Author Topic: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?  (Read 2704 times)

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Offline alyssa1

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All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« on: March 30, 2006, 15:31:29 pm »
 My lo all of a sudden - the past 2 weeks has been waking up between 5-6 am and then he is really tired all morning?  Before this he would sleep to 6:30/7am with a bed time of 7-8 pm.  Has anyone been experiencing the same thing?  I keep thinking it is because of the weather or due to the birds all of a sudden early in the morning.  I'm hoping that the time change will help but what if it doesn't? 
My guy is 14 months.  Is anyone going through the same thing?  Is it maybe because we are trying to switch him to the one nap thing?  Any ideas would be useful?
Thanks

Offline Nicole-Momtomegan

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2006, 16:13:46 pm »
HI Alyssa1,
i think your previous post answers your question. He is waking early b/c he is overtired and not getting a good nap.
what you need to do, on the days he doesn't nap well (under 1.5hrs), is put him to bed REALLY early....6ishpm.
find my post about solutions for early wakings below somewhere.
Many of us have great testimonies about early bedtimes.
Mydd has been doing 6-6 or 6:30-6:30 for the last 2 wks b/c since we transistioned to one nap it isn't very long at all and she was overtired and waking at night AND waking early. now, that i put her to bed early, she is getting 12-12.5hrs of sleep at night.

Nicole
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Offline imsmum

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2006, 16:36:27 pm »
If he's not sleeping well at night but still taking 2 decent naps during the day, he probably needs to move to one nap.  and I agree when you do that he will need to go down at night super early.

Offline Florencia

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2006, 17:27:49 pm »
I found the transition to one nap to be a tricky one. As lot of other girls here have. Although i see your lo is old enough to transition. Just be very strick with the time you put lo down for nap, so he gets used to the "new" timing and in 2 weeks or so, he'll be napping longer for his one nap. Time change will help also with the early mornings, there's something about the birds and sun and lo's waking up >:(

You've gotten great advice in the previous posts. Also check on his gums to see if he might be teething.Sometimes teething causes light sleep due to pain, hence the early waking.
Mom to Manolo, spirited monkey and Jose Miguel, an angel cupcake

Offline alyssa1

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2006, 19:36:41 pm »
Thanks for all the great advice.  I'm so happy that I found this website  :)
I will try putting him to bed a little earlier if he doesn't get enough time during his naps.  He is usually ready to go around 7 and sometimes before that anyways.  It's good to hear that the transition period takes time for everyone and that trying to get to one nap a day will take some time.  It's funny that a lot of what you are already thinking just gets reinforced by others and then you feel so much better.
Thanks again

Offline alyssa1

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #5 on: March 31, 2006, 13:53:31 pm »
So last night was terrible.  I put him to bed at 7:20 and he had a decent nap yesterday afternoon (2 hours), and he still woke at 4:30 - really upset!
I tried to calm him down in his room but he wanted out so I took him into our room for awhile and once he calmed down I brought him back to his crib.  From there is got worse - he kept crying and when I would pick him up he was so angry he struggled with me to even hold him until I took him downstairs.  He finally (1.5 hours later) settled in my arms and I took him back up to his crib.
So his morning looked like this.
4:30 - awake - tried everything to get him back to sleep
6:20 - back to sleep until 8am.  So was this then his morning nap?  I don't understand and I don't know what to do if it happens again tonight and we are going away this weekend with him.  Is it the birds that wake him at 4:30 and he doesn't realize how early it is until he gets tired again.  What do I do????
Any advice?

Offline imsmum

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #6 on: March 31, 2006, 16:18:43 pm »
Sounds like my night last night--except she was up from 3:30 to 5:30 and then only slept to 6:15! 

What time was the nap yesterday?  A couple of things that I found with my lo--regardless of how good the previous night sleep and the nap is that day there will still be trouble at night if she goes down past her natural bedtime, with us that is 7:30.  Surprisingly this happens most often when my lo naps longer than usual since she's not tired enough at her normal bedtime to go to sleep. The other thing is that the interval between wakeup from naptime and bedtime can't be more than 5 hours or again there will be either night waking or really early waking.  Wish I could give you better advise but since I'm going through the same thing that's the best I can do!

Offline Florencia

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #7 on: March 31, 2006, 16:57:34 pm »
I would consider that 4:30 am waking as a night waking since he went back to sleep for a long stretch after the episode. That struggling and discomfort sounds to me like teething. Just the exact episodes we had around here for molars. Sometimes i'd have to give pain aid twice for a 12 hour stretch, beginning with the preventive pain med at bedtime and then sort of a "dreamfeed" of med, before he woke from pain in the middle of the night. I did this for 3 nights in a row and then continued with the preventive med at bedtime for 2 weeks till i saw the white bumps and we'd been off night wakings for a while.

What i'd strongly recommend is not to loose consistency with your previous routine. That is, if he's unconsolable in his room, is likely he'll be as unconsolable in your room, so you might want to try everything in his room, cause you don't want him to get used to you taking him out (that would stablish a whole different scenario)... i know it's hard to think of options so early in the morning and in the middle of bloody screams ;) but remember you're doing all you can and it's better that he's exhausted for a couple of days but gets the message that he's not leaving his room/crib than getting some extra sleep out of him but letting him know he can get away with the crying.

Good luck and try the med thing, i hope it works!
Mom to Manolo, spirited monkey and Jose Miguel, an angel cupcake

Offline ella&jack'smum

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2006, 17:24:12 pm »
I had this problem with Jack at around 12 mos and I fixed it by switching him to 1 nap. It was really hard work for a few days - felt mean but was literally jiggling him around to keep him awake till lunchtime, but within a week we were getting up at 6.30 instead of 4.30. Moved his lunch earlier to 11.30 so he had it before he slept.
It was very smooth for me, and I realise some babies wouldn't cope with such a shock approach but thankfully Jack has never really been difficult when overtired.
May be worth a shot?
Sue

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Offline alyssa1

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #9 on: April 01, 2006, 01:10:44 am »
Thanks for the advice. I keep checking his mouth and see nothing.  I will continue to check and feel and if this persists, maybe some pain med. will work.  We are also in the process of switching him to one nap and it seems to be going alright other than the getting down for the nap and keeping him down for the nap.  I will continue to try and I know that's all I can do.
Thanks a lot

Offline Nicole-Momtomegan

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #10 on: April 01, 2006, 03:41:48 am »
Alyssa,
you said he took a 2hr nap but from what time to what time yesterday? i'm assuming that he was still up for  very long stretch til bed at 7:20pm. can you clarify? if so, i still think the EARLY bedtime would cut out your nightwking/early morning.
let us know,
thanks!!

Nicole
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Offline alyssa1

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2006, 13:40:23 pm »
Latley he has been napping from 11:30-1:30 or 12-2 so I don't think the 7-7:30 bedtime is too late.  We do put him down earlier if he is really tired though.  Knock on wood but we have never had trouble with him going to bed :)  He is always ready and rarely puts up a fight.
The only fight we ever have is at nap time (getting him down is terrible)  Of course he will sleep well in the car if I am going somewhere and he will nod off quite easily then I can transfer him inside but he will almost always wake up at the 40 min. mark upset whether he is in his crib/sofa/guest bed....???  If I can get him back to sleep he will get a good 2 hours.
With the change in time, last night was great!  He went to bed at 7:30pm and slept till 6:50am - wow!!!  We were so excited!  He woke and was still a little tired but the sleep in later was so nice. It will be a trick trying to keep him up for just the one nap - but it seems to be worth it.  I didn't realize it would take so long to change him over to the one nap.
I really appreciate all the advice. Thanks!

Offline Florencia

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #12 on: April 03, 2006, 17:12:35 pm »
Congrats on the sleep in! it does help to feel human again ;)

As for the fights for going down for nap, you say he nods off quite easy in the car, but not at home? mmm... maybe he needs more wind down for nap to stop fighting it? like 30-45 mins of quiet time before nap make it a quiet time, setting some light music on the house, reading books, putting the toys "to bed", eating some heavy snacks prior to it to have calories to stand up for longer awake time.

I found i had to "convince" ds to go to bed. Some days we'd ring neighbour's doors to wave them nighty night ::) and we'd go out to thegarden to see the squarrels/ants/cats etc going for "their" nap or stand next to the window waving the kids or people that crossed by and id say ds: they're on their way home for their nap... sounds looney  but i really got him in the "napping" business.

Good luck, you're doing an excellent job!
Mom to Manolo, spirited monkey and Jose Miguel, an angel cupcake

Offline alyssa1

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #13 on: April 03, 2006, 17:59:55 pm »
Those are great ideas. I think that you're right in having to extend quiet time before the nap. My guy is so active and go go go that maybe a lot more quiet time would be helpful.  I am going to try that - thanks!

Offline imsmum

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #14 on: April 03, 2006, 19:43:36 pm »
You may still want to try to push the nap back slowly to 12:30 or 1--most lo's who go down between 7 & 7:30 seem to do well with this naptime . Otherwise he's still up for 5.5-6 hours between nap and bedtime and most little ones can last longer in the mornings than in the pm because they have their night sleep to keep them going.  He may be waking at the 40 minute mark tho because he is overtired--if that's the case keep the nap at the same time and try moving his bedtime forward 15-30 minutes. Then you can slowly keep bushing both the nap and bedtimes back. 

Offline alyssa1

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #15 on: April 04, 2006, 15:19:10 pm »
The naps are just getting worse.  Yesterday he went down at 11:30am and did not get to sleep until 11:55am after going in to reassure him that it was nap time and I (my husband) would see him soon.  He only slept until 12:25 and woke up screaming.  My husband decided to calm him down in his room and put him back in his crib and told him that it was still nap time.  He did this 2 more times and then after 1.5 hours he brought him out of his room.  Needless to say the rest of the day he was so completely overtired it was a mess.  We put him to bed at 7pm and he slept through until 6:20am (good) :).  But what do we do about this nap problem????  We are so confused.  He won't stay alseep for longer than 40 min. for his 1 and only nap - what a mess.  Any advice??? We are lost.

Offline imsmum

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #16 on: April 04, 2006, 15:56:44 pm »
The one nap transition is so tough!  If your lo is waking after 40 minutes for his nap it is likely from overtiredness.  There's really a few things you can do:

1.  Keep things as they are and try doing Pd or w2sleep for the nap;
2 move the bedtime super early--you can either keep the nap the same or try moving it earlier.

I think regardless of what you choose a super early bedtime is a must at this stage. when my lo was tranistioning we often did a 6:30 bedtime--I think basically whenever his normal naptime was move it forward an hour.   You may find that this causes a longer sleep and your lo may stop waking during his nap.

My Bella--sounds like you're lo is also in the process of transitioning to 1 nap as well!

Offline Florencia

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Re: All of a Sudden - Early wake time (5-6am)???? Any ideas?
« Reply #17 on: April 04, 2006, 17:11:56 pm »
Allysa, you said you were going to try a loong wind down. How did it go? if you put him to bed at 11:30 and he went off at 11:55 i'd say he didn't take that long to fall asleep (only 25 mins, when 20 mins is average for textbook kids). Of course, the goal here is that he's off within 5/10 mins but we have to take baby steps and  go day by day.

Are you sure he's not in pain? hungry? hot? yesterday my lo woke up super upset (and early GRR) from his nap and he was sweating and very umconfortable. I had not noticed that is getting warmer and warmer and his room was like an oven when i walked in :-[

We just have to persevere with the pd till he manages to lenghten his nap. I found that some kids get more wounded up with the walk in/walk out thing and you just have to remain there while the nap is restless and then when you're sure he's off, walk out. By reinforcing him that you'll be around when he needs it, he'll be less likely to wake up. But it's a gradual process with some setbacks. You'll make it, im sure, just take each day at a time.

Let me know if you notice any progress with the long wind down. Good luck!
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