confused re early w/u

[samijoe]

There is always hope!

The 6month is horrible, really....there is just so much going on!

The 9/10mth marker is bad too....

I know it sucks when lo's wake early...mine did today...45 minutes early.  So today i am in the same boat.  Just leave him for now...in time, the waking will go away.  I would try not to even feed if you donh't have to.

sami

[OliverRowland]

Thanks so much.  I am really just a control freak I think...and really like my sleep!  I am just so lucky to have such a wonderful ds.  He rarely cries...just when random ladies comma cooing in the shopping center and fusses so little...like when the cereal bowl is empty and he wants MORE!  I read so many horror stories that make me want to smooch my little ds all day long!  Isn't it amazing how much we can fall in love with our LO's 
Thank you so much for listening!
What do you do when your lo wakes early and how early was it?  Does your schedule change or did you just leave him in his crib?

[samijoe]

She always stays in the crib till 7am and then i go get her.  Sometimes she is so quiet that i have to check if she did fall back to sleep.  It happens once in awhile...

but it happened today for a reason. 

The p.m nap is the one that ideally is the most rejuvenating.  She slept fine yesterday morning, but after lunch i put her in the stroller and walked to the grocery store/mall.  She was in the stroller for almost her whole A time, so i knew settling for her p.m nap might take a tiny bit longer as she hadn't tired herself out.  So i waited for her to fall asleep...and waited....then she got the hiccups!  I eventually realized they weren't going away...so i ran in to give her gripe water (she was sitting there playing).  Gave the gripe water and thought, great, now she'll sleep.  Then i heard her pooping!!!  She almost never poops during nap time...then she started making noise like im not comfy!!  I went in to her room, took her out of the crib, put her on the floor (in darkness) and changed her.  I didn't say anything to her at all!  Just did it and then i was out!!  About 5 minutes later she was asleep...but that was 345pm and i can't let her sleep longer than 430pm.  So the pitiful, short 45 minute nap was the cause of the early waking.

She went to sleep right away last night at 730pm because she was tired.  But she was overtired...causing her to early wake!!

Do you see how it happens now?

I put her down a tad early (what else can you do?) for nap 1 and she'll go down a bit earlier than normal for nap 2.  Her last A time should be ok today, but i am never afraid to dump her in bed at 7pm if she's tired.  I should have done that yesterday....lesson learned!

See, we don't have all the answers and even I can mess it up!

Here's hoping we both have good days tomorrow!

sami

[OliverRowland]

Hi Sami, did you have a better morning?  Mine not so great.  Ds woke at 4:30am!!!!!   We had a great day yesterday with naps and to sleep by 6:30pm and slept soundly t'ill I heard him at 4:30am.  I left him alone t'ill 5:30am.  The first 30min he was babbling and the second 30min he whined but never cried...but by 5:30 I had had enough and went in...I held him in the rocking chair and he was alseep in 5 min and myself shortly afterwards.  I didn't wake him t'ill 7am...my neck is a bit sore now though.   My thing is that nothing happened yesterday to trigger that...so what gives?!  I was coming to terms with the fact that I have a 5:30am riser, but I cannot accept 4:30am...that is way too early!

[samijoe]

He might actually like only 11hrs of night sleep.  I know a few others who liked it this way.  We do 11.5 cuz 12 is too much for her (and she needs this half hour as part of her naps!).

How long is he sleeping total for his naps??

I think at 6.5 mths, 14.5hrs of total sleep is recommended.  We do 14hrs total.

I had another early morning (yeah for you leaving him for an hour!!).  She woke at 615am, but stayed in her room until 7am.  She did wake at 515am, but i heard her go back to sleep shortly after.  Then when she did wake at 615am, she was crying...so i gave some tylenol (never cries, probably teeth) and left.  She was quiet and calm until 7am.

Nothing should have triggered this early waking....but my last few days have been all messed up!  I can't tell what is up with her....im having food problems and this early waking thing.  She might be ready to do more A time....or maybe because she is crawling all over the place, she needs to translate that into longer napping and a shorter night.  If its teeth, there is nothing i can do.  It seems we are battling some independence issues (she wants to do everything by herself) too.  She's been fine on the same routine for about 1.5mths now, so i might need to change something.....

My food issues consist of a complete lack of interest...finger foods now get thrown to the floor (not testing gravity...more like clearing the tray) and she doesn't want anything to do with the spoon.  Her bottles have been poor since she wants to do it herself.....she now holds it and drinks it herself, but it takes her so long!  When i wake at 7am we usually do a diaper change and pee on the potty and brush our teeth, but this morning she screamed the second i put her down to change her.  I knew why, she was hungry.  And i bet this is what caused our early wake....but i can't help the hunger problem since i am offering the food and she is choosing not to eat.

Just when you think you have it figured out, they change things up!
We are all in it together!

sami

[OliverRowland]

Yikes, I wish I had some words of wisdom for you....hang in there~  How old is you lo?  I count my plessing in the food department...my guy (as you can imagine by his girth) LOVES his food.  He never seems full on solids...at least i haven't tried ....I finish a 3.5oz container of aplesauce and figure that should be enough.

Why is it a good thing to leave lo alone in crib if he is not going to fall asleep?  We both lie in our beds/cribs and look at the ceiling until 6:30am comes around.
My ds gets on average 3hr of naps and 11 at night.  So I get that that may be enough for him as he is generally in a great mood and rarely cries.  But where I struggle is how to change a 6:30pm to bed and 5:30am w/u to a 7pm-6am schedule without overtiring him in the process! 

[samijoe]

You can definitely push his routine up by 5minutes over a few weeks...so bed at 635pm one day and a wake up of 535am.  If you do it slowly you should be ok.

The reason we leave them even if they are awake is because it does help to set their internal clocks.  Please remember that milestones can effect wake up times...so just try to hang in there.  Does he sit up yet??  Alone i mean??  that could be messing with him!

My dd is 9.5mths...lots going on.  She is crawling around and is onto pulling herself to standing.  I think she might walk early...so i am expecting my next few months to maybe be kinda rough.  Plus she has got 2 new teeth in the last week and we have a whole bunch coming!

3hrs of naps and 11 at night might be not enough....that could be causing the early waking too.  Maybe he would sleep for another half hour or so, for a total of 3.5hrs nap....how long is his pm nap currently?

sami

[OliverRowland]

I am not looking forward to 9 months....sounds like it will be tough.
My DS is slow on his milestones...sitting with a bit on assist from theboppy, but falls over when reaching for anything.  He rolled 2x at 4 months and has decided that he has checked that off the list and no  more.  Doesn't seem interested in rolling from back to tummy.  Teething bothers him a bit but he had his first 2 at 4 months and top 2 a 2weeks ago.  Usually we know they are coming thru becasue he'll have a couple of days with bad naps and early night wakings.  So to be honest I just don't see much happening...maybe I am just not looking closely enough.
His am nap is almost always 90min on the dot.  The afternoon is usually 90-120 with a wake up in there sometimes.  When he wakes early I can get him back to sleep within 10-15min.  What I have been doing if he wakes at 90min (2:30pm) is go in and hold him in the chair in th dark so he is still very chilled out.  Otherwise he will not make it to 6:30pm bedtime.
What do you mean exactly when you say "helps to set their internal clocks"..how so?  This is all so amazing!
Hope you have a longer sleep tonight! 

[OliverRowland]

Hi Sami!  Well yesterday I told you that ds woke at 4:30am but I went in at 5:30 becasue he wasn't going back to sleep on his own (which he rarely does in the am) and I held him back to sleep from 5:40-7am in the rocking chair.  So our day started at 7am and the day's schedule was pushed back 30min.  So, his last nap ended at 3:40 when I woke him and bedtime was 7pm.  I thought this was a perfect opportunity to test if he would wake later.....NOPE!!!!!  What's the deal?!  He woke at 5:40! (at least it is 10min later).  I amscared that that wake up is so wired into his system that I won't be able to break it 

I hope that you are not annoyed with me and my whining.....i am a little OCD and really want to know how and why and how to fix it!

How was your morning?

[samijoe]

Hey there,

No problems you aren't bugging me.  And, you will be able to reprogram him...it will go away.

I had an unusual night.  Dd woke at 250am and played until 420am!  Chattering away.  She didn't need me at all, but i listened to the whole thing as i can't sleep when she is awake.  Then she went back to sleep till 630am...in bed till 7am.

Please don't ask me what is causing my problems.  i really believe it is developmental so i am trying to hang in there and give it a  bit of time!  But in the mean time it will drive me bonkers!

Just keep at it...i think around 7mths my dd stopped her early waking.  Now it only seems to happen when something else is up!

sami

[OliverRowland]

REALLLY??!! At 7 months?  Did it just happen all of a sudden or was it gradual?  Ds tunrs 7 month on the 31st...You know I am going to be very anxious for Jan1st!!!!  How long did your lo early wake for?
Awake from 2:50-4:20am.....and happy?  That's so amazing.  I too stay awake when my ds is awake.  Usually in the beginning he babbles happily and is quiet on and off (i have no idea what he is doing so quietly cause there aren't any toys in bed with him) but as time goes on he gets more whiney and chatters like he wants to speak to me.  That is when it gets very hard for me to leave him alone.  I have a one hour limit....I cannot leave him for longer than an hour, I am just not strong enough.  Plus I know at that time he isn't going back to sleep...he;s fully awake.

Tell me more what your lo was like at 6-7months.  What was she doing milestone wise and sleeping difficulties.  What is she about to do now?

Sophie

[samijoe]

By 6.5 mths...she could sit up unassisted.  Really that was it!  She dropped the catnap at 5.5mths...we had a few good weeks of sleep.  Then as she was trying to sit on her own, she started waking at 615ish and sometimes went back to sleep.  Once she could sit, everything settled down again around the 7mth mark.  At about 8.5mths she started to crawl and we had a few days of early wakings then too.  Then back to normal. 

This week she is going crazy again....so im thinking pulling up to standing might be it!  Or she could be an early walker.  I know one lady whose son went mental around 9mths...and for two months she didn't know what the heck was up!  He was fully walking by 1years old!  Not to say that because her son did it, my dd will...but we seem to have very similar kids....so it will be interesting to see what it is that she does next.

Oh, dd also had tooth 3 and 4 come thru this week.  Teething always throws us for a loop!

Hope your day is going alright!

sami

[OliverRowland]

Sounds like she is very buy right now!  It is so exciting though.
My days are great with ds!  He is such a good natured young chap and I love every momnet with him.  He is a bit cranky right now though as teeth 5 and 6 are coming thru...so lots and lots of saliva and chewing!
We are back to 6:30pm bedtime tonight...let's see what tomorrow will bring. 

[debo620]

Hi there, you have gotten great advice from Samijoe. I too have been dealing with early wake-ups. They all started with the time change and have been off and on since then. also lots of developmental stuff going on

I kind of have to agree with you though. If you put him to bed at 6:30---and he only wants 11hrs then he will wake at 5:30. really you are not adjusting his clock at all. just my opinion.

Since he is taking good naps, I do think you can push his bedtime back to 6:45pm and keep it there for at least 1 week and then move it to 7pm. I do think that he will continue to wake at 5:30am, but by you leaving him in his room until the desired wake time --6am---you are giving him the opportunity to sleep and he eventually will.

good luck

[OliverRowland]

Oh no! 4:40am this morning!  My dh went in in hopes to catch ds before full wake up to put paci in..but I found out later he held him in the rocker and ds slept in his arms 5:30-6:45 (awake from 4:40-5:30).  My dh really doesn't like to leave ds alone that early....doesn't go in very often though as i can usually convince him not to. 

Debo620:  I agree with you re the 6:30-5:30 thing, but even when I put him to bed later he wakes early!  So I am afraid of falling into an overtired trap!  Suppose I could try it for a few days and see....would it take long before I might see a change?  I've read texasmom's problems re overtired 7 month old and I really don't want to get into that!  Have you read that situation...i feel bad for them!  Anyways what was your early wake up problem and how did you go about solving it?

Thanks so much for your advice....I'll take as much as I can get!

Sophie