5months old early wakings and sleeping independently

[Alisa masik]

Hello. 
I used your advises before, but it hasn't improved.  Now I waited a mongh and it still the same problem; he weakes up at 5:30 and doesn't get back to sleep , doing the sshh and patt. But doesn't help.  He plays a bit and then becomes quite load and upset.  I try not to take him out till 7 -7:15.  But it's been like that for months and it hadn't change.  Goes to sleep at 6-6:30. With a paci and some crying: I'm coming to his room to calm down and pat.  Then wakes at 10 for a paci.  Then at 00:30 for breast feeding.  Then still 5:30 finally wakes up. 
We doing the 4 hours easy. But he is napping usually not longer than 40 min.  Sometimes I resettle him and sleep 40 min more. 

If he awakes, day or night, he can't go back to sleep by himself.  I need to resettle him usually with a paci or shh and pat. 
Do babies learn how to fall asleep by themselfs? After they woke up, If so when , or should I teach him some how to do that?

[Layla]

Hi again,

If he doesn't go to sleep on his own and needs your help, you wi need to teach him independent sleep as he won't just learn on his own. Have a look at the pick up/put down board and the faq's there as a start and if you have any questions about the method, post on that board for clarity or support. The short naps could be from not being tired enough...could you post what his EASY has been like last couple of days?

[Alisa masik]

hello'
its easy:everyday the times changes depends on his naps' but its always 3 hours between feeds and 2 hours between naps.

 s: up at 5:40  trying to settle till 6:30 by shh and patt staying awake  in bed till 7:15-20
e:7:20
s:8:30-9:10  (somedays till 10)
e:10:20
s:10:40-10:20
s:12:30-13:15
e: 13:15
s: 15:30-16:15
e:16:15
e: 18:20
s:18:30 night sleep
Then wakes at 10 for a paci.  Then at 00:30 for breast feeding.  Then still 5:30 finally wakes up. 

his early awaking - is there something to be done  do delay it?
 i will look at the p/u forum
thank u

[Layla]

I think the dummy may be an issue too...if you're going to be teaching him independent sleep, I would probably get rid of the dummy at the same time.

[Alisa masik]

And his early awaking - is there something to be done  do delay it?
Thank u

[Layla]

Well, its not really an EW if he's sleeping 11 hrs at night. I would start shifting his day forward... so his morning nap start pushing it 10mins or so later and same with afternoon nap and catnap. Ideally he should be sleeping 3 times - 2x1.5hr naps and a catnap with around 2.5hrs awake time. I started setting naps at around this age and would offer the morning nap around 8:45-9am and that way we kept on track more or less and she got used to sleeping at around the same time every day. So maybe in your case, start offering the morning nap at 8:45am and then after 3-4 days offer it at 9am. Because the morning nap will be 10-15mins later, the afternoon nap and the catnap will also be later and so you will be able to push bedtime to 7pm eventually.

[Alisa masik]

But his naps are 40 min. So how can I do that , ? He is very tired at 6 pm. 

[Florena49]

Hi, im sorry things havent improved, how old is tour little one now?
I agree with  Layla that the whole day has to be shifted, if u shush pat until 7am then you cant put him to bed at 6pm, you are just reinforcing his waking time of 5.30am.
Although 40 mins naps are sometime developmental and from 4-6 month is a terrible time for short naps, at time changing tr A times can help.

[Florena49]

Just noticed LO is 5 months now, right? I would increase his A time to 2.15 mins to start with and see if you can resettle him after he wakes from a short nap.

[Alisa masik]

i tried today to push his naps to 2:15 ' the first nap was really long0 1:30, but the others- 40 min.tried to ressetle him after waking ' he started to cry' i picked him up and down for 50 min ' he was crying so loud and without any break eventually we left the idea of sleeping,,, he went to sleep after an hour again for 40 min. put him to bed at 7, will see how the nigh goes.
also at night and today , took the paci away.

[Florena49]

I think its an improvement that you managed to have one good nap, its only the first day, i would keep this A time for a few days. Yoi have also taken away the dummy so it will be a huge change for LO, there will be crying because he is used to the dummy.

[Alisa masik]

The morning nap sometimes are 1:30 long. But the others are 40 min. So it hasn't really changed.
We will see tomorrow

[Layla]

Yes, taking a dummy away is going to get some getting used to and there will be lots of crying but try and not give it back to him if your intention is to take it away altogether. In fact, I would throw them all away so you're not tempted! I did that and there was no going back lol. I would try to resettle after a short nap for maybe 15mins or so and if no more sleep, I would have picked up and moved onto activity time and done the 3rd nap about 2hrs later so that the schedule is more or less on track. Stick to 2.15hr awake time in the morning again tomorrow and then perhaps you can try and push it to 2.5hrs and leave it at that for now. Good luck for tonight!!!