Author Topic: Body clock stuck on 4:50am!! Time to W2S??  (Read 2044 times)

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Offline sebas

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Body clock stuck on 4:50am!! Time to W2S??
« on: August 17, 2006, 03:24:39 am »
My LO is 13mo wakes up at 4:50am every morning (this is after waking up at around midnight for a midnight snack).

I was thinking that maybe I have contributed to this as when he does wake up at this time for the sake of some sleep I will bring him into bed with me until about 7am, but I really would like him to stay in his bed until wake up time.

I want to try W2S but am unsure when to do it and what to do.  Can you please give me some advice.  Do I go in 1 hour before his waking time or half an hour?   Does he actually have to open his eyes or is just moving around enough to disrupt the cycle?

Please help me as I am desperate to get some continuous sleep until wake up time.

Also, I have decided to try WI/WO but am unsure whether I should wait until he has cut all his molars, or would it be worthwhile starting now?

Thanks for your advice.

Offline Florencia

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Re: Body clock stuck on 4:50am!! Time to W2S??
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2006, 03:19:05 am »
Hi!
First off, my apologies for taking so long to answer you. I had not seen your post until today.

Then, I think I'm gonna need more info to come up with a plan, cause your lo's 450 am waking can be due to many things such as overtiredness or a need of tweaking of schedule. 13 months is such a tough age (it's exactly when i adquired all my sleep training expertise LOL). Molars can disrupt any routine and sleep training method. IF lo's teething badly i'd suggest to hold off sleep training for a couple of weeks, cause in the middle of pain and discomfort, it can be misunderstood as a failure in the techinque and you can read him wrong because of all the upsetting.

Then if you try w2s you should go around 30-45 mins (although an hour is a good mark, but i have found with toddlers that the closer you go to their waking mark, the more chances you have to succeed... it's up to you). You have to just unsettle him (not waking fully) just enough for him to go back to sleep again (quick rubbin' or tickling or moving him gently), just enough for him to start a new sleep cycle. IF you wake him at all you might have trouble making him go back to sleep.

For other wakings it's ok to use wi/wo, only if you feel comfortable with it. All sleep training techniques are described thoroughly in the FAQ section at the top of this board, under a thread called Teaching Independent Sleep. Under that section, there's another thread called Most Common Sleep BUsters where you can find possible reasons for a toddler's wakings. Have a read at it and see if something rings the bell in your case. If so, post your schedule so we can come up with a plan.

Good luck and keep us posted!
Mom to Manolo, spirited monkey and Jose Miguel, an angel cupcake

Offline sebas

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Re: Body clock stuck on 4:50am!! Time to W2S??
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2006, 11:57:33 am »
Thanks for your response.  In answer to your question, here is what our day looks like:

6:45am - wake & bottle (200ml)
8am - breakfast
10am - bottle (240ml) & nap (usually for 1 to 1h 15m) - or 3hrs & 15min after waking
11-11:30am - wake from nap
12:30 - lunch (1 cup of veges and dessert - yogurt, fruit or custard)
2:30pm - Nap for 30-40 mins (or 3.5 hours after waking from nap)
3:00 - 3:15pm - snack (fruit, yogurt or custard)
4:45pm - dinner (1 cup of veges)
6pm - 6:45pm - bath, bottle (250 - 300ml) and bed!

My LO is cutting 4 molars at the moment, so as you suggest I will wait until they are all out and then commence with the sleep training.

I have tried endlessly to extend his PM nap, but nothing has worked.  Perhaps you can review our day and let me know if there is something that you can pick up that may assist with our PM nap and also our night and early waking.

I look forward to your response.

Offline Sabine

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Re: Body clock stuck on 4:50am!! Time to W2S??
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2006, 23:51:48 pm »
My lo was going through the same thing and I tried him on one nap and that seemed to end the night wakings and early am's for a while (they are back now too with his molars).   Have you thought about trying one nap to see if his night sleep/wakings resolve?? He may be ready to transition my guy always started taking shorter aft naps or dropping them altogether.

sabine

Offline Swirl

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Re: Body clock stuck on 4:50am!! Time to W2S??
« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2006, 00:53:37 am »
I hope I"m not jinxing myself by talking about this...BUT it was about a month ago that
my son (18mos) was waking up early 5am... I tried putting him down later but that didn't work.
So I have stuck with his normal bedtime 7:30/7:45 but I did do the wake to sleep technique and
it worked!!! It took a WHOLE week but I didn't give up and he is now FINALLY waking up at
7:15ish... (his naps are around 12:30ish-1pm for 2 hours)
So I went into his room around 4am and repositioned him in his crib. He never woke up fully but
it did change his sleep cycle. I did this for 5 days straight but I kept moving the time I went into
his room by 10 mins... 4, 4:10, 4:20...etc. Also I pushed back his breakfast so that way he wasn't
expecting to get fed right away. ((I read that tip somewhere else to not feed breakfast or a
bottle as soon as they wake up or they will set their tummy's to be fed asap.))
Don't give up. I was willing to accept 6:30am wake ups but definitely nothing before hand and it
has been FINALLY paying off.
I really hope the wake to sleep technique works!!!!
Take care,

Offline sebas

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Re: Body clock stuck on 4:50am!! Time to W2S??
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2006, 03:41:45 am »
Well, things have not gotten any better, if anything probably a little worse.  I really think that apart from cutting his molars and having a cold at the moment, he is SERIOUSLY OVERTIRED and in need of a really good sleep!!!

Can you please review our day (details on a previous post) and let me know what I can do to help him overcome his overtiredness, by perhaps tweaking his routine.  Mostly when he wakes early from a nap, I try to resettle and he seems to want to get back to sleep but can't, would the teething be causing this??

Also, I might add that it has been a week now that I have stopped his midnight feeds, I merely give him water, but he still keeps waking up anywhere between 11pm and 1am for it and takes a while (up to 1 hour) to resettle.

Where I get confused is, if he takes a short AM nap (like 30 mins) do I then put him down for his PM nap a little earlier and hope for a bit longer nap and also would I need to change his bedtime if the PM nap is a short one also (like it usually is).

I am hoping that once he gets over the teething and the cold that by tweaking his routine I can get him back on track.

Sorry for all the questions, but am at my wits end with his and my lack of sleep (tolerance levels aren't that high when I am sleep deprived!!)

Thanks for  your help.