Have to Wake Baby in the Morning

[Peach]

Just wondering......if I have to wake my lo up almost every morning, does it mean she's not getting enough sleep at night?

She's usually sleeping by 7:30 pm and she sleeps right through until 7:00-7:15 am when I wake her.  (I wake her because I'm trying to keep to our 7, 11, 3, 7 schedule)  If you're wondering how long she'd sleep if I didn't wake her, I'm not really sure, but one morning I slept in, woke up at 8:00 am and she was still happily sleeping away! 

Any ideas?  :?  I've tried to put her to bed earlier.....say 6:30 pm, but then she's not really interested in eating at that time and only ends up taking half her bottle (which we can't afford to happen bc she doesn't really eat enough to begin with!)  Arghhhhh!  So frustrating!

[branwen]

Before I respond to other stuff- how are her naps?  How many and how long?  Then I can give you more comprehensive thoughts :wink:

[Peach]

Oh Branwen, you're so smart..... :wink: ......she's not a great napper.  Never has been.

Lately, for both her morning and afternoon naps she does one nap cycle (35-45 minutes), and no matter what I try to do to extend her nap - pat/shh, pu/pd, crying, begging, bribery.......nothing will make her go back to sleep!  I usually end up spending the last hour of naptime trying to get her back to sleep and end up with a near hysterical baby. 

This week, she's killing me by napping 20-25 minutes only!   :shock:  I really don't know what to do and can't understand what I'm doing so wrong.  I guess this is looking more and more like a Nap or pu/pd question isn't it?
 
I'd still like to hear your thoughts though.....
Thanks,
Kara

[Aarismom]

Mine was doing the same thing at the beginning of the nap hiatis, she would get 13 hours of sleep at night, and of course, wouldn't take her naps. But that was just the beginning of the whole 30 min nap scenario for me, back when her day sleep started developing. She hasn't done a good 13 hour stretch of sleep since...not that we've really given her a chance to though.

My pediatrician, when I brought it up to him, responded by saying that babies can only get so much sleep total, and that I can't expect her to get 2 hour naps when she's getting 13 hours of sleep at night. He also said to expect it to taper off when she gets closer to 6 months; she'll start sleeping 11-12 hours as is normal for her age and taking longer naps. While babies can never get too much sleep, he explained, they can only sleep so much.

It makes sense I guess, babies sleep 15 hours average until almost a year old. But I've seen mine sleep 13 hours at night and then take 2 2-hour naps during the day before. It happens usually around her growth spurt and no other time.

I'd love to hear Branwen's thoughts and other BW mom's experience on the subject!

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[branwen]

Hi Kara!  Now I can theorize away :wink:

My dd has always loved her sleep and until around 6 months slept 12 hrs at night and 5 hrs of naps :shock: Then suddenly one day it ended...now she does 11/12 at night and about 4 hrs during the day if I'm lucky.  She has been known to do 13 hrs though (5:30pm to 6:30!) :shock:  Some babies just love their sleeps...however, that doesn't mean you shouldn't wake them, in fact you should :wink:

Because she isn't napping that is a problem because as Sonya points out- your baby can only sleep so much- this means she will stay awake long stretches but be overstimulated and then it is even harder for her to nap.

My suggestion is set your alarm for 6:45.  If you hear any stirring from her go in and sing good morning to her until 7 (if not go in at 7 and gently wake her).  When she's awake make a HUGE production about getting her up.  sing a good morning song turn on all the lights, be REALLY happy- you know the whole "rise and shine" thing (fake it if you're still needing your coffee).  This really helped my dd understand that THIS was the time to be awake.  You are right to wake her.

About the naps- yep, you're going to have to do something with that because in the next few months when she gets more active and mobile you'll need those breaks and so will she- that being said she might start to tire herself out during the day and the naps will fall into place.  I can help you as I'm on the PUPD board if you want to try to change that. Your little one is likely getting overtired during the day and is just exhausted by bedtime.

I must tell you I am a little concerned because of the disinterest in feeding you mention combined with the long sleeps.  How is her temperament?  If she is still sleeping like this in a few days and continuing not to eat well I would take her in just to be sure she doesn't have a bug.

[Peach]

Well Branwen, you'll be interested to know that yesterday afternoon Kasia had herself an unheard of 3 hour nap!!  (She'd napped  maybe 20 minutes that morning)  You'd think it would've been heavenly for me to have such a long break, but I was up and down like a yo-yo checking on her, convinced that she'd be up any minute!  :lol:

So at 7:00 this morning I woke to the sound of my babbling lo in the next room!   She was happily laying in her crib, starting up her mobile and wiggling all around.     It was the first time I hadn't had to wake her up in quite a while!  So yes, you're right.....naps are key.  We're going to work on them and you may very well hear from us on the pu/pd board!

Regarding her eating......she's just never been a "good" eater.  She's a small baby (was 4 pounds at birth and is 11 pounds right now) and we've always had to really coerce her into eating as much as she can.  Getting her to eat before 4 hours has passed is next to impossible, so that's why I'm having trouble with getting her to bed before 7:30 pm, although she's clearly very tired by 7:00 pm.  Jeez, wouldn't it be nice if we only had one problem to deal with at a time!

[Arwyn's mom]

Kara,

Our lo are similar in age. I do need to wake Arwyn up at 7am. She wakes at 4 am to feed and then goes back down and would probably happily sleep until 8 or 9 (as I discovered one very tired morning :oops: ).

We too have been struggling with naps. Only 32 mins. today... I am about to go insane.

Glad to hear that she is napping better and waking up on her own!

[Peach]

Hi Arwyn's Mom.  Yes, that nap yesterday was indeed great, but it was a fluke of some sort.  Today dd has napped for a grand total of 15 minutes and it's now 3:00 pm!  I am about to go insane (if not there already!)  We just did pu/pd for 1.5 hours until I just couldn't stand it anymore.  Now she's sitting in my lap wide awake and happy that shes "won" yet again.

If you do happen to find a good solution to these ridiculously short naps......OMG please let me know!