Do you wake up sleeping babies in the morning?

[ziyangsmummy]

Hi there,
have been muddling through 3-4 EASY over the last week, as we have discovered that the little monkey (spirited 4 month old boy) can cope with feeds being extended.  I have charted over the last couple of days, Jack is taking an early morning feed at about 5.30ish.  I am able to get him back to sleep by putting a hand on his chest and shushing.  From here I can wake to sleep him once or twice and his sleep is extended to about 8-8.30ish.
What I am finding is that Jack is then staying awake for an hour an a half, then sleeping for 45 mins despite wake to sleep being done and pupd for 40 mins.  I usually find I have to then do a feed and a nappy change (which constitutes acitivty time) and then put him back to sleep as he hasn't slept long enough.  As a consequence he then sleeps for 2 hours. And then we muddle through the rest of teh afternoon loosely on a 3 hour EASY.

EA: 8.30
S:  10.00
EA: 11.00
S: 12.00
EA:  2.00
S: 3.30
EA: 4.30
S:6-7.00 ish
EA:  7.00
Bedtime: 8.30ish


My questions are:
should I wake him earlier in the morning so that I can fit in his required naps?

Is his current sleep situation of 45 mins, 2 hours, 60-90 mins ok for an EASY routine/Should I bother trying to extend the 45 min morning nap when he is waking up happy?

Is there a suggested EASY routine for 3.5 hours?

Slightly confused but happy with how it is all going just trying to work out how to tweak it a little bit...
Hope you can help

[estherofi20]

hi there!

Well i would wake him up a bit earlier, like 7:30 perhaps, and as for the 3.5hr routine, well it all depends on how would your LO take it, if you think he'll be fine then do it. I allways try to extend naps, even if my DS is happy at his wake time, 'cause if not it meses up with our 4hr routine, but i've read some people don't extend is they wake happy. Do you think he'll go back to sleep if you try to extend the am nap?

Also i would try to keep the catnap in the afternoon no longer than 1hr, and try to make bedtime a bit earlier.

Hope this helps

[HeatherC]

Here is a link to a topic about 3.5 hr routines:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=55872.0

should I wake him earlier in the morning so that I can fit in his required naps?
My opinion is that you should find a wake up time that suits both you and your lo and stick to it.  Find a time that is more predictable, but remember that it can change as he changes.  This will help keep your day (and his) more predictable as far as feedings and nap times.  You can still fit in all the naps b/c the amount of time between morning wakeup and bedtime will be the same as if you were on a 7am-7pm routine.

Is his current sleep situation of 45 mins, 2 hours, 60-90 mins ok for an EASY routine/Should I bother trying to extend the 45 min morning nap when he is waking up happy?
If he is getting a good total amount of day sleep, then I'd say the times in which he gets it doesn't matter.  I've known other lo's that take their catnap in the am even though most take their longest nap in the am.  If he is happy, that is great, just be mindful that he might be ready for his next nap sooner, but it seems as though you are really aware of that. 

[KellyC]

Zander is 8 months old tomorrow and I'm starting to think about the next baby (!) and what I would do different next time and one of the things was setting a wake up time.  I never did it with Zander (I had good intentions but could never wake up  ) and I'm sure it's made it harder for us to get a reliable routine.

Kelly

[ziyangsmummy]

Thanks for the replies Zander's mummy, Heather and Esther,
I have put Jack down an hour earlier tonight for his bedtime and hopefully this will help his schedule. I'll be waking him up at 7.00-7.30 tomorrow.   Have had a really tough day today with him not sleeping his usual 2 hours from 12-2.  So finding the whole BW/EASY routine a bit disheartening as we have been sticking to PUPD wind downs and BW consistently.
 IS it quite normal though for bedtimes to go quite hay wirey?  Jack will go down without a struggle but will wake 3-4 times within an hour before he finally settles.  I stay with him for the first 20 mins and listen for the change in breathing.  When he wakes we have to try and calm him or do PUPD for about 10 mins.  He never use to have this problem.
Looking forward to some more quality advice!!  Thank you

[estherofi20]

OK, so let's see... what is your wind down for bedtime?

[HeatherC]

Just to clarify, you only need to use pu/pd if he is crying an all-out cry, not self-settling or whimpering in his sleep.  What is your winddown and for how long?