8.5 months - EW

[Mamak03]

Hi there,

I wanted to see if there is anything I could do about EW for my 8.5 month old baby. He now is getting into the habit of waking up between 530-6am. I would definitely prefer something closer to 630-7.

Here's a typical day for him lately:

WU 545am
E 6am
Solids at 715
Nap 9am - 11am
E 11am
Solids 1230
Nap 2-330
E 330
Solids 5
Bottle & bed by 7

I try leaving him in his crib for half an hour when he wakes up to see if he'll put himself back to sleep, but he doesn't. I thought about pushing A times later, but then his afternoon nap gets pretty close to bedtime. Any suggestions? Should I wake him earlier from his afternoon nap if it's 1.5 hours?

Thank you!

[Buntybear]

Hello, sorry your post has been missed I shall bump it now for you x

[VnessMorris]

Hi Mamak03,

DD2 experienced EWs around 7.5months (awake from 5-5:30am). I reviewed the following post (https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=253524.0) and based on the provided descriptions/reasons for EWs, I thought DD2 was going into Nap #1 too early (approx 9am ish) and pushed her 1st AT to delay her morning nap as much as possible. Some days, her 1st AT was 3:45!  Was able to push her morning nap to 10am or later gradually.

Just like you, I tried letting her fall back asleep during those EWs but would end up feeding at 6am. However, even though she had been "up" since 5/5:30am, I noticed that these early ATs aren't very stimulating and generally she's not as tired and so I pushed her ATs for longer. Granted, this made her subsequent ATs shorter but it still worked out in the end.

Looking at your EASY routine, it's very similar to what DD2 went through back then (especially the 1st nap around 9am). Take a look at the above link and see if any of those Early Waking reasons may fit what your LO is going through.

HTH,
V.

[creations]

Hi there
I agree with pps suggestion of making the first nap a bit later - thanks VnessMorris for paying it forward with your support

A couple of things to add.
EW is really when a LO has less than 10hrs sleep so whilst we might all like to have LOs with a full 12hr night sleep it isn't really considered a problem unless it drops to below 10hrs and/or LO is clearly not well rested.
If your LO seems fully rested then it's likely he only needs 10.5 to 11hr night sleep rather than 12hr.  Some LOs never do the desired 12hr night (mine included), they just can't, but they can still be fully rested with the night sleep and naps. It looks like your LO is getting enough sleep overall.

If your LO used to do a full 12hr night it may be possible to get that back by capping one of the naps as you said.  Some LOs do very well with a capped nap and the night lengthens.  Some however really need the sleep spread over the day and might be very unhappy and not so well rested on a shorter nap even with the option of sleeping longer at night. It would take a bit of experimentation and each time you change something you would need to wait a while to see how it settled down.
If you want to cap one of the naps maybe think about capping nap 1 by moving it later but ending it at the same time? So rather than a 2hr nap 9am - 11am you do 9.15 - 11, then 9.30 - 11, then 9.45 - 11 etc.  Each shift you can wait a few days to see how the morning WU time has been effected.  It doesn't have to be this nap that is capped of course, the other option would be to move nap 1 later and then cap nap 2.

If your LO has never, or rarely, done 12hr nights as a standard part of his routine then I'd suggest you accept the night length and instead move the entire routine on by an hour making all naps and meal times later by one hour and BT would be 8pm rather than 7pm. I'd suggest shifting 15 mins per day over 4 days (or slower 15 mins every other day over 8 days) until you achieve the shift - this would mean LO gets exactly the same length naps and nights but it all happens later and get the WU time you are happier with.

hope this helps