Yes....another post about early waking..but Pls help anyway...

[NicoleW]

Ok, Ladies! i'm getting really depressed and frustrated. i put Meg to bed at 7:30pm last night and after us both being woken up by something outside at 3:30am, 4:30 am...she was awake at 6:40am!! her night sleep is gettign shorter and shorter.
I read something on here the other day that makes me wonder....
on Feb 16-20th we went home for the weekend and stayed with MIL....Meg had to sleep in the same room as us divided by a hanging sheet.....that is when she first started waking before 7am....and it has continued from there. do you think that is the link? she went from 13hrs/night to like 11 or 11.5hrs/night OVER NIGHT.....
we have to go home again in a few weeks for another week....is it gonna make it worse? we never had this trouble before, like at Christmas....
I think i might get up at 5:45am tomorrow morning and do wake to sleep-but i think i'll get her right up and change her diaper like Tracy suggests in her book, and then put her back down. i'm pretty sure, she will still be tired enough to go back to sleep (fingers CROSSED!).
I also will try the wake to sleep again today for naps...I really hope it WORKS!
any thoughts or suggestions?

[NicoleW]

so yesterday i tried again...but i dont' know if i stirred her enough..and i had this gut instinct she was going to sleep a bit longer anyway....and she did- 1hr 30 min (15min longer)......

today, i went in again at 55min....maybe i stirred her too much this time??? she moved around a bit and moved her head to the other side. she was StILL awake at 1hr 15min!
i'm getting so discouraged!!
where do i go from here???

[Harrisonsmummy]

As I said before I am no expert here, but to be honest I think that they will gradually extend the nap themeselves and there really isn't much you can do with it!

The elements that you can control to a greater extent are earlier bedtimes -there is certainly evidence that they are less likely to wake in the night if they aren't overtired when they go to bed (and this may help them to wake later) and then you may get an early wake-up but perhaps this can be manipulated better by gradually adjusting the nap time. With Harri, he is going to bed at 6.30pm now, but at least I can squeeze 10.5hrs into him that way - so we are holding the fort at the moment. He won't nap for more than 1hr 45mins unless I walk him in the pram then I can squeeze 2 hrs out - but once left again he goes back to old timings and that has taken ages to get to from 1 1/4 hr !

I also think it probably takes a week or so of consistency for anything to really take effect. So swapping timings around may take a little time to kick in properly (unless it is AP in which case - one night and everything's gone up in smoke!)
 
While I know it is a nightmare - I dread waking up at 5am - I have just had to adjust myself to it for the time being - so I am not so knackered - and then when I feel a bit better I feel more inclined to be positive with an action plan!!!

Hang in there, your lo will adjust herself, it may not be completely what you need, but as long as she ends up getting her needs fulfilled, hopefully you can get a compromise ( that's what I kid myself with anyway!)

Justine

[NicoleW]

thanks Justine. yeah. i am trying to accept this short nap....its just so hard to have a 6hr stretch in teh morning. only a 1hr break and then another 5-5.5 hr stretch in teh afternoon. i feel all Mommied out!
Oh well, i hope you're right and though it may take longer, i hope her nap will extend. i'm going to ry going in at 1hr again today and do the wake to sleep technique..AGAIN....we'll see:)

Nicole

[Harrisonsmummy]

Nicole, I know what you mean about long days! I have to confess, when Harri gets up early, I bring him into my room, turn the TV on and let him play/watch for a while. Sometimes I even get another 1/2 hr of sleep if he get engrosssed in a programme! At least I don't feel like I am up so early - he seems to enjoy the snuggles too.

With the short naps as well, Harri will sleep in the pram, so I put him down and then often go out at the half way point, keeps him asleep longer, and gets me out of the house for a longer break which sometimes ends up in the park when he wakes - more often than not in the coffee shop. That's how I extend "my" time, plus I make the most of the early bedtimes during this transition!!

Good luck with the wake to sleep (have been contemplating this for early wakes but he has a cold at the moment and this am he woke at 6am - a lie in!!) With luck this may reset his clock.

(When they are teenagers we'll be moaning that they are never awake!)

Justine

[Katet]

Nicole, why did you move Meg to one nap??? was she refusing a nap, or because she "reached a certain age" the reason I say that is Aiden didn't move to 1 nap until he was 21months old &  any time before that was just a nightmare with sleep. when he did move within 3 days he was doing 3 hours... that only lasted 3 months & dropped to 2 hours & now at 2.5yo it is 1.5 hours, with 11 overnight, but when I tried him on 1 nap at 18months, he slept 11 hours & 1.5 hours & on 2 naps he did 11 hours & 3.5 hours of naps... he has virtually never done more than 11 hours overnight, but has been a good napper once he got past 10months

[NicoleW]

HI Katet, well, i tried that even a few wks ago and they were like both 45min or one was an  hour an the other 30min....nothing to make me thing she still needs two. and i have to wait until SO late in the afternoon before she'lll go down that it doesnt' seem worth it.
So, today i put her down at and she was alseep(no longer moving) at 12:57pm. i was going to go in at 1:57pm but she woke at 1:37 (weird!)...i layed her back down and she went right back to sleep. Then i wasnt' sure what to do? so i waited for 25min until she was hopefully in deep sleep again, cause i was afraid she'd wake up again at 30-40min. i stirred her a bit. she slep until 2:30...SO not bad. 1hr 35-40min:) i'm wondering if this is really working or if its all in my head....

what do you think?
Nicole

[NicoleW]

Okay....i have good news....
Meg slept 12.5hrs last night!! she hasn't done that in atleast 2wks:), i'm not sure if its b/c she got a longer nap *2days ina row) and i was able to put her to bed after only 4.5hrs of awake time in the afternoon, but i'm excited!! i'm thinking this might be working.
my dilemma now is when do i put her down for her nap? she woke at 7:45am....even 1pm will only be 5.15hrs....and she seems to do better with 5.5-6hrs....
hmmm
perhaps tomorrow morning i'll make sure she's up by the 12hr mark.
i'll keep you posted!!
Nicole

[cjwagner77]

I thought I would let you know about my daughter.  We transitioned to one nap at 12 months.  She was starting to anyway and we were going to be having over half the week of not getting to nap in the morning until noon anyway.  She did okay during the transition, but her naps were so short.  1 hour to 1.5 hours.  This lasted from 12 months to 18 months.  She is now napping for 2 hours pretty consistently and sometime will sleep 2.5-3 hours.  So apparently some kids can make the transition to one LONGER nap sooner than others.  With us it took 6 months. 

And dd is usually awake by 6:00.  Some days we get lucky and she sleeps longer.  But here is my philosophy that is working for us.  I don't get her out of bed until 7:00.  She can doze for that hour (and if she is awake at 5:00-5:30 like some mornings, 2 hours), talk, read her board books that I leave in her crib.  That is her time, but I do not go in to get her.  The only exception is if she is sick, etc.  It took a couple of months of pushing the time that I went in to get her up, but she doesn't complain at all until after 7 now.  I don't know what I will do when she is potty trianing and needs to get up and go as soon as she gets up.  (Take her to the potty and then tell her to play quietly in her room until 7?)  I am usually up anyway.  I set my alarm for 5:30 so I can get ready and do my devotion before she gets up.  If I don't get those done before she gets up, it is difficult to get them done.