9 mo routine - advice please :)

[simran]

I agree with you, I have tried extending her wake time before but I found that she became overtired, had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep after her first sleep cycle, in saying that, that was a few months ago so I will give it a try this week and work on it and see if it works.  I will extend her wake time by 30mins and hopefully to 3hrs.  This morning she woke at 4.30am!! I changed her & put her back to bed.  She then woke at 7am, do you think I need to do wake to sleep at around 3am as she seems to wake at around 4amish?  Thanks

[tiki_mama]

i honestly think in your DD's case her early wakening is just because her routine needs altered a bit. I'd try that first before you try w2s as I think extending A times and getting down to 2 proper naps each day will help and will work out better for you all in the long run 

keep us updated x

[simran]

Hi thanks,

Well yesterday went like this, after her 4.30am wake I got her to bed pretty much straight away and she woke at 7am where we started the day.  I extended her afternoon A time by 30mins and she was fine but by 4pm she was grizzly as her previous nap was only 45mins.  I put her to bed & she napped for 30mins, waking up really grumpy, at around 6pm she was really tired & irritable (maybe due to teething, she doesn't have any teeth yet so I assume she is teething) I fed her at 6pm and put her to bed by 6.30pm where she fell asleep straight away and woke this morning at 5.30am! having slept 11hrs straight.  I think it may be working, stretching her A time, 2 proper naps & a later bed time.  Will keep you posted.  I really appreciate all your help....take care

[simran]

Hi there,

With your advice, we seem to be doing pretty well, I have been extending her A time to approx 2.5-3hrs and she has been fine with that.  Also been trying to put her to bed a little later and wow! we had a 6.15am wake today...yippie!!  Will keep you posted.  No teeth yet 

Thanks again

[tiki_mama]

That's fantastic! At least I appear to have been paying attention to all the things I've read on this board and in Tracey's books and can now pass some of it on!!

Now, if only my DD would stop getting up at 5!!!  lol

[simran]

What do you do when she gets up at 5am? Do you start the day then or do you put her straight back to bed and start the day when she wakes again?

[Gippie]

This happened to us a LOT arounf 7.5 - 8.5 months.   I used to go in and hear her and I could tell by her "cry" that she did not want to be up, so we resettled her with paci and teddy and she always went back until 6ish - even now she will do it once in a while.   If you CANNOT get her back to bed - I'd start the day.   My SIL gives a botle and she is then out till 9 - I wouldnt do that as I think it throws the day off a LOT.  9am is a relly late wake time.    Hope that helps.

I read all these moms with 7:30 wake times- NOT US!!!-....we are 6-6:30 EVERY day.  I DO like it cause it is perfect for us, but I wish she knew the difference between the week and the weekends .  Today my DH got home at 6:30(he works nights) and I asked if he cheked on DD - cause she was still asleep...he said YES, she is fine....I said Is she BREATHING - he said YEs..I wsa NOT able to go back to bed - cause I KNEW any second I'd hear her...and go figure - she slept till 7am .  Miracles never cease to happen!!!

Have a great day

[tiki_mama]

when my DD starts to wake at 5 we leave her for as long as possible (basically until she is crying), then DH goes in and puts some toys in her cot and we leave her again. She'll play for about 10 minutes then she'll go nuts!!

We bring her through to our room and play with her on the bed and don't feed her til 6am. We did that for a few days and she eventually slept through til 6am or after, but the early wakenings have started again and the only thing I can think it is now is her teeth. her bottom 3rd and 4th are just under the gum and seem to be driving her crazy 

I am hopeful that she will go back to her later wakening time again once the teeth are through (before the next lot start! lol!). It's funny how you start to see 6am as a lie in!! 

[simran]

Hi there,

Just checking in to see how you are getting on with the early wakings?  We have managed to push them to 5.45am by getting her to bed at 6.30pm, any later and she seems to wake earlier!  We are however still struggling to increase her A time to 2.5-3hrs.  She is teething & was down with a cold and as a result her morning naps are now only 45mins.  Her second nap is still 1.5hrs but due to early waking from naps she still needs that afternoon catnap otherwise she is really tired by 5pm.

[tiki_mama]

Hey 

Well DD has had a terrible cold for the past 2 weeks, but amazingly she sleeps better when she's ill so for about a week she was getting up at 7am, which was brilliant! It made our day very strange as often her second nap was at about 3.30/4pm!!

She's better now and has been waking around 6.15/6.30. We've found that if we put her to bed at about 6.30pm she goes to sleep peacefully within about 10 minutes, but any later and she struggles to settle and will cry for about 30 minutes on and off. It seems that's her current preferred bedtime so we'll stick with that for now.

It's hard trying to extend A times when your LO is unwell, but I really think you need to try and work out a way to get her awake longer and cut out the catnap. At her age it will affect her nightime sleep no question  If you can't find a way to extend awake time, have you thought of just putting her to bed around 5.30pm (for the night). If she's waking at 5.45pm then that's not actually as early as it sounds. 12 hours in bed and 12 hours up is pretty normal.

Why not try it? Let me know how you get on 

x

[simran]

Hi there,

Hope your DD is better, these nasty viruses really mess up baby routines!  Well she has been pretty grizzly and woke at 5am, I left her in the hope that she would re-settle but she wasn't having any of it, we finally started the day at 5.45am.  She was awake for 3hrs and is still sleeping after 1hr!  Now that the cold is better, we will extend her A time, drop the catnap and put her to bed at 5.30pm.  I will give this a try for a week & let you know how we get on.  She is also teething pretty badly so hopefully the teeth cut through before she gets used to short naps and early wakings.  At least if all works it will make her less grizzly, irritable and get her appetite back.

Take Care