13mo...8 months of 5am ish EWs..Don't know what to do

[Spandanna]

Hi all

So I'm reaching the end of my tether with these EW...they started at 5mo when she cut started STTN without any feed after 7pm. I was convinced that when she dropped to one nap these EWs would be ironed out and but no, this week it has been anywhere between 4.40  and 5.20. There is the odd miracle morning where she will sleep to 5.50-6.20ish (about once a month) but I am really struggling here especially since going back to work. Also she wakes DS every morning now at this time and he is getting OT and grumpy.

please, if anyone has any ideas at all I would be sooooo grateful.

Her routine is currently

wake at 5ish
nap 12-2
bed 6.30-7ish

Things we have tried
1) Giving a bottle when she wakes (50% of the time she'll nod off for another hour the rest of the time she wont)
2) Leaving her to as close to 6.30am as possible, we often end up going in to give her a dummy but this doesn't keep her quiet either! She starts by chatting but this quickly becomes horrible aggressive shouting and screaming (something she does a lot of and will post about elsewhere)
3) giving meds as teeth have been an issue on and off over these last 8 months

Any other tips? please?!!!!!

Thanks for reading

[*Becky*]

you poor things - that sounds very rough.

It sounds like OT to me. Can you put her back on 2 naps??

If not I would bring the nap forward. 7 hours is such a long A time in the am. Have you tried that??

[Spandanna]

Hi Becky

Thank you soooo much for replying. We were doing 2 naps as much as we could and then I was cutting that first nap down to 20 then 15 then just 10mins and on 10 mins she was then doing a great second nap until she started refusing the am nap and then if I got her down she would refuse the pm nap and over the last two weeks she wouldn't go down for 2 naps. in fact she fell asleep in the car at 10am on Sunday (for literally about 4 mins) and then refused a nap at 12 and tried again an hour later and still refused  Ended up APOPing her 

I'm sure you're right that she is OT this last week but I really didn't think this was the problem before....do you think I should go for an 11.30ish nap instead?? I've been reluctant to do this because DS is 2.h and he naps 1-3.30ish so we'll just never get out the house if DD naps 11.30-1.30 and DS is down until 3.30/4ish even sometimes...Although I guess if I want her to get over these EWs something is going to have to give. It really is driving me up the wall. DH and I are so tired!

[Tweakster]

Agree with Bx.

I would iron out the OT with 2 naps - would it work for your day if she had her long kip in the morning and then a CN later in the day when you are out and about and after a lot of activity?  Does she sleep in the car or stroller?

If 2 naps is really not an option, then I'd definitely aim for 11:30 nap as long as she'll do and an early bedtime.  If she's up at 5 aim for no later than asleep by 6 if you can!

We totally had the same routine at that age and it sucks! (((hugs)))

[*Becky*]

oh ok well if she really will not take 2 naps that does not leave you many options

If she is up at 5am I really think her nap should be 11.30, ideally 11am. That is still 6 hours A time which is  a fair bit for a 13 month old tbh. Is that possible? I realise it is a pain but I do think it is worth trying. xx

[*Becky*]

posted same time as wendy xx

[Spandanna]

Thank you both so much. I may have to do a bit of playing around. They are both at nursery on a Monday and Tuesday so whatever happens on those days is out of my control. Usuall a 1 hour nap about 11.30. I can try a long am nap but doubt I could get her to CN as she is too inquisitive to nap in the stroller and car only works if she is totally exausted (seriously we can be driving on an hour long journey and she won't go to sleep even if it's her usual nap time !! been like that since a few months old).

I'm going to aim to stay around the house for the next two days so will try an earlier nap at 11/11.30 and see what happens and plump for a 6pm bedtime. Is that a bedtime that I aim for if she only doe 1 nap? I'm guessing if she manages a 5pm catnap then 6 is too early for BT? I am pretty certain I won't manage two naps as have been trying this for a while. Also about 3 months ago i was playing around with long am vs long pm and she would always do better on short am, that said she is older and wiser ;-)

Oh Wendy, you're right, it really does suck. I remember when my DS was younger and I would read your posts about the ongoing EWs and I thought wow, I'm glad that's not happening here (my DS would do it for a month or so then back to 7am wakeups)...but here I am now!!!!

[*Becky*]

keep us posted. I would go for 11/11.30am nap and 6pm bedtime xx

[Spandanna]

Well she had napped from 9.40-11.20 at nursery and then didn't go back to sleep. Grrrr. I collected her at 5 and had her in bed for 6. She actually slept until 5.30am which is great but dh decided to give her a bottle and she went back to sleep until 7.30am!!! So now I've put her down for a nap at 12.30 as wasn't sure what to do. Will see what the next 24h hold....

[Tweakster]

That sounds good, I know the bottle is likely a prop but if I had to do it, I would.  EW makes working almost impossible! I lived it!  I was a 2 year zombie lol  Now I'm a zombie because he's waking at night several times...eeek.

She shows that she will tack onto her night with early bedtime so you are likely on to something!!

[Kay Dee]

Hiya, we went through 6 weeks of really bad EW with DD at 12-13months. The only way to fix it for us was to cut the nap back to just 45mins (she's now dropped it at 19months ). I used to feed her back to sleep in the AM to keep on top of OT as there was no way of getting her through the day on a short nap otherwise. Once the nap was the right length for her the nights started to lengthen and she didn't need the feed any more. I was really worried it was becoming a terrible prop but it didn't at all, it was all a routine issue. Now, I'm not saying your DD needs her nap cut like mine (hopefully!!), just to not worry too much about feeding back to sleep. Do whatever you need to at that time of the morning!

Best of luck x

[*Becky*]

how did the night go?

[Spandanna]

Hi all thanks for the feedback.

So she slep 12.30-2.05 which isn't great I don't think (esp as my 2y9mo DS slept nearly 3hours  ) but I got her to bed asleep by 6.30pm and she woke at 5.09 did a massive shout  for a few seconds (the type that almost always means 'don't bother feeding me or giving me a dummy because I'm awake for the day) so I was getting my slippers and dressing gown on and she went quiet and slept to 6.09!! Crazy days! This is no doubt a one off though because she is more than capable of pullig the odd one out the bag like today and really the routine in the day was no different to a normal day for us.

With the feeding at EW it sometimes works but it's once in 5 times I'd say so we try to avoid it unless (like yesterday morning) we know she's seriously OT from nursery/poor naps/lte bet etc...So after a 6.09 wake up today she was in bed asleep at 12.10. Will see how it goes from here.

Again, thanks ladies for continuing to follow along and offer advice x