wakes up before fully going to sleep

[babyre33]

The past few nights have NOT been good!  She's become overtired again, and I can't help it with the naps because of the flipping, so it just gets worse.  She woke at 4:30 fri night.  Dad finally got her to bed at 6:00, but only for 30 min.

Tonight she woke at 1:00, and we could not get her to sleep until 3:00.  Woke at 6:00.

Pu/Pd get's her calm, but then she'll just lay there and talk to herself.  I had her to the point where she was laying on her belly, head down.  I couldn't see if her eyes were closed/closing, so Ididn't know when to back off.  Although she was acting asleep or almost there.  She'd turn her head, or look up, and then right back down again as she typically repositions herself in her sleep.   But after a minute, she's up.  This would go on for over  a 1/2 hr.  Never being asleep long enough for us (dh and I) to leave the room.

I'm having a hard time knowing what to do.  This same thing happend last night with her wanting to talk and play in the middle of the night.  If I stay there, she plays.  If I walk away or take a step back, she cries.

HELP!!!!  I don't want to cio.  But we use to let her cry when she first wakes up and see if she'll fall asleep.  But I don't want to cross the line to cio.  How do you tell mantra vs. other?

Sorry, lots of questions...but need LOTS of help.   

[ahen38]

Hi, this is Alicia (ahen38), and I'm sorry I didn't check the boards for a couple of days I guess.  My little girl is supposedly textbook for the most part, but I do feel she is pretty spirited!  She has been especially vocal and dramatic these days, which it sounds is typical for a 4-5 month old.  She seems to be getting worse, as far as going down for sleep, in the last few days.  Help!  SHe was usually very easy to put down at night, but now is doing the same jolting awake to want to play, staright off the get go.  If I let her be to make noise, she sometimes falls asleep and sometimes gets even more worked up (during naps). Not sure what makes the difference...she does suck her fingers too, which helps her to sleep (so I haven't done any swaddling for a long time).  We do not have a serious "schedule," but instead a basic way of carrying out the day.  I follow EASY, but because her naps are irregular in length she doesn't always conform to the same time frames.  Speaking of, how do you drop the 3rd nap, if sometimes her 2nd nap is really early?  Hmmm

7:30 wake
7:45 eat
8:15 activity
9:00 mellow activity
9:15 wind down
9:30 sleep (in theory...we'll say she woke at 10:45)
11:00 eat
11:30 activity
12:15 mellow activity
12:30 wind down
12:45 sleep (although I may put her to sleep earlier than this if she didn't sleep as long...)
2:00 wake
2:15 eat
2:45 activity
3:30 mellow activity
3:45 winddown
4:00 sleep
4:45 wake, activity
5:45 eat
6:15 activity, bath, getting mellower as time progresses
7:15 wind down
7:30 sleep

I have been playing with making awake time longer and shorter, and she generally goes around 2 hours still.  I do watch her very carefully, and sometimes she does much better if I wait until she is up for 2 hours and 15 minutes.  SO, the schedule definately changes.  Also, do you count time up including the time you are doing PU/PD?  I always count it from the time she actually wakes up.  I am working on lengthening the time between feedings, hence the not feeding as soon as she wakes up.

ALso, what is wi/wo?  Thanks for your help and I hope things are going better for you, babyre33.  I wish I had advice for you, but I am so new to this and have problems myself!  I do know that my little one (is that what lo is?) babbles herself back to sleep if I just put my hand on her belly at night (until she is asleep).  Don't know why it doesn't work during the day...

[babyre33]

I'm certainly not one for advice here.  I'm having the same probelms.  Go gradually with the dropping of the nap, I think yours still may be too young though.  Shaving off minutes from the third nap and adding them to the other naps if you can, or bedtime (naps are better).  I did not do mine gradually enough, and that's what totally screwed my lo up
!

[rinajack]

The catnap can't really go until lo is doing 3 hr A times....approx.  Before that it would leave far to long to bed time.

RE Mantra cry.  For me the easiest way to tell if mantra - if I walk away and she is making some crying noise, and it does not escalate, she is just letting of steam.  If I leave the room, and the crying gets worse, either instantly or gradually, then she is really crying, and I return to her.

babyre 33, I think you should leave the room and give her a chance to fall asleep.  I think she is using your presence to stay awake, you are someone to look at and talk to.