Early Morning Nap and Early Waking

[mrsgbailey]

Hey everyone. I hope i'm posting on the right board. I'd really love your help with figuring out the first nap of the day, that early morning one. I have a 8 week old baby(just turned 8 weeks old today) and I'm gonna write out the routine i'm using with him and you can help me to tweak whatever needs tweaking.

E 7:30am
A 7:50
S 8:30

E 10:00
A 10:20
S 11:00

E 12:30pm
A 12:50
S 1:30

E 3:00
A 3:20
S 4:00

E 5:30
A 5:50
S 6:30

E 8:00
A 8:20 (very light, maybe just diaper change or bedtime story, not brought into too much light)
S 9:00

E 10:00
E 12:30
E 2:30
E 5:00

Sometimes he might eat again after 5am maybe at 6am but not always. If I leave him alone, he'll probably naturally wake up at 8am (I think) or much later. The days that the early morning naps work are the ones where I don't have an activity time and put him back to sleep right after eating. No activity and no light in his eyes. If he wakes early in the morning, the whole thing is off and I can't figure out how to get him back on the schedule. What should I also do when the schedule is whack? How do I get back on?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[mrsgbailey]

Would appreciate all the help I can get. Today the routine was sooo crazy. I was downstairs when he got up and DH didn't let me know baby had been awake so by the time I fed him and tried to get him back to sleep he was OT and would not nap. EVERY nap today consisted of him falling asleep and waking every 30mins. Is that OT or being UT? But please tell me what to do with that morning nap and how does the schedule look?

[becj86]

BW is not a schedule. Its a pattern of activities that creates relative predictability for your baby (who cannot read a clock) and you.

30min naps tend to be OT.

At this age, you're looking to achieve a 12hr night - so if WU is 7am, LO should be back in bed asleep around 7pm.

E 7:30amA 7:50 S 8:30 E 10:00A 10:20S 11:00E 12:30pmA 12:50S 1:30E 3:00A 3:20S 4:00E 5:30A 5:50S 6:30E 8:00A 8:20 (very light, maybe just diaper change or bedtime story, not brought into too much light) S 9:00E 10:00E 12:30E 2:30E 5:00

There's not an awful lot wrong with this. If he's doing this consistently, you're doing incredibly well and perhaps your expectations could do with adjusting, rather than his routine. He will start to 'wake up' from his sleepy newborn stage in the next few weeks and A times will increase to ~1.5hr.

If I leave him alone, he'll probably naturally wake up at 8am (I think) or much later.

Not sure why this is a problem?

The days that the early morning naps work are the ones where I don't have an activity time and put him back to sleep right after eating. No activity and no light in his eyes.

What do you mean by this? It sounds like you're extending his night? Is there a problem with his first nap of the day if he's out and about during his first A time?

If he wakes early in the morning, the whole thing is off and I can't figure out how to get him back on the schedule. What should I also do when the schedule is whack? How do I get back on?

Again, I'm not entirely sure what you mean here. If he wakes at 7:15, for instance? The just shift your routine 15min earlier than it is written above... This LO is a baby, not a robot. Sometimes days go a bit awry and we just have to ride it out and start again the next day.

[becj86]

Sorry, I've just read in your other thread that he's napping 1hr-1.5hr. Could you write out EAS as you actually live it rather than what you're aiming for? That will give us a better chance to tweak to help you out

[mrsgbailey]

Thank you becj86. I feel like I just got a good dose of "chin up you're doing fine" and tough love at the same time. Thank you. The EAS that I wrote out is roughly what we live right now and I adjust from that when things go off. Based on what you're saying though, I may need to move BT up since I should be aiming for a 12hr night.

With regards to the first nap, I always aim for 8:30 which is an hour AT like the rest but he usually fights that one. I had all AT at 50mins once and he was catnapping and midwife said maybe he wasn't awake enough. So when I adjusted to 60mins he started doing the 1.5hrs naps. But the first nap at 8:30 is what I always don't seem to get right and he takes a longer time to go down for that one.

Thanks again!

[Tabyria]

Just a thought as I'm very new to this (my LO is 12 weeks) but I've realised that my LO likes to keep the first A time of the day short. She usually does 1h30 of awake time but in the morning she will fight the nap if I put her down after 1h/1h15 min. Sometimes even 45min of she's had a bad night. I just follow her sleepy cues rather than the clock for this one. She catnaps though so that's not perfect but she catnaps all the time so far  so nothing different here and that's what worked for me to make sure she gets this one.
Do you find her sleepy cues easy to read? What do they say at that time?
Occasionally she treats it as an extension of the night, falling right back to sleep after eating and I let her do it. I figure that means her little body just needs the extra sleep and especially as she catnaps I'm happy to prioritise that even though that means her EASY is a bit messed up when she wakes up as it's usually not a long sleep. I usually also go back to bed in that case 
But really, it sounds like you're doing great!