I am so happy to know I am not the only one with an early riser! Please let me know what works! I too have been struggling with this problem for about a week now so I know it is a habit! Someone please help! I think I need a full schedule overhaul to remedy the early wake ups and I am not sure how to go about it!
Trent is 8 mos today and is about to start crawling, he rocks on his knees and is a very active Textbook baby. He usually stays awake about 2 hours before needing his nap (although, I now stretch him longer to try and stay on some sort of schedule). He was previously on an impeccable 3 1/2-4 hour EASY...until the past month or so.
I am so confused about naps and bedtime since he is waking so early....I have tried to keep him on the 4 hour EASY but he takes a short 45 min morning nap, a longer afternoon 1 hr. 15-45 nap and sometimes is too overtired to catnap, it is not that he doesn't need it, it is just that he gets too tired to take it since I have to stretch him to get to a decent bedtime time so that bedtime will not be around 5Pm, but be around 7.
I wonder if stretching him is causing him a less deep sleep and an early wake up time?
When he started waking early I was feeding him as well, and he would go back to sleep and with in a few days I found the same thing as with Zander, earlier wake up for bottle and no going back down. SO....I stopped giving the bottle and do not go into his room until 6-6:30 and then start my EASY. However, by this time he has been awake almost an hour and is so hungry and is crying and upset. He never cried like this before, so I wonder if it is true hunger or the fact that he is now more aware- like a sep anxiety thing. The other part to that when I go get him he has been awake and hour and will only stay awake another hour and then needs his first nap at about 7:00-7:30 AM! Again, I try to strecth him but it results in an overtired baby.
Then we have bedtime....if he does not catnap, he will be awake anywhere from 3-5 hours from his last naptime wake, which is WAY too long for him and this is where I think part of the problem may lie. He goes to bed early (again, I try to stretch him to 7PM)but may not have a good sleep since he is overtired, thus waking early? LAst night he woke in the night for the first time since 3 mos old!! He got up on his knees and cried (we have a video monitor, I did not go in!) and then went back to sleep, so is this a developmental thing or an overtired thing or what? How can I shape up my schedule or do I just need to ride it out???
I am at a loss...Tracy says in the Solves all your Problems bookthat you have to ride out this age because of dev. things like crawling so it is unclear of any type of EASY for this age.
HELP!!!!!
Thanks!
K