Extending the day to accomodate an early wake up time

[jmosery]

Hi Ladies

so my son WAS on an 8-8 schedule, waking once a night to eat and then back to bed. no DF

then the time change, and even though we slowly moved him to 9-9 before hand, it didn't take

ok, no problem, 7-7 schedule

well now he's dropped the night feed that he was taking but only sleeps 7-6

the problem is that he's too tired by the end of the day

he has two 2 hour naps and an hour cat nap, but he's 4 month this week and its too much by the end of the day

I am not sure how to extend his day. yesterday he woke up at 6:30 and somewhere through the day we added in that half hour

but this morning he was up at 5:45, fed him at 6 and started our day.

should i put him to bed earlier today?? i dont want our wake time to be eariler than what it is now and he can't be going to bed at 6 every night. i just get home at 5 and thats super early

will it get easier to extend the hour over time as he gets used to longer wake times?

any suggestions on what to do in the meantime??

he's already out in his crib for a nap and its 7:30. so he was up an hour and a half.

thanks
jaime

[EMRW Mum]

I think we share the same difficulty.  My lo was sleeping through 7 - 7 before the time change as well.  It was great.....now she is waking at 4:30....and is totally exhausted by 5:00 in the evening.  We have managed to get her back on a 7, 11, 3, 7 (ish) of course, feeding routine but her daytime sleep is completely erratic and she crashes at 5:00pm no matter how well she napped in the afternoon or morning.  I'm not sure what to do.....will it fix itself in time....just like she set the routine before the time change?.....I used to think of the wonderful night of sleep my husband and I would get to get me through the crazy daytime patterns but now they're both mixed up.

corrine

[jmosery]

CORRINE- if my son woke up at 4:30, I would probably feed him and put him back to bed till 7. I would treat that as a night feed. feed again at 7 and start your day from 7-7

if she goes to sleep at 5, does she wake earlier than 4:30 or still at 4:30?

do you start the day that early?

[EMRW Mum]

No....4:30 seems to be the time.....most often anyhow.  We've been treating the 4:30 as a nightfeed.....but not waking her at 7:00....maybe I'll try that and see if that helps to encourage a more consistent routine.....she usually sleeps till around 7:30 if i don't wake her even after the 4:30 feed.  I've been really hesitant to wake her from naps or in the morning....and she's been pretty good about waking for feeds on a four hour routine....even though she's less than four months.  Maybe it's time I start waking her in the morning.....thanks for the input.

Corrine

[jmosery]

no problem

i wish my son would wake at 4 instead of at 6. from 5-6 is hard because you don't want to start the day, but you don't want to treat as night feed either

[EMRW Mum]

I understand that.  my husband get's frustrated because he has to get up at 6:00 for work.....and it takes us about 45 min to an hour to change and feed her and put her back to sleep.....if she wakes at 4:30 she's not down till around 5:30 and 30 min of sleep is just not enough but at the same time it's too much to throw away by starting the day.

[jmosery]

that is a long time

at 4:30, i wouldn't change her diaper unless it was TOTaLLY soaked through. i would just pick her up, feed her and lay her back down in the dark. same as if she woke at 1 am

will your LO not fall back asleep on her own after a feed?

can you prepare the bottle quickly before going into her room?

i leave everything in the bathroom upstairs so takes a second to prepare a bottle and 15 min. to feed my LO. so the whole thing is 20 min. and i'm back in bed. when he wakes for a night feed that is

[EMRW Mum]

the bottle can be quickly done...my husband is a whiz......but her diaper is almost always either poopy or soaked...sometimes both since we haven't changed her since 5ish the evening before.  She often gets the hiccups which makes matters even worse.....the quickest we have ever been able to get her up and back down in 30min....with ideal circumstances 

[jmosery]

5 to 5 yeah, pretty long

hopefully this will both end soon

i miss my 8-8 nights

i even love 7-7

waking early doesn't bother me. its having a cranky kid for two hours when i get home when I really want to have a nice evening with him.

jaime

[EMRW Mum]

I know what you mean.....I could handle an early morning.....if I knew the rest of the day would flow a little better.....I guess I should just be patient.....Emma's still little....I'm just one of those consistency addicts.....there should be a support group....

thanks for your support.....I really appreciate it!  How's your lo doing?

[jmosery]

he's doing ok today

woke at 5:45
E- 6
A- 6:15-7:30
S- 7:30-10
E- 10:30
A- 10:30-12
S- 12- probably till 2(went back to work after lunch so not sure)
E- 2:30 or 3
A- 2:30- 4:30
hopefully sleep from 4:30- 5:30

and then activity, bath, night routine and sleep again at 7

thats what i'm hoping

yesterday he didn't go down for a catnap just played in his crib the whole time. but didn't cry. usually he's very cranky if he doesn't sleep but as long as he's not crying i'm fine

[EMRW Mum]

Sounds a lot like my lo  (except she had 45 min cat nap this am)

I got some advice from another message board that said I should wake Emma from her evening nap and give her some awake time...ie bath etc. then feed her at 7:00pm.  What do you think?....if i do wake her when should I wake her from her nap?  she usually goes down around 4:30ish.

[jmosery]

can you post your full days schedule for me

i think you should do that too but i don't know how many naps she's getting during the day

[EMRW Mum]

here's yesterdays routine

4:30am    up, changed, bottle fed, burped
5:30am    back to sleep
7:30am    awake, changed, bottle fed (only took 2 oz and threw it up)
8:45am    bottle fed (took 3 oz)
9:00am    Down to sleep (1 1/4 hours)
10:15am   awake, changed, sat in her bouncy chair
11:00am   bottle fed (took 7 oz)
11:45am   down to sleep (fell asleep while eating) (3 1/4 hours)
3:00pm    awake, changed, bottle fed (7oz)
5:00pm    down to sleep (2 1/2 hours)
7:30pm    I woke her for a bottle (6 oz)
8:30pm    down to sleep (woke at 2:30 ((this is not normal usually it's at 4:30)) and the cycle starts again.

i hope that wasn't confusing

thanks again for your help

[jmosery]

i probably would have woke my LO after 2 hours through the 11:45 nap

and if he wasn't hungry, since he ate 2 hours earlier, i would have done some activity

but i never let them sleep longer than 2 hours during the day

the 5pm nap, i would have let them sleep till 6, then woke them up at 6, do some activity, bath and last bottle and in bed by 7

try to have a consistant sleep time each night and aim for that

but if you want to make bed time at 8, then anything before 8 in the morning should be treated like a night feed

so i would have changed diaper at 7:30 when they woke and hold off till bottle at 8-8:15. maybe she would have taken more at that feeding

but if she is consitantly waking at 4:30 and not getting much sleep afterwards, you might have to put her to bed earlier

but it seems after her 4:30 feed, she got an hour and a half sleep. i would have counted that as night sleep and either woke her up at 7 or 8(but the same time everyday) and started the day

does that make sense??