confused re early w/u

[OliverRowland]

Hello again! 
I am a bit confused as to how this works....  my ds (6.5months) is an earlier riser (5:30am).  We have been tweeking his schedule so that he is now (about 2 weeks) awake at 5:30 but we leave him alone t'ill 6:30 (which is tough).  He has 2 naps and is alseep at night for 6:30pm.  We made sure to get him to bed earlier so that he gets enough night time sleep.  So, what I am confused about is how that hopefully encourages a later w/u?  If he is now getting enough nighttime sleep, why would he wake up later??

[samijoe]

hey there,

lets start with the good ol' routine....may i ask you to post this for us?

also, how much day sleep is your son having??  too much day sleep can cause early wakings....as they are just finished their quota of sleep for the day.

we'll start with your routine and work from there.

HTH
sami

[OliverRowland]

Hi, this is our routine:
Awake 5:30
E: brf 6:30
A: (solids at 7:45)
S:9am-10:30
E:10:30
A: (solids 11:45)
S: 1/1:15-3ish at the latest
E: 3ish
A: (solids 4:30)
E: 6p
S: 6:30pm

Thanks!

[samijoe]

Does he really have a first A time of 3.5 hrs??  Does he settle well for the first nap and second nap?

Does he sleep soundly for both naps and until the desired wakeup time??

My dd is slightly older and does A times of 3.5hrs....he could be overtired right off the bat during the day!  Hard to say...i think the average for most 6.5 mths is 2.25/2.5 hrs of A time.


sami

[OliverRowland]

Yes, he is generally very easy to put down for his naps and on a rare occ will wake early but most of the time he does a 90min nap.
And his A time before bed is long too...but if we do a catnap he will not go to sleep t'ill much later!
Does size make a difference.  Ds is a BIG boy (24 1/2 lbs) and hasn't done the average things for his age....eg first 2 teeth at 4 months, will take a while for gross motor milestone because of his girth and well his appetite has always been big (has consume  9oz of breast milk since 3-4 months).  So I am wondering if sleep patterns may differ with some kiddos too?

[samijoe]

For sure sleep differs between babies!

All babies and people are different.  We all have our likes and our dislikes.

We use the averages to help you figure out what your lo is trying to tell you....not as a basis by which we measure you.

If you think your lo is hungry and that is the cause of the early waking, then to eliminate that you need to try to get him to take those ounces during the day instead.  Food and sleep are highly linked....

hth
sami

[OliverRowland]

I really think he gets enough food through the day.
I am just wondering how and why my ds will eventually wake up later in the am's if I am putting him to bed earlier to make up for less sleep at night? 
His naps are going very well and he eats well..so I am not sure where to go from here?!?!?!?
A couple of mornings ago my dh heard my ds working to get some gas out at around 5:30am or a bit before and he went in quickly and was able to give ds a paci without waking him up.  Ds didn't wake up until 6:30!!!!!  I always hear him working out some gas or a poo at that time of the am.....could that be what is waking him and I just have to hang in there until his system become more civilized  and decides it will to it when the sun is up?
thanks!

[samijoe]

You are very right...putting down earlier in the a.m does increase his chances of early wakings.  You ideally don't want to be doing this all the time....


For sure, poopy diapers definitely are a common waker upper.  If that is the problem, you can try not feeding poopy foods before bed.

hth
sami

[OliverRowland]

"You are very right...putting down earlier in the a.m does increase his chances of early wakings.  You ideally don't want to be doing this all the time...."

Do you mean down earlier in the pm?  And if so, what should I be doing instead?  If I don't, where can he catch up on that sleep that he isn't getting.  He wakes at 5:30 even when I put him to bed later.  I am at a loss?!

Funny because he's been an early gas/poooper even before solids were introduced...so it must be what I am eating (breastfeeding)!!!!!!!

[samijoe]

Well, what i mean by that is for some babies....if you have to put them down early in the am (earlier than normal for nap1), they seem to continue waking early.  This isn't true for all babies.

You definitely want to put down early for bed....fitting the catnap in and putting lo to bed later will almost always cause early wakings.  It is almost always better to just put down for bed instead of prolonging it.  I know none of it seems to make sense...putting down later seems like lo should sleep later, but they usually don't.

Funny about the poop....it seems to me to be a boy thing.  Alot of boys i know seem to wake themselves up pooping.  Trust me, i know one lady whose son poops  three or four times before lunch!

fingers x'd for a good nite!

sami

[OliverRowland]

5:30am on the dot and he is awake    How does he know?!?!?!?  I feel like I have tweeked the routine but with not success...i don't want to keep tweeking and totally confusing my poor chap.  I just don't know what to do ....i am sorry I just need a good cry now and then.
thank u for your help

[OliverRowland]

oh my gosh, i just went in to feed ds and he went back to sleep!  Is this good (back to sleep andhour after w/u)?  What do I do next?  Should I let him sleep until he wakes or wake him up at a certain time?

[samijoe]

Usually we have a desired morning wakeup time, so go wake him up at that time.

How long was he awake for before you decided to feed him??  They are tricky aren't they? 


sami

[OliverRowland]

He usually wakes at 5:30 and I feed him at 6:30.  But he was asleep when I went in at 6:30.  He didn't end up sleeping long and woke at 7am.  So fed him then and just kept to our usual schedule as he didn't sleep much longer.

[OliverRowland]

I 'm baaaaaack......it's like a horror movie!  since my ds has been waking early for so long, do oyu think it may be a habit now?  And gosh how does one break a habit?
I read somewhere that he may sleep longer in the am once he becomes mobile...is there hope?