Goodbye SA....Hello EWings

[Tao]

Hello All,

With the help of Sian and other wonderful moms here and a bought of WIWO, my DD finally sleeps normally again at BT. Though she whines a bit when I first put her down, the minute I close her door, she lays down with her dollie and we are good. This is amazing success from her previous screaming and standing in her crib for seven hours straight!

Anyhow, now that SA is diminished, her EWings have become earlier and earlier. This is what our routine has been looking like:

5:00/5:30 a.m. Wake
11:30-12:30 Nap
6:00/6:30 BT

Today she woke at 4:30 a.m.! We've noticed that if she wakes in the a.m. and STANDS UP, she will rarely go back down. So, if she wakes before 6 a.m., my DH goes in and holds her and they sleep for a bit longer in the recliner. He has probably become a prop but in the past if she woke earlier than 6 a.m., it helped to get an hour or 2 more of sleep. Plus, we were usually desperate to just get some more shut eye ourselves! However, lately she doesn't go back for very long. So today, she woke at 4:30 and he held her and she went back for 30 more minutes. That's it. So he did an early nap and she slept until 12:30. Then, I have to put her down early for BT because otherwise she will be OT for BT.

I'm pretty sure she's running pretty OT right not because she's only getting about 10.5 hours of sleep plus 1 hour nap daily. She has always been pretty low sleep needs but before the whole SA episode her day would look like:

6-6:30 a.m. Wake
1:00-2:00 Nap
6:30/7 BT

This was an awesome schedule and I wish I could get back to it.

My question is:

1) Should I attempt WIWO in the morning
2) Could the fact that my DH goes in in the morning made it a habit to where she's used to waking up and "finishing" her sleep with him?
3) How do I extend her morning wake up. She usually has a hard time in the morning when she wakes. She stands and screams.
4) Could we be in an OT cycle where she wakes early, so I have to give her an early nap, which makes for an early BT, and early BT creates EWings?

I appreciate any insight. My DH is out of town a lot and mommy REALLY doesn't want to start the day at 4:30!

Hugs to you all!

Christine

[sianie]

Hi Christine!

Remind me how old your DD is?

I always find the link below useful when it comes to EW's....

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=87109.0

In answer to your Q's, TBH, I've never used WI/WO for an EW as I've found that by that time in the AM they have already had a reasonable amount of sleep & therefore less likely to go back to sleep. Yes, it is possible that your DH getting her back to sleep with him has become a prop & that the waking has become a habit.

Does she have any teeth coming through (this can cause EW's)?

She does sound like she's in a bit of an OT loop. When you have to put her down earlier for her nap is there anyway you could APOP a short CN in the PM just to tied her over to a reasonable BT & to try & claw back some sleep (even in the car/buggy etc?)

What do you think? 

[Tao]

Hello Again Sian,

My DD is going to turn 2 years old in a few weeks. Now I understand why EWings are so hard to WIWO with because you're right she's somewhat rested! This morning she woke at 4:30 a.m. again but this time we waited since it was more of a mantra cry and not a "i'm scared, come get me now."

Amazingly, she went back down! I think maybe DH was going in too soon to "rescue" her and then it has become a habit.

The p.m. cat nap is a good idea and we can try, though she usually fights naps period. She was never a really great napper but we helped her to get them too and you'll never believe this but she has only fallen asleep in the carseat like three times in her life! The only APOP that used to work was nursing but we just stopped doing that recently.

What do you think is a good BT? Do you think if I try to gradually extend her BT later that eventually she will need to make up that sleep and just sleep in or will it just make her more OT?

Thanks again for jumping on to help me. You are wonderful!

Christine

[sianie]

Amazingly, she went back down! I think maybe DH was going in too soon to "rescue" her and then it has become a habit

If she went back down then this is probably the case......if she's mantra crying then let her re-settle, only go in once her cry becomes more urgent.

I would keep her BT at around 7pm for now, especially as she seems to be OT & you don't want to make that worse. Once she's back on track a it you could look to push BT back a bit....

I always find if I need to APOP a CN with DS that a short drive in the car usually does the trick!