, you'd like her pm nap to be closer to 2 hrs.

I know it gets a bit wonky with meals as you're going through the switch.  I remember splitting my dd's lunch/snack - 1/2 before the nap and 1/2 after the nap - that way she wouldn't wake from hunger, but would also have something to eat when she woke to get her through til dinner.

You can check out these threads to get an idea of how other mom's are organizing their routines as they go through the switch:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=172444.0 (for bubs less than 1 yr old) and http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=173945.0 (for bubs who've turned 1 already)