early waking 10 1/2 month old

[zelkad]

Jo, what happens when you don't feed Fraser right away?  Do you think he's associatiing his first feed with getting up for the day?  I'm assuming he's crying and that's why you're trying this.  Have you ever tried keeping him up from 5ish till his first normal nap time the way you suggested we do?  I know that waking before 6 is crazy but maybe it would help :? ? 

Things on our front are still going well (fingers crossed)  Nikolas woke at 7:20 and still went down for his first nap at 9:30.  I'm hoping we're getting there now.  However, I noticed a soon to be sixth tooth so I'm sure we'll be back to some hairy nights...you just can't win.


Emma, what are the lengths and times of Tamsin's three naps?  As for wake to sleep, I've never tried it but if you do a search on this site there has been so much success with it.   When Tamsin wakes early, how long after is her first normal nap time?  Jo, Fraser's mum, gave the advice of keeping baby up from wake time to normal nap time (in small increments if necessary)  So far this has worked for us.  I guess it makes sense  because then baby won't wake early if she won't be rewarded with an immediate nap.  (does that make sense?)  Anyhow, keep us posted!

[Pominoz]

Zelka - a typical day for Tamsin would be:

4.45am Wake up ( :roll:  :cry: )
7.45am Down for nap - nap for 1.5 hours
9.15am Get up
12 midday Down for nap - nap either for 1.5 hours or 45 mins
Around 3.30-4pm (depending on length of lunchtime nap) - 45 minute nap
6.30ish - bedtime

The trouble is that trying to keep her up to say 8.30am is hellish.  Then she naps until 10am, and we've got to get through another 3.5 hour stretch until 1.30am, then a fairly long stretch until bedtime  :?  :?  :? .

This issue is doing my head in!

As for your own situation, 7.20 sounds like a dream!  Well done!  Sounds like the timing of the first nap is really the key....

[Katet]

Emma, looking at your dd age, I think it is a pretty good indication that it is time to move to 2 naps, most babies do between 6 & 9months old.

What we are doing (when not stressed by 4 teeth coming through at once) is stretching the morning out by 10mins every 3 days & then the next nap out a bit & then he has a 10-15min 3rd nap... you will find you may need to put your lo to bed a bit earlier for awhile after you move to 2 naps, but I think that will help solve the problem.

What I find I have to do is stop Liam moving at about 10mins before the "old nap time" & then carry him around/sit & read/cuddle etc, just do low key activities up until when I actually do put him down... this is what I had to do with ds#1 when going to 1 nap, so kind of know it worked there when transitioning to 1 nap, so think it should for 3 to 2.

[Pominoz]

Kate, I'm sure you're right, that moving to 2 naps might be the key. 

I think I'll try putting her down at 8am tomorrow morning.  She'll probably nap until 9.30.  Then I'll try to get her through until 1pm for the next one.  If I'm lucky she might nap until 3.  Then a very early bedtime.

I think it's going to be painful for a couple of weeks, but hopefully it'll mean an improvement all round in the long term.

This site is great BTW.  Wish I'd discovered it earlier.  I love the specialised boards.

Cheers

[FrasersMum]

Sounds like the timing of the first nap is really the key....

You are absolutely correct!!  Now I just have to convince DH (who looks after Fraser during the day) to hold out that nap to be a bit later  :roll:

Zelka - if I don't feed Fraser at that time, he is jumping up and down in the cot desperate to start his day.  If I do feed him, 2 out of 3 times he will easily fall back to sleep.  Sometimes I have to work hard to get him back to sleep and other times he just won't.  We always keep him up until at least 9 for the first nap (even if he wakes at 5).  I'm sure we'll get there...  Teething again at the moment so that always throws a spanner in the works  :lol:

Emma - an overtired baby will wake even earlier so be cautious on the moving to 2 naps thing.  I would definitely try W2S because you have a regular waking time - it absolutely can work (depends on the reasons causing the waking of course) but if it is habitual W2S can be very successful.  I would suggest try to see.  The key will be - wake 1 hour before the regular wake up time, stir her but don't wake her up, and continue for 3 days (at least) to break the habit.

Good luck!

[Katet]

As Jo said an overtired baby it can go the opposite, so make sure you do the change gradually.

Jo you could tell dh that when he is ready to put Fraser down add a 5min cuddle to it & you will "reward him with a cuddle" when Fraser starts waking up after 6am  :lol:  :lol:

[FrasersMum]

Great suggestion Kate - will give that a go!!  :lol:

[mattandcindy]

Emma-
I agree that changing to 2 naps is the key here.
It helped with Abigail-didn't "cure" the problem but helped.
The first week of doing it was prett hellish but she eventually got the hand of it and started sleeping later in the morning and then extending the awake time wasn't as bad.
And I definitely think the time from their last nap until bedtime is the hardest time for all babies and moms. Everyone I know has to deal with a somewhat grumpy baby during this time-Just trying to let you know it is "normal" for them to be grumpy in the evening.
HTH and that you get some good sleep!

[james030405]

I am not sure if I should be posting or not - I don't want to jinx anything, but every since the weekend, we have been later wake ups.  He is waking at 6am but is happy to play till 6:30am. 

When we were having earlier wake ups, ie 5-5:30am I often did try and feed him, but I think James prefers to ease into the day (not unlike his mother :lol: ).  If I try and give him a drink this early, it can take FOREVER for him to finish it.  I have over the last couple of days been getting him up at 6:30am and he plays till 7 when it is time for breakfast.  I have been giving him his milk with his breakfast.

Like I said, I hope I am not jinxing it by posting it, I will let you know tomorrow :roll: .

So hopefully, it is a developmental thing and he is slowly coming out of it.  we are getting between 10-11hrs a night

Lisa

[mattandcindy]

Lisa
That is great that it is getting better! 11.5 hrs is "normal" right now so he is getting there!
I hope you didn't jinx it too.

[Pominoz]

Well I'm off to bed, and going to set my alarm for 3.45am in order to do wake-to-sleep.  I'm quite excited about it - how sad is that?  :wink:

Glad to read that a lot of you seem to be having later wakings - gives me hope that we can get there too.

Sweet dreams everyone

Emma

[Katet]

Emma, just worked out the pom-in-oz bit... sleep deprivation makes the brain slow :cry:

come & join on Aussie chat tomorrow night about 6.30-10.30pm Sydney time... link is in the lounge forum

[Pominoz]

Thanks Kate - I'll do that!  My dh is out at a work function tonight so I'll have a moment.  I have to be in bed by about 8.30 mind you  :wink: .

Yes, I'm from the UK but have lived in Sydney since 1998.  Love it, but miss the family, especially now that we have the lo.  My mum arrives in 3 weeks time for a holiday - can't wait.

Well we had an absolute shocker this morning  :cry: .  I set the alarm for 3.45 and did wake-to-sleep.  She just stirred and turned over a bit, and it all looked great.  But then she woke for the day at 4.30am  :shock:  :cry: .  There was no re-settling.  She wasn't too unhappy until about 4.50, so I got up and fed her (we are still bf'ing), and put her back into her cot in the vain hope that she may be tired enough to go back to sleep.  No such luck.  She was OK for another 20 mins, but at 5.10 she started crying so we were up for the day.  I actually got straight up and showered, as I can no longer stand hanging around in my PJ's wishing I was still in bed.  There is a cafe down the road that opens at 6am, so we shall go down there and I am going to down the biggest coffee they can make for me (we don't bf again until lunchtime  :wink: ). 

I think despite that I will try to hold out until 8am to put her down for the first nap.  I do think that the 2 naps is they key, it's just so hard to get there when the waking is this early.  I think I'm just going to have to force it and risk the poor little thing getting overtired.

Aaaargh!  Hope you all had better mornings. 

Cheers

Emma

[zelkad]

Emma, just so curious as to how the morning and day has been going....what if you just prolonged the awake time in increments before the first nap in case her being overtired backfires?  Just a thought...but then again if you're trying for two naps that would be hard to do.  Oh, I just wish I had the perfect advice for you!  Keep us posted!

[Pominoz]

Hi Zelka - thanks for checking in on us.  We made it through until 8am, so that's 15 minutes later than her usual first nap time.  If by some miracle she slept until 10am then I would try for just one other nap today (at 1.30), but I think it's more likely she will sleep until 9.30am, so we will probably have to squeeze in another two.

We seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place - 3 naps is too much and causes the early waking, but 2 is not enough. 

I have a plan though (this must be "Plan Z"  :roll: ).  For the next 3 mornings we're going to do 8am for the first nap (and 3-nap days), then the next 3 mornings after that 8.15 for the first nap (and 3-nap days).  May have to wake her sometimes from naps in order to fit the 3 naps in.  Then, after a week, we'll do 8.30am for the first nap and move onto 2 nap days, no matter what.  She'll be 9 months and 1 week by then so I'm just praying her "up time" will be increasing.

I am so tired - feel like I have jetlag - you know, when all your hours are messed up.

Anyway, at least I've got Plan Z to cling to.

Thanks for your support!

Emm