10 mo EW at 5am

[scsparks06]

My little lady has been STTN from 7 - 6 for about a month now. She is still nursing but dropped the 3am feed on her own. I will post her schedule below, but she has started waking at 5am now for about a week or more. I don't run in to her unless she's really crying. This morning she laid in her bed quietly, only making little noises for about 45 mins before she got demanding. Sometimes she appears to have fallen back asleep, only to wake 30mins later. I get the feeling that if I were to nurse her, she would go straight back to bed for another hour or two. This happened with my DS when he was 10mos, he STTN and then we implemented a 4am nurse again a month later for 3 more months. Is this normal? She can make it 3-3.5 hours A time before her morning nap, but 5am is rough! And she appears to want to go back to sleep when I finally feed her at 6am. Any thoughts? Here is her EASY:

Awake 5am
E nurse 6am
A 7am breakfast - she eats a lot!!
S 8:30 nap for 1.5 - 2 hours
E 11am nurse (was doing 12, but now that's she's an early bird...)
E 12 lunch
S 1:30/2 for 1.5 hrs
E nurse after nap
E dinner at 5:30, play, bath, nurse
S 6:45/7pm

[ZacsMumme]

I think she may be hitting the 2-1 and need a change in her Nap lengths. (Capping one nap)
This should help with her nights. Ho is she waking in the AM?

Have a look at these links and let me know what you think x

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95670.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=41952.0

[katie80]

I thought similar, as if she wasn't waking early, it would be hard to fit those two long naps in for the day. However, I am also of the mind that if you think feeding her would get her back for another hour or so, I'd give it a try. I'd rather start the day at a reasonable hour and then work with capping a nap, than to start at 5 and try to work my way out, iykwim. I'm assuming you're a two-sided nurser at this point, so correct me if I'm wrong, but you could offer just one side at that EW and see if it does the trick and then gradually wean it when you feel like she might be ready again or once a new routine is sorted and she hopefully stops waking.

[ZacsMumme]

I'd rather start the day at a reasonable hour and then work with capping a nap, than to start at 5 and try to work my way out, iykwim

Yes, same here. At least at 10 months (Prob not if she was 15 months or so )

[Mummy23boys]

Hi there,

Hope you don't mind me joining in...but I feel your pain! My 10 month old DS has been doing the same thing for 2 months now and I'm exhausted! I have tried everything too so I'm defo thinking he's getting ready for the 2-1 transition. I will keep an eye on your responses in hope that I can be helped too. I'm 4 months pregnant so need to nip this in the bud asap. Lol! Lots of hugs to you, it can be so tough.

Here is our schedule for the past 3 days. Tried shortening am nap to 1 hour but he still woke early. He was very cranky when I woke him and continued to be throughout the day.

5am-6am wake and talks to himself/plays (I won't go to him unless he is crying)
7am - FFB 8oz
8am - breakfast
9am - 10am nap (1 hour)
11.30am - lunch
1pm - 3pm nap (2 hours) 8oz bottle when wakes
5.30pm - dinner
6.30pm - FFB
7pm - bed but doesn't actually fall asleep til closer to 8pm! Tried earlier bedtimes but still the same EW.

This morning I didn't have the heart to wake him after an hour nap and he slept for nearly 1.5hours. Maybe I should shorten his pm nap?

Anyhoo best of luck with it, please let me know about any miracle solutions! Lol! I will keep reading the suggested links and posts. I will not give up!

Xxxx

[katie80]

Hi Mtj... don't hesitate to start your own thread if you'd like more eyes to catch it and offer help.  What I'd say first is that when you make a change like shortening one of the naps, you want to keep it consistent for at least a week or so, before re-assessing and trying something else.  Also, your day is really quite long since he doesn't fall asleep til almost 8 pm.  Have you tried putting him in bed more like 6:30/45 pm to see if he would settle quicker and get a longer, more restorative night?  You may want to hop on here as well as check out the other links Sara has already posted.  HTH! http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=226104.0

[Mummy23boys]

Hi Katie,

Thanks for your reply. He went to sleep tonight at 6.50pm so I will continue with the early bedtimes for a few days and maybe next week I'll try the shorter am nap again for a week. Hopefully that will do the trick. After that if all else fails, I will try the 2-1 nap.

This site is so useful! It has helped me in so many ways!

Thanks again xx

[katie80]

Sounds like a good plan.

[scsparks06]

I *think* we have it nipped in the bud.  I think it was us putting her to bed too late on too many of those nights, which seems to cause EW. I haven't posted back on this in awhile, but thank you everyone for your suggestions. She has always been an early to bed girl, though 6:30 is SO hard to work around! It's getting easier thanks to a 3 yrd old who doesn't nap anymore - our house is awful quiet around 7:30pm these days - I kind of like it! Anyway, she's been getting up at 6:15/30 for the last week and she hasn't gone to bed much after 7pm any night, no matter how long her pm nap is. She's also lengthened her pm nap to 2 hours (we lengthened her A time to 4 hrs in middle of day). I think if she's in bed before 7, we get 11 hours. Last night she would not settle for some reason and it was 8:15 before she gave up - yup, 5:30am wake up call! She wouldn't got back to sleep either. Mtj - how's the earlier BT working for you? It's so different for each child. My DS has a BT of 7:30-8, nothing before then or he's up before the birds - always been this way from birth!

[katie80]

Great update! Don't you love it when you figure things like that out?   My DD was the same actually, she always had significantly longer nights when she fell asleep before 7 pm and rarely went to bed later than that until about 2.5 yrs old. You mentioned that the pm nap has lengthened many days, did you shorten the morning one, then, or are they both still long?

It's getting easier thanks to a 3 yrd old who doesn't nap anymore - our house is awful quiet around 7:30pm these days - I kind of like it!

This is how it is here most days too; it is definitely nice!

[ZacsMumme]

Yes I have a 7pmer too. Much later and we have EW and NW x

[Mummy23boys]

Hi there,

Sorry my reply is late! Yes I think we have nipped it in the bud too! (Dare I say it!) plenty of early bedtimes and it has done him the world of good. I'm so happy! He is in his cot every night about 6.30 and fast asleep before 7pm! now he is waking at 6am! Which I am delighted with!

I followed his lead closely and he was having a long am nap and short pm nap. I know its supposed to be the other way around, but it worked! I just made sure he really only slept about an hour for pm nap, or at least not past 4pm.

Yesterday he actually refused his am nap so he finally went to sleep close to 11am. He woke at 1.10pm! He was the put to bed early and was asleep by 5.50pm. Woke at 6am this morning! Horay!!

I don't think he's quite ready for one nap yet, but we will just see what happens!

Thanks to everyone for there fantastic advice.
Xxxxx

[ZacsMumme]

Great progress. those nights sound lovely

[katie80]

Yes, thanks for the update, Melissa.

I followed his lead closely and he was having a long am nap and short pm nap. I know its supposed to be the other way around, but it worked! I just made sure he really only slept about an hour for pm nap, or at least not past 4pm.

And FWIW, there is no right way.  You don't have to do short am, long pm; do what works best for you and your LO.  I've seen several people do it both ways with great success.  You are a true BWer if you are following your DS's lead.

[ZacsMumme]

Agree with Katie, there is no 'right' way around.
We did a long AM too as if I capped it Z would short nap for both