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

[LyndaManus]

Yep, that is how we do it too.  My ds is in daycare so his naps often get all over the place.  Now he seems to dictate his naps and I follow his lead.  He is down to two naps a day.  Sometimes one will be 2.5 hours and the second will be 30 minutes, sometimes we get 1 hour and then two hours.  He always seems to keep EAS as long as we follow his cues and he tends to get the same amount of sleep every day.

[texasmom]

Hi guys... not much in postings here lately.  I just thought I'd write b/c things are getting BETTER!  Collin is sleeping 11.5 hours now.  He woke at 5:30 today, which is early to many, but it's better than 3/4!! 

Oliverrowland - how are you doing? 

How are the rest of you? 

[legend_018]

Hello. My LO went from an average 7am wake up time to a 6/6:30am wake up time. Bed time between 7pm and 8pm depending on naps ect. She gets up usually once in the middle of the night for a bottle. She is 9 months old.  Once in a great while she surprises me and will get up for 2 bottles in the middle of the night. She doesn't really eat solids so that is probably why. Anyways, unless she is sick or something than she might get up for other reasons.

[texasmom]

Hmmm... any other changes? 

My LO started waking early b/c he wasn't getting enough sleep. 

I wonder if she needs her naps changed...  What are they like? 

[OliverRowland]

Hi Texasmom, so glad to hear that you are getting more sleep.  We had a rough go during the holidays with constant out of town visitors, teething (no. 5 and 6), sitting independently, presents, the flu.  It was getting me down as ds was not only waking early but having a couple of night wakings.  But crowds left , teething stopped (for now), we are healthier all at the same time and ds is doing much better for it.  We have actually made it to a 6am w/u!  This is how we did it:
1) Pushed bedtime to 6:45-7pm as ds just doesn't want to sleep more than 11hrs.
2) Make sure he sleeps t'ill 3:15-3:30pm for 2nd nap (start at 1:20-1:30), which means he can finish his nap in my arms or just stay quiet in my arms t'ill that time.  I am doing this for a while until he can handle staying up t'ill 7pm (ie I am trying very hard to avoid him being overtired.)  May not be the best thing to do but it is working right now and I will not do it forever.  Plus I get some snuggle time!

[legend_018]

here are some examples for the past couple of days for naps

6:30 up
7:30 - 5 1/2 oz
9:30 - 6 oz and sleeping
10:50am - up
1:15 - 7 1/2 oz
3:20-4pm nap
4:15 - 5 1/2 oz
7:30 - 7 oz or 8?
bed 8pm

up 2:00am - 6oz
up 6:15am
7:00 - 6 1/2 oz.
9:00 - 5 3/4 oz and sleeping
10:45 up
1:00pm - 7 oz
1:45 - sleeping until 3:10
4:15pm - 6 oz
7:15pm - 4 oz
bed

up 11:30 and 3:30 for 6oz bottles
up 6:30am
7:30am - 7 3/4 oz bottle
10:20am - 7oz bottle
11:15am - sleeping
up 12:30
3:30 - 4 oz
6:30 - 8 oz and bed by 7pm. No 2nd nap today for some reason.

up 11:00 and 3 for 6 oz bottles
up 6:30am
7:30 - 6 oz
9:30 - 7 oz and sleeping.
it's 10:30 and she's still sleeping.

[Aiden'sMom]

Hi there

Texasmom, glad to hear things are getting better - that is great.  Please let me know how your day looks now with naps and bedtime?

Thanks

Claire

[texasmom]

Hi there guys...

Hi Claire,
How's it been going with you and your LO?  Good to talk to you!  Well, we're not in a solid routine - just meaning there still is some variation in our day, but we had a few recent days that looked kind of like this...

5:30 awake
8:30-10:15 nap 1
1:30-3 nap 2
b/w 6 and 6:30 asleep

I'm still just kind of observing to see if he is going to fall into a pattern b/c yesterday DH took care of him, and Collin was just playing, and then he fell asleep on DH's shoulder - DH had no idea it was even happening!!  It was really early - not time for a nap, and Collin NEVER falls asleep if there is something for him to look at or do.  Very strange for him.  Anyway, he slept 45 min on his shoulder, so he had to take another nap later.  So he took 3 naps.  And today he took really long naps...  So we'll see. 

OliverRowland,
Our holidays were AWFUL too.  I drove 8 hours b/w Christmas and New Year's, and Collin did terribly!  One night he woke screaming every hour.  I may have already told you this...  my brain cells are completely dead.  Anyway, so glad things are better for the both of us!  Overtired is a cuss word to me!!   

Legend,
Can you tell me how old your LO is?  Is it possible she is going through a growth spurt?  What do you think of giving her 4 or more feedings during the day?  I thought maybe on the second night, she woke b/c she didn't get enough during the day...  I actually do 5 feedings, tanking him up b/f bedtime.  For example, bottle feedings might be 6, 10, 2, 4, 6.  That seems to really help him make it through the night.  Also, you can wean those night feedings.  I might just give one feeding per night, even if she wakes (if possible).  I'd make sure I'd tanked her up during the day for sure...  And if she is less than 7 months, you can do a dream feed b/w 10 and 11 pm, rather than the extra feeding at 4.  So anyway, I'd either do an extra feeding at 4 or a dream feed.  Then if she wakes before 6, I'd only feed her once.  The first night could be rough, but then she'd take the food the next day, rather than at night.  Is she eating solids?  So then the next day, I'd start weaning the night feeding by dropping 1-2 ounces each night.  Then she'd take even more the next day.  You can mix up a bottle with the same amount of water, but just less formula.  That way she feels a little bit more full.  Also, I try to track how much Collin eats during the day to make sure he has gotten enough before he goes to sleep.  It also looks like the awake times are sometimes too long.  She could be overtired.  When babies get overtired, they sleep less.  I read that their bodies start producing cortisol or adrenaline (I can't remember which), but it makes them go into hyper drive and they don't sleep well.  Then you get into a vicous cycle.  It seems like you might have that going on too.  What do you think?  You might also want to start a thread in Night Wakings to get some more advice. 

Good talking with you guys!


Brooke

[legend_018]

Thats for the advice - I have to read it a few times to digest it "lol"
My LO is 9 months old and a week. I have other forums in regards to her not eating solids. She picks on finger foods a little and has break through moments where it will actually look like she's eating a decent amount "example spagetti her grandparents today" - but since 7 months of age she has pretty much stopped solids cold turkey. That is another forum. Now I must admit the 2 bottles in the middle of the night has only been the past 2 nights....usually it's only one bottle between 2am and 4am on average. I did water down the 2nd bottle last night  "4 oz formula/2 oz water". Ya sometimes her up times are a bit long...but all and all for quite awhile now her up times have been at least 3 1/2 hours give our take. It's definetely over board when she's up and not sleeping/napping by 4 hours of up time. This morning she was up for 3 hours before she went down for a nap.

[texasmom]

I hope something I said could help.  What I have done lately is - he wakes and goes to sleep at PRETTY MUCH the same time - so I space his sleep out evenly over the day.  I know that's not BW protocol, but it seems to work with us.    His first A time is a little shorter.  There have been times when Collin could not go to sleep if he was up too long.  Then he'd get sooo overtired and cry and pass out.  Sometimes I'd have to feed him just to get him to calm down enough to go to sleep.  Not BW protocol either!!  LOL!  But I thought maybe she got overtired that day from not taking a second nap and maybe partly why she woke early...    Not sure, just a thought. 

Wow, that must be frustrating and difficult with the solids.  It's amazing how hard things can be with babies.  I guess before I had one I just thought, "They eat, they sleep."  When people would say it's hard I thought it was b/c they depend on you for everything or that you had to feed them at night.  I had no idea!      I'm sorry about that and hope it gets better. 

Claire,
I just looked at that routine I posted.  I wrote the wrong thing for the naps.  It was 8:30-9:45 first nap, 1:15-2:45 second nap. 

[Aiden'sMom]

Thanks Brooke for the advice and info on your day - most useful!  Thanks.

Aiden is still waking early sometimes at 4.30am, but I give him a small bottle and back to sleep until 7-7.30am and then we start our day.  We have discovered that his reflux has got worse which could result in increased night wakings etc - so he is on new meds and hopefully that may help him at night to sleep more.  I discovered last night, he was crying, I crept in and he was trying to roll over in his crib but was fast asleep - I have heard this happen when they are doing the developmental thing!

So I see you are getting in 2 naps per day now and no catnap? How is that going? Does you LO tolerate the longer activity times?  Aiden is managing 2.5-3 hours but 3 hours at the max.

He is crying so must go have a look

Cheers for now

Claire

[texasmom]

Claire,
I never told you that my middle name is Claire.  I love it.  It was my Grandmother's middle name too.  If I have a girl someday, I'd like to name her Claire. 

It's a little rough without the catnap, but it was bad with it too.  Sometimes I couldn't fit in and didn't know WHAT to do b/c I was afraid if I put him down super early he'd wake even more early.  Also, he wasn't good and tired sometimes if I tried to fit in the 3 naps and put him down earlier for each.  And then sometimes he just wouldn't go down or it'd get too late for the 3rd.  I wonder how other babies do it!  If you only have 2 naps, you have to have A times longer than 3 hours.  It doesn't make sense b/c from what I read, most babies drop the catnap around 6 months, but A times are not that long.  They must sleep more than mine.  Collin seems to sleep about 14 hours a day.  To be honest, I don't know if I'm doing the right thing.  I thought after like a week he'd get used to it, but yesterday and one other day this week he took really long naps, and today he woke at 4:30 - from too much sleep the previous day.  But I didn't want to wake him b/c I thought he needed it.  So I'm still muddling through.  Maybe I will figure it out one day and be able to help tons of moms.  Anyway, today I'm going for 3 naps.  Hope he will take the 3rd one.  Zoey told me if the catnap is too late, you can get early wakings.     I feel like the queen of early wakings!! 

Hope tomorrow is good for us both!! 

[rinajack]

Hi guys

I haven't been keeping up with this thread.  But we are back.

We have had to go back to 6/6:30 bed time, with a wakeup at around 5/5:30.  She is only getting to that time with a 4 something resettling.   

Our change in times recently didn't stick, she is just an early riser.  Which is OK.  But I am pregnant now, and want to sleep in so badly.  It will pass, but for right now, I am just tired.

Hope you are all going well.

Rina

[texasmom]

Rina!
Congratulations!!!!!  I know you have said before that you want to be a momma again!!  That is great news. 

Well I am sorry that you are back.  I am here too and still trying to figure it out.  I thought you had cracked it. 

I hope you get to sleep.  Maybe DH can take over mornings for a bit. 

Brooke

[rinajack]

Thanks Brooke.

I think what I have here is one who naturally wakes early (as do her daddy and I - a sleep in for me would be 6 or 6:30am anyway  ).

Can't complain too much if she is having an 11 hr night (and that resettling won't last forever, we ended up with very early wakings due to trying to stick to the later bedtime, so in a few days or a couple weeks she will drop that, it doesn't take too long to resettle her.

Are things getting better for you Brooke with the early wakeups?  Not still 3 or 4 I hope.