What are W2S?

[babyre33]

I have tried everything I know.  My 7 mo old dd's sleep is now totalling 12 hrs/day!!!!!  She is waking up earlier and earlier and her naps are getting shorter and shorter.  I can't seem to extend them or get her to sleep later.  This problem began about a month ago and gradually gotten worse.

This is how her "typical" day goes lately:
6:51 awake
7:00 BF, fruit
9:50 nap (1.25 hrs if lucky)
11:45 BF, veggies, cereal
2:30 nap (1/2 hr., or 45 min)
5:30 BF , veggies, cereal
8:00 bed

I've tried earlier bedtime, later bedtime, less time between naps, more time between naps.  The only little bit of success I've had is waiting the long time before the first nap to get an hr or more.  If I only wait 2.5 hrs, she'll only sleep for 40 minutes or so.  Ive heard some talk about W2S, what is that?

I am sleep deprived and VERY concerned about her cognitive development with this lack of sleep for such a long time.  HELP US PLEASE!

[murkywaters]

Is there a way to fit in more activity during the day?  I know if mine has a day out he's more likely to have a better sleep at night. Just make sure it's not too much stimulation because then it back fires in your face.

[babyre33]

If we go out A LOT then she will sleep 1.25 or 1.5 hrs.  That is the only way to get her to sleep more than 40 minutes.  Otherwise, it's normally a 40 minuter.  Like today, she woke up SO early (5:45, the earliest yet), so she was so tired by 8:20, but only slept for 40 minutes.  Again, so was so tired, she fell asleep while eating at 11:40, but she just woke, only 40 minutes again.

If I could get her to sleep an hr +, I would.  But I have no idea how to get past the 40 minutes without being on the road running errands all morning.

[babyre33]

Thank you for your help Stacy. 

I am a VERY detail oriented person.  Could you please give me a run down of what you mean by "getting her caught up"?  I had thought about that one day, and let her sleep whenever she got tired, but those naps only ended up being 30 or 40 minutes, with nighttime sleep being about the same.  The total amount of daytime sleep was the same had I kept her up longer, and got one good nap in, and one short.  Should I be doing this for several days, and hope that she does get caught up like you said?

Can you try and give me an example schedule with a 6:15 wake up time?

Let's cross our fingers 

[babyre33]

Okay, we'll give it a shot!  I am very excited to see how this goes.  Luckily my dd has been very malleable with sleeping patterns, traveling, weaning of the paci, etc.  So hopefully this will not be too hard.

Let me address something else here as well:  I've tried putting her down when she shows signs of being tired.  But since I've gone back to work (when these problems first started, I think) her separation anxiety increased, she does not want me to leave her side, so she feels like she needs me to put her to sleep.  It's only until she is so VERY tired that she'll konk out.  I'm going to try a longer wind-down routine and see if that helps.  Any suggestions on how early to start or any favorite activities you do.  My little girl LOVES to play and make noises, so even when I know she should be tired, and yawns or rubs her eyes, she's still playing noise games where she growls and does not want to go to sleep.  There is a lot of crying and I don't want naptime to be a punishment in her eyes.

[babyre33]

If she goes to bed 6-6:30, when should I give her dinner?  I normally fed her at 5:30, but isn't that way to close to bedtime as there is another meal as part of the bedtime routine?

[babyre33]

The naps went wonderfully yesterday!!! I fed her dinner at 5:00, and she was asleep at 6:19.  She woke after only 40 minutes because she was pretty tired, but slept until 5:30am.  I changed her diaper and she fell back asleep for 15 min. and the heater woke her up, again another 15 minutes. 

So this morning I wasn't sure when to put her down for her nap.  She fell asleep as we drove my son to school, but wouldn't go to sleep in her crib, so she was up for another 1/2 after that before she yawned, and putting her down for this first nap is getting rough.  She finally fell asleep, but is just waking up now crying after about 3 minutes.  I'm don't think she'll sleep but 40 minutes based on how she's acting right now.  I don't think today will be as good as yesterday.

If she woke up at 5:30, should I still put her down at 6:15ish again tonight? or sooner,later?

I know I'll have to do this for a few days, are there any signs I should look for, for when I should stop this heavy sleeping schedule?

[babyre33]

I should keep the bedtime at 6 even if I want her wakeup time to be at 7 am?  She's been waking up at 6 something, but we want it back to 7.

[babyre33]

tonight we had a situation where her last nap ended at 4:20, and then when dad comes home she doesn't want to go to sleep.  So she just went to sleep with much protesting at 6:50.  If the same thing happens again, should I wake her up early from her nap so she's more ready for bedtime, or will that make the problem worse?

There were times today when there was only 1.5 hrs between naps

[babyre33]

Okay, scratch that.  It's 7:26 and she's still up crying.  I guess I should have forced the bedtime.

[babyre33]

She was up at 6:15 today.  At 8:15 I started the wind down routine that worked perfectly when I've been able to use it the past 2 days.  She was yawning and rubbing her eyes at the end of the routine, so in the crib she went.  BUt now she's playing and talking for about 10 minutes already.

I'd go in and redo the last part of the wind down, again rubbing her eyes, then to the crib, and she starts playing.  I'm affraid she's going to get overly tired again and only sleep for 40 minutes by the time she finally goes to sleep.

[babyre33]

I am having a very hard time with this.  The 1st day was magic.  Days 2 and 3 are so hard to get her to sleep, it's worse than every before.  She'll sleep for 10 minutes and either wake up playing or screaming.  I feel like we're spending all day in the bedroom.

very discouraged

[babyre33]

Even after a good nap, she yawns 1.5 hrs after waking, and still has a scream-fest going to sleep.  I've never had such a hard time putting her to sleep.  For the first 4 months at least she was an angel, never needed anything.  She was so easily taught, and just went out on her own, no fussing.

I miss those days. 

I'm also learning I need to adjust all of her meals because she's up for a while before breakfast, and because her dinner was so early she is STARVING when she wakes.  Now I'm dealing with a weird nap right before bedtime which interfered with the new dinner time, so I fed her, and now she's so upset and tired she can't get to sleep.  I think she may be cryinguntil bedtime

It is so hard hearing her go through this.  It makes her more mad when I go in, so I end up leaving her by herself to practically cry herself to sleep.  I don't think that's very fair to her

[babyre33]

I have been staying with her and watching her "sleep" tonight.  It's 6:35 now, and she went to sleep at 6:15.  She is so wound up that she kicks and rolls inher sleep and wakes herself up.  So I keep putting her back over on her back, and she goes right back to sleep.  She'll sleep onher tummy, but only after crying herself to sleep.  I guess I'll just have to keep my hand on her until she is in deep sleep.

[babyre33]

Stacy, are you not a moderator here anymore?

This is how today has gone:  woke up at 1:15 talking and playing for 45 min.  Then upset and crying for 15 min, fell asleep on and off until sound asleep at 3 am.
woke at 6:15
nap at 8:15-9:45
nap at 12:00-?(right now)
This past nap she yawned and rubbed her eyes during lunch, only 1.5 hrs past her last waking.  I didn't know if this was a tired yawn or not, so we finished luch and went rigth to wind down.  She kept acting tired, then when I put her down she cried until she woke herself up I guess.  I didn't want to interfear, and ruin any progress she made (I had to fight theurge during the first nap, and it was a success).  But this time her eyes were open, she was talking, and the crying eventually stopped, but she was just sitting there with her eyes open, talking and flailing her legs.  So I picked her up and rocked for a bit with a stuffed animal and I rubbed her legs.  After a few minutes she began to rub her eyes again, so back inthe crib, and I left.  Within a few minute she was asleep.  Her sleep has been very restless, crying in her sleep, etc.

Do you think I should've picked her up when I did, or stuck it out?
I guess we'll see if she only sleeps for 40 min or less