w2s for a persistent 5am waking ?

[October]

Hi,
My 7 month old (5 months corrected) LO is waking EVERY morning at 5am. He babbles and sometimes goes back to sleep, sometimes not. It can mean he's ready for bed way too early (b4 6pm).

Is there any point trying w2s at about 4.30am a few times ? He's doing really well apart from that.

Thx

[Colin Macs Mom]

Absolutely - you've got nothing to lose, right?

[October]

Apart from some sleep myself...all of 30 minutes 
I'll give it a go and see if it'll help. His naps are weird and unpredictable after a decent spell of 2x2 hrs. I'm riding with this latest wave and seeing where it takes us but I really think a later start will do something to help !

Thx Jessica 

[Colin Macs Mom]

Does he have anything going on developmentally?

[October]

He could be teething but he's not whingey that often (doc. suggested being a preemie he may well start showing teeth late so I kinda expect it to be a while away). He's 5 mths corrected.

He rolls in play but not often. He's started solids in a small way but the naps went all weird before that.

My day is roughly 4-hr EASY with a pre- and post-bath feed to get him through. We stopped the DF a couple of weeks back uneventfully.

Honestly can't think what could cause the naps to change. He wakes at all sorts of times, usually after one cycle and a bit. Like I said, I used to have to wake him into his 3rd cycle but in those days he wasn't sleeping through till right at the end.

??     

[Colin Macs Mom]

Huh. That's sort of strange    What does he eat for solids? Anything that could cause gas or tummy upset?

[October]

He doesn't eat much, we're really at the tasting stage : carrrots/pear/apple so far. That's all. He has been more gassy on milk than he is now. We only started in a small way 2 weeks ago and he sometimes eats one cube once a day. Sometimes barely 2 teaspoons...he's v.attached to his Alimentum !!!!!!!

I'm trying w2s but his naps are so unpredictable that I rarely get the chance. Sometimes he wakes crying as in bad dream, sometimes he's whiney but he's always happy when he sees me.

Hopefully it's a phase....maybe if the early a.m. babbling can stop he'll nap better, or would you expect it to be the other way around ?

Thc for your help BTW         

[Colin Macs Mom]

Don't know how helpful I'm really being, but you're welcome!

Why don't you post your routine? That might help.

[October]

OK. Sure....

E 7am (or 6/6,30am) depending on if he gets back to sleep after 5am babbling/whining
S 8.45am (or 7.30am 0 see above)
E 11am (or 10am)
S 1pm (or midday)
E 3pm (usually 2pm after 2 odd naps !)
S 3/4pm depending on naps
E 5pm
E 6.30pm
S 7pm - latest he's down, 6.30pm if he started the day at 6am

He's only ever slept till 7am once. Maybe he only needs 11 hrs ?   

[Colin Macs Mom]

At that age my DS was doing 11 hours at night or even 10.5. Even now he rarely does a full 12.    Gotta love the spirited.

I think your best plan of action is to choose a wakeup time, say 7 or 6:30, whatever seems do-able, and stick to it. Start the day from there and really stick to the times the best you can. I bet it would help a lot to get the routine down more and eliminate the (or... s). And try W2S at say 4:00am for a little bit.

[October]

Well I did w2s at 4.25am (and he freaked me out 'cos his arms went up in the air when I v.lightly stroked his arm !! YIKES !!). He woke at 4.50am and babbled for a bit then again after a sleep, then he stayed down till 6.50am (I was up by then getting his milk ready). So, great progress there ....gotta do it a few times yet I know. Gonna try slightly earlier tmrw given his waking b4 5am today..

Then, flippin naps went all screwy. Put him down at 9.05am and he woke at 9.50 am - oops ! Then, down at 12.04pm and he woke at the 37 min. mark ? Go figure. Both times he yawned ...maybe my reading of his cues is off and I should go by the clock.

I think he's on about 2hrs 15/20 A time, tops. If he wakes after 37/45 mins. and he won't go back down (so far he's back down after the 37-min. waking) how long can I reckon on him being awake next A time ? 2 hours ? He did 2 hrs 10mins. after the 45 min. nap..........and he's def. one of those LOs who gets most tired in the 1st A time...

Something's off with my reading his cues/his A time because I used ot be able to do w2s for naps but now I can't predict when he'll wake.........feel a bit lost as to how to fix this spell....don't want it sending us really off course.....Maybe he needs more than I think he does ? He's one of those who gets bored playing so the end of the A time can be boring for me too !!!!!!

:-)           

[Colin Macs Mom]

Do you know what personality type he is? Sometimes cues aren't a reliable tool. They sure weren't for me!!   

It sounds like you are definitely making some progress and that's a very good sign    Stick with the W2S for a week or maybe even longer and I bet that will help a lot.

[October]

Oh he's spirited !!!!!!!!!
Didn't work this a.m. Went in at 4.30 a.m. (thought slight time change may help) and he was in active REM. He definitely stirred but woke as usual at 5am and babbled then whined till we got him up just b4 7am ! It's v.draining when this happens.

I'll keep trying but it's hard...ya know ?

 

[Colin Macs Mom]

I sort of figured you'd say spirited    Mine is too, and while that makes sleep so much more challenging there are a lot of rewards too. He's so darn fun I can hardly stand it!! 

I used to feel like a total failure as a mom because I could never read Colin's cues at all, and I'd see people posting here about this and that cues, etc. and I kept thinking, huh, Colin never does that     Come to find out that the spirited often don't give cues or show any signs that they're tired until it's too late. It wasn't that I couldn't read his cues, he truly wasn't giving any! At that point, we figured out by time what the window was for each cycle and then we became obsessive clock watchers.    That's soooo not the sort of people we are but that's what we had to do, and it worked!

[October]

Thx for the steer on cues Jessica, been kinda clock-watching all along but he does yawn for me which can help ! It's the preemie thing that makes life soooooo hard, never know if he's on time for an 7-mth old with sleep or ahead of a 5-mth old based on his corrected age. Guess 2.25 hrs A time is Ok but I won't know if 2.5hrs is better till I try, right ? Had a 30 min. first nap and then a 37 min. first part to the 2nd nap so it's affecting his whole day today.

Did your LO do the 5am waking thing and if, for how long !!!!!    I'd love to nip it in the bud but ya know it can take time............

Deb