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

[texasmom]

Things were a bit better for about 5 days - (5:30 wake up) - but then it all fell apart.  I think b/c I thought he was ready to drop the catnap and have longer A times.  After a couple of days of a routine with no catnap, he took a really long nap one afternoon.  I kept trucking with the longer A times and no catnap.  Then the next day he took 2 long naps, got too much sleep, and woke at 4:30 the next day and two days since.  It's part of his routine unless I do something to change it.  Jessica in Night Wakings gave me an idea, and I'm debating on whether to try it.  I'm just scared to make it worse, but I can't think of anything else to make it better.  Oh well. 

I'm a morning person too, although that used to be 7 to me!! 

[Janice Anne]

I'd like to join the club also. My ds#1 has always been an early riser, but some mornings 4:30am is just too much to bear. The typical time is 6am, which doesn't sound too, too bad, but when I've been up 2-3 times a night with ds#2 and I've just gone back to bed at 5:30am, it's waaaaaay to freakin' early!

I've just tried enforcing the "It's not morning time until the little hand is on the seven", but for the past three mornings, ds#1 runs into our room at 6:00am, drags me out of my coma by slapping the mattress inches from my face and asks "mommy, what time is it?" Desperately trying to contain my temper, I tell him it's not 7am yet and to go back to bed. The usual response is "No!" in a much louder tone then necessary. So I give in and take him out to the living room and get him to watch some cartoons quietly for the next 45 min or so. Before ds#2 came along, I would have just picked him up and put him back in his bed screaming or not, but no can do now with a 3month old (who is not a good sleeper) in the same room.

Does anyone remember how good we slept before we had kids? I just wish I could have appreciated it then like I do now thinking back!

p.s. my poor dh, I've been bitching at him for almost 3 years about peeing quietly (god forbid he flushes the toilet at 4am!) and closing the bedroom door too loudly

[Shdef]

I've just tried enforcing the "It's not morning time until the little hand is on the seven", but for the past three mornings, ds#1 runs into our room at 6:00am, drags me out of my coma by slapping the mattress inches from my face and asks "mommy, what time is it?" Desperately trying to contain my temper, I tell him it's not 7am yet and to go back to bed. The usual response is "No!" in a much louder tone then necessary. So I give in and take him out to the living room and get him to watch some cartoons quietly for the next 45 min or so. Before ds#2 came along, I would have just picked him up and put him back in his bed screaming or not, but no can do now with a 3month old (who is not a good sleeper) in the same room.

How about giving your older one a wee light that actually comes on at 7 (you can buy these thingys) so that he knows the time? He can stay in his bed with some toys and play quietly, maybe it is better to have the LO sleeping in another room so that he can have some freedom? That used to work quite well with me when I was that age...

Does anyone remember how good we slept before we had kids? I just wish I could have appreciated it then like I do now thinking back!

p.s. my poor dh, I've been bitching at him for almost 3 years about peeing quietly (god forbid he flushes the toilet at 4am!) and closing the bedroom door too loudly

One thing that really helps cure that problem... Letting DH do the hard work getting the bubbas to sleep. DH and I work in a shift system, every second night I get up but can sleep longer in the morning, the other nigfht it is the other way around...

[Carys' mom]

Janice Anne - I feel your pain . I'm "back" to join the club again. We were dealing with horrid night wakings for a while, so dealing with the early waking was put on the back burner. We finally sorted out the night wakings for the most part thank God, but we're still dealing with early wakings. My 22 mo dd used to sleep 10 hours at night, and now it's dropped to 9 hours, 15 min. It seems like no matter what time we put her to bed, that's what it's going to be. She went to sleep at 8:10pm last night (a little later than usual), and woke at 5:25am this morning. I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm so tired and depressed about this and scared to death that my next child will be the same.

[legend_018]

My LO didn't finally fall asleep last night until 8:40am. She consistently wakes up lately for at least one bottle between 1:30am and 3:30am. but last night she slept all the way until 4:45am. The only problem was she wanted to get up and after trying for a good 1/2 hour or more I gave up and had to come downstairs. She did only stay up for 2 hours and went back to sleep at around 6:45am for about an hour and 15 minutes. but still 4:45am is QUITE early to be starting my day.

[texasmom]

Hi Janice,
Sorry that you have to join us, but maybe someone can help you out.   

Melanie,
I'm so sorry it's been so rough.  I remember seeing your wakings thread a long time ago.  You've been dealing with this for such a long time.  I can relate just a little b/c my LO has always seemed to have sleeping issues.  We've been dealing with early wakings since Nov. 5.  5's, 4's, sometimes 3's.  Many times I've had anxiety and gotten depressed.  I know I shouldn't stress about it so much, but I do.  I think mostly b/c I am soo tired and long for some regular sleep. 

I actually think I have figured out a few things.  Maybe just wishful thinking, and he will fool me but again.  Today he woke at 5:30, which actually seems normal for him (6pm-5:30am - trust me, not the bedtime/waketime I'd choose) .  But that is a good night's sleep, so I am NOT complaining. 

Your LO is older than mine.  I wonder if I could help from what I've learned. 

Legend,
It's good that she's not waking for the feeding.  What you did paid off.  Could you post your routine from yesterday? 

[legend_018]

probably just luck "lol"
Yesterday it was
6am up but I managed to stay in bed until 6:30am
7 oz bottle between 6:30 and 7am.
7 oz bottle at 9am
9:50am sleeping "it took an hour to get her down"
woke at 11:15am
1pm had a decent amount of noodles form chix noodle soup and some very small pieces of a chicken mcnugget
1:40pm 5 oz bottle
5:30pm tried peas and pasta pieces - didnt' really want them
6:00pm I think it was a 5 oz bottle
7:30pm 5 oz bottle and somewhere between 8:00pm and 8:30pm she had the last 3 oz of the bottle. I had took her upstairs around 7:40pm and it took a good hour to get her to fall asleep.
actually it's not the greatest schedule. not really different than other days. Except she took to the chix noodles when some days she pretty much eats no solids. I got things I have to workon - like getting her to eat solids more, possibly stopping the cluster feeds she does every morning, and working on sleeping stuff.

[texasmom]

Did she take a second nap?  I don't know if I keep missing it when I look at your day. 

[legend_018]

woops forgot that.  fell asleep on the way home from a visit we made around 2:45pm I think and I brought her upstairs when we got home and she ended up waking up at around 3:45pm so it was bout an hour.

[OliverRowland]

Guess what?!  My ds woke up at 7am yesterday!!!!!!!    I heard him moving at 5am and went in to put a paci in...he didn't make a sound until 7am.  And I was awake before he was!   I thought that maybe we had made it.....wishful thinking...he woke at 5am today and did not go back to sleep.  He stayed awake in his crib until 6:30 

[texasmom]

OliverRowland,
Well that is great that he woke at 7!  Not so cool on today, but everytime you get frustrated with the 5's, just be thankful it's not earlier.  I say anything before 5 is ungodly!!  That is pretty cool that he can play for 1.5 all by himself.    Is someone helping you with the early wakings - trying to get them later?  I actually think I've figured some things out if you want some help.  You're probably thinking, "Yeah, right!"   

legend,
I think what happened at bedtime is she was overtired.  She woke at 6:00, slept for 1.25, then 1 more - that is 8.25 so far for the day.  She probably needed to be asleep by 5:45 or 6:00.  I know that sounds early, but that gives her a total of 14.25-14.5 hours of sleep, which is average for a LO her age.  She didn't get enough sleep, slept restlessly, and woke early.  I've learned this from many, many early wakings.  I think you should make sure the A times aren't too long for her (Collin is almost 8 months, and his first A time is 2.5 hours - and that seems to be pushing it for him.  His first A time is the shortest.).  Hers might need to be shorter, which could be why she took so long to get down for that nap yesterday.  Collin is super hard to get down when he gets overtired.  Also make sure you get her into bed at a time needed to get enough sleep for the day.  You'll have to figure out what that is, but, again, average is 14.25-14.5 for her age.  Many times I've tried putting Collin to bed later in hopes of getting him to sleep later, and it backfired.  6 wakeups turned into 5's and 5's into 4's and even some 3's.  Hope that helps some. 


Brooke

[OliverRowland]

Brooke, what have you figured out...please share!

[texasmom]

Well I am sooo darn hardheaded, I kept robbing him of sleep, and he kept trying to make up for it - so his days were all screwy!!!  So I figured out how much sleep he needed by taking an average.  These are not actual numbers, but say he got 13.75 then 13.5 then 14 then the next day he slept 15.75.  I averaged them out to see what he needed for the day.  (This may sound loony!)  Turns out I'm PRETTY sure he needs 14.25, which is more than I thought.  I kept putting him down later than I should have b/c I was scared he'd wake early!  Well he did b/c he was overtired!  AAAAARHG!  I can't believe how long it's taken me to figure that one out!!  So now I make sure he gets 14.25.  What ended up happening is he fixed himself after a couple of days of me doing that.  Before Nov, he used to wake b/w 6:30 and 7:30.  Today he woke at 5:30 and did the same thing today as the day before...  (took two long naps - which seemed to be the thing that got him good and rested, and i was able to put him down later.)  So tonight he was able to go to bed (w/o being overtired) later than he has in a long long time.  So I guess the two things I'm big on now is not too long A time and make sure he gets enough hours of sleep for the day, whatever time that is that I have to put him down.  Now we haven't had days and days of good wakings, so maybe I will still have to figure out more, but I feel like it finally clicked.  Finally!!!!  Man, I feel like an idiot!!!  I have no idea what tomorrow will be like - he can't keep having these long naps b/c his bedtime will just get later and later.  But then I kind of think he will adjust to normal.  Normal meaning most babies go to bed b/w 7 and 8.  So maybe once he gets there, he will sleep normal during the day.  We'll see. 

Want me to take a look at your day? 

[rinajack]

Brooke once you achieve the bedtime wakeup time that you want, if lo is still sleeping too much during the day, and pushing bedtime later and later, you could always wake him from naps....many others on our birthclub do this.....

Not me though, I will take her sleeping any time   Plus Zara has such bad sleep when away from her room (ie daycare, days out) that she actually needs to make up the sleep on the other days.  She seems to work it out on her own, but not all babies do that.

[texasmom]

Rina, yeah, I've thought about doing that too.  I'm going to give it a couple of days b/c it seems like when I try to mess with the sleep, I make it worse.  I'm going to see if he sorts it out on his own b/c it seems that might be what he is doing too.  Thanks.    Plus, he may not wake any later tomorrow. 

OliverRowland, I forgot how old your LO is.