EARLY WIDE AWAKE CLUB!! WANT SUPPORT? JOIN US!

[OliverRowland]

Amazing, my ds woke up at 6:30am yesterday am...thanks to my dh!  He heard him working to get out some gas out and was in there quick enough to put a paci in before ds woke up.  So, it really makes me woder if it wasn't for the gas/poop I would have a later riser! 

[Aiden'sMom]

HI everyone!

Having been through all your postings, I smiled as I realised that 6 months is obviously a gruesome stage w.r.t naps and sleep but a great stage for our LO individual growth - Aiden is a joy during the day and laughs himself to sleep. BUT the 5am monster has been at our door for over 4 weeks now .  It puts our schedule out completely. last night he also woke at 1am and 3.45am and then had to feed him at 4.30am as he would not go back to sleep, put him back down and he slept till 6.10am.

*  Sleeps through the night from 7pm - 5am/5.30am - can't remember when it was last 6am!
*  Naps: three naps (8am asleep for 1 hour, 11.30 nap for 1.5 hour and 3.30pm nap for 1 hour) but the naps have been out this week with him sleeping 45 minutes at some of them
*  Activity time - around 2.5 hours maximum

This week my aim is:

*  Make a wake up time of 5.45am  - if he wakes before, leave him to talk and play and only go to him if unhappy
*  Watch the clock for activity time of 2.5 hours and maybe increase by 10 minutes
*  Ensure he does not oversleep as well otherwise too much sleep during the day can happen - maximum day sleep 4 hours!

***Hopefully, we may see a bit more consistency for him by the end of the week

Will keep you posted - best of luck to everyone with the 5am wake up.

Cheers

Claire

[OliverRowland]

Hi Claire. let me know if you succeed....esp with waking later!  Then tell me your secret!  How long will your lo lie there in the am before he gets upset or before you go to him to start your day?

[texasmom]

Morning all!!  Well some days I am more positive about this whole deal than others.  We haven't had a waking after 5 am in a week!  Ahhhh!!  One morning it was 3, although I do think that was b/c of teething.  I'm a little frustrated today as he didn't go back to sleep at all, and he usually does.  Well, when I rock him!!  I'm trying to give myself a pep talk!!  So I thought I'd just say hello to you all this morning.  It was a 4:20er. 

Yes, Claire, let us know how it goes.  I'd love to fix my early wake ups!!  Your naps sound a lot like mine. 

Oliverrowland - that is just so crazy with the poop alarm!!!  Goodness.  I'm sure funny at first, but not so much anymore, huh?  But good thing your dh got him to sleep the other morning! 

 
Brooke

[OliverRowland]

Brooke, I feel terrible complaining when you guys are awake at 4 most am's.  How long does your lo lie there awake?  I just feel weird leaving my lo there awake for an hour before I go in to feed him.  He never goes back to sleep (guess he really is ready to start his day...but mum is NOT!).
Can you get the intestinal system on an EASY routine?! 

[texasmom]

Yeah, we are on EASY.  He eats 6, 10, 2, 5, and bedtime.  Is that what you mean?  He's not waking from hunger.  I definitely know what you mean about leaving him.  I absolutely hate it, and it makes me upset.  I leave him till he starts complaining, and then I go rock, sometimes back to sleep.  I guess he is there an hour before he starts complaining.  It's awful, especially day after day.  And my sleep is all messed up now too.  I hope this gets better. 

Up until a month and a half ago, he was waking b/w 6 and 7.  Now we go back and forth b/w 4ish and 5ish.  We had a couple of 6ers. 

Trying to keep my head up! 

[Aiden'sMom]

That poop alarm was what started Aiden waking earlier than 5.45am - for about 10 days, every morning at 5am!!! and that was that for the night, he was up and ready to play. Therafter, have battled to get him back to sleeping later even though no diaper issues - definitely a habit.  After yesterday, 3 naps of 30 min/2 hours/30 min and a night of 4.30am wake up, I was in tears!! So after collecting myself together, I am going to take it 'easy' today and just keep an eye on the clock for not keeping him up past 2.25 hours and feeding every 4 hours and early bed - other than that, if naps are short, they are short....going to try this for a few days as I have been getting really stressed out about naps/sleep etc etc.....you know the story.

Yoga is also a good thing to relax I found last night - my DH said go to Yoga and I did - 7.30pm class and it did wonders - a bit of me time is difficult to find sometimes.

My dear Aiden smiled throughout the morning, ate all his food and was a dear............however just heard him wake up at 45 minutes, oh dear............


Cheers for now

Claire

[texasmom]

Claire,
How old is your LO? 

I know what you mean about being in tears.  I've shed a lot of them lately.  Because Collin doesn't get a good night's sleep, he can't even stay up 2 hours sometimes.  He used to be able to go 2.75.  It's REALLY hard b/c if I leave the house, he gets over tired.  So not only am I sleep deprived, I'm going stir crazy in this house!! 

I wanted to tell you that being over tired is what started all of this for us.  Now it's hard to break free of the vicious cycle.  I try try try. 

Glad you got some time to unwind. 

Brooke

[Aiden'sMom]

Hi Brooke

Aiden is 6 months 1 week old (4 weeks prem - not sure if that has any impact at 6 months).  I know the feeling about being inside the house - you sometimes feel like a prisoner, I am going to talk Aiden out for a walk this afternoon around the neighbourhood just to get out!!

What do you mean by being 'overtired started it all' as that is something I am trying to figure out. Maybe I should go back to activity time of 2 hours and work up again? Maybe going to 2,5 hours was just too much for him But then I think maybe he is not sleeping because he is not tired enough?? Who knows!

I am trying the 2.15 hours activity time for the next few days, even 2 hours for his lunch time nap and will see if that helps out.

I know babies will be babies and do not follow the rules of all the books their moms read! However, I am more concerned for him as he is waking up at night etc.........

Will keep in touch

Look after yourself

Claire

[OliverRowland]

I hear ya Claire!  Increasing awake time and finding what works for my ds has not been easy here either and boy am I ever tired of being tired  .  I look back on my log and really miss those 6-6:30am w/u!
I wish us all later w/u for christmas!

[texasmom]

Well, for a few days (This was back at the beginning of November) - we had different things going on - he didn't get the rest he needed.  I think it was 3 days.  Then all of a sudden he started waking early.  I didn't realize why at the time.  The reason I now know is I keep a log of food/sleep.  A couple of weeks ago, I looked back to see when all of this started and see if I could figure out why.  So at the time, I thought it was b/c of the time change and decided to "shift his body clock" back an hour - postponed everything (naps, feeds, bedtime) 1 hour.  Made things worse.  Then we went out of town and with the airplane and just being away from home, it got even worse.  Then we came home, and it got better because he started to get better sleep (started waking at 5 and a couple of 6's).  Then I thought I could keep him up till 7 (his bedtime used to be 7:30, so I thought this was good) in hopes of getting back to 6/7 wake ups.  Well then I got 4!  And we've been stuck here for about a week.  

Soo... yes, be very careful with extending awake time.  If you are getting night wakings or early wakings, go back to what you did before when he was waking at a good time, then extend in 5-10 min increments, only every couple of days.  Some say 15 minutes, but if you're having issues, I wouldn't.  This is miserable, and you don't want to be here.  I went to Babies R Us today, and JUST going one place, he got overtired.  He can't even stay up 2 hours sometimes.  Used to be 2.75.  It's hard.  

Hope that helps explain what I meant.  

Oh yes, Oliverrowland, great Christmas present!  I'll take it!!  For our anniversary, Collin slept through the night, so maybe it will happen!!     I soooo miss those 6/7's.  Didn't EVEN appreciate them at the time.  Isn't that how it is?  Now I'd appreciate 5. 

[OliverRowland]

Brooke, Collin is a cutie pie!  How long has he been sitting on his own?!  What time does Collin go to bed?

[texasmom]

Thanks!     I think he started sitting on his own at around 5 months.  Collin's bedtime varies right now until he can get on a routine.  It depends on if he goes back to sleep after a 4ish waking.  But he didn't yesterday.  Woke at 4:20, in bed by 5:15.  Problem was, he didn't fall asleep b/c he got overtired, and when he does, he gets hyper.  His overtiredness just sneaks up on me.  I thought getting him down that early was good.   

Hope some of you got a later morning!    

[texasmom]

I'm celebrating today!!!  Collin woke at 5:30!! 
Don't don't anyone think I'm crazy!  This is an hour later than we've had in a while!! 

Yay!!!

[Twiga]

Hi. Not sure if this is the right place, but here goes. I have a 10 week old daughter and is generally an Angel/Texbook baby. She is fed part breast, part bottle.  She is fed at 07:00 ish and then goes straight to bed.  She then has a dream feed between 10:00 and 11:00.
I have only been trying this for a couple of nights, but around 04:30 she wakes (a few nights before that she woke up at 03:00, then 04:30) up and I have been giving her a dummy to see if she is really hungry or if she wants to be comforted.  She tends to go back to sleep and wakes again at around 05:00 and I do the same thing. She then wakes up every 15 mins to 30 mins. I then give in and feed her.  She sometimes doesn't take a full feed and think to myself that she must be hungry because she last fed six hours ago.  Is it normal for her not to be hungry first thing?
We are then changing nappies and feeding at around 06:00/06:30.  Am I pushing for her to drop this feed too early? And should I let her decide when she is ready to sleep through the night?
Thank you.