Need help with EMW.

[pkralev]

Hi all,

My little girl is almost 10 months and is a great sleeper, she would go to bed at 7/7.30 and get up at 6.30. Slowly but surely the wake-ups have been getting earlier, this morning it was 5.30, how do i prolong this to get her to wake at about 6.30 or 7.00?
This is our routine 4 days a week (she goes to childcare 2 days a week and usually will have 2 naps there of about 45 mins to an hour):

6.30 - Wake and formula
7.15 - Breakfast - weet-bix
9.00/9.30 - Nap (for 1 1/2 - 2 hours)
11.00/11.30 - wake and formula
12.00 - lunch vegies
2/2.30 - Nap (for 1 1/2 - 2 hours)
4.00 - wake and formula
5.00 - dinner
6.00 bath
6.30 - bottle
7.00/7.30 - bed

Any advice would be much appreciated, please advise me if i need to change my routine.
TIA.

[KathrynK]

hi there
these early wakings are very common at this age. We have been through it before christmas too! The culprit is usually that they are having too much daytime sleep now. I would suggest you start by trimming that am nap back to 1 hour and extending the A time accordingly (perhaps an extra 15 mins between naps, and an extra 15 mins after last nap before bed- there's your 1/2 hour). It took us about 6 weeks of juggling naps and A time before she properly settled back down again to her usual wake up time. See how you go & let us know how you get on
xx

[pkralev]

Thanks Kathryn, I'll try extending her A time by 15 minutes and cutting back her first nap to an hour (i enjoyed getting things done while she slept for a while...but i'll enjoy it even more if she does sleep in that little extra in the morning)
I'll let you know how i get on.

[samijoe]

hi there,

i am a pro at this and definitely agree with kathryn's advice to you....too much day sleep!

my dd always tells me what is up by how her nights are....if i get consistent early wakings that don't result in her going back to sleep...then i cut naps (ugh-oh my!) down and play with A time.

so sorry kathryn that it took you 6weeks to find the magic number....i guess this really means i am the unlucky one and have it happen more often.  i'll explain...my dd is just over 10mths and has consistent A time of 3.5 and 3.75 hrs!!  We only have 2.25 hrs of naps...literally no Y time for me, but i'll take that in one stretch at night.

her A times are high for lo's this age...she adds A time like its going out of style!!  i now have it down to a science and can tweak instantly (plus dd seems to work better cold turkey).  moan, ugh...i already have a toddler!

enough about me...

-i notice in your routine you have that she naps at 9 or 930...which do you more consistently find she actually falls asleep at??

-do you let her wake herself or do you wake her?

-with the early waking do you get lo up or let them play it out without you in the crib?

I find controlling the morning nap really gives me control in how her afternoon goes...oversleeping for the first nap with early wakings can actually reinforce the early wakeup (they know they can sleep it off later).

try this, aim for 3 hrs total day sleep (either 2-1.5hrs naps or 1-1hr and 1-2hr)

630-wake, diaper change...formula
715-brekkie
930/945 nap 1
1100/1115 wake up (total 1.5hrs)
1130- formula
1230- lunch
200/215- nap 2
330/345 wake up (nap total 1.5hrs)
400- formula
500- dinner
600- bath
630- formula
7-bed  **most lo's can handle up to half hour more than normal A time before bed**

How is your lo doing with bottles?  Are you getting ready to drop down yet?  We are on three bottles because that is what dd will seem to finish...it really has helped with all of her eating....just a thought and only my opinion.

hth,
sami