Friday, March 14

Yet another LONG sleep post

I have a dilemma. Erin will not sleep past 6am. Most days she wakes up between 5:30 and 5:45, which is not acceptable in this house (especially now that Leah is not napping).

Here is what my idol says about wake-up time:
"Some babies tend to wake up early, 5:00am or 6:00am, and return to sleep after a brief feeding or diaper change. This is a true continuation of night sleep and not a nap. Other babies wake up later but start the day then. Most children will awaken to start the day about 7:00am, but there is a wide range (between 6 and 8). In general, it is not a good idea to go to your child before 6am, even if he is crying, because if you do, he will begin to force himself to wake up earlier and earlier in order to enjoy your company. The natural wake-up time seems to be an independent, neurological alarm clock in these young infants that is somewhat independent of the part of the brain that puts them asleep or keeps them asleep. In fact, despite what is commonly believed, you cannot change the wake-up time be keeping your baby up later, feeding solids before bedtime, or awakening your baby for a feeding before you go to sleep." p.247

In another part of the book, he says earlier bedtime (of course, that's the answer to everything). Two nights ago, I put her down at 6:15 and she woke up at 7:15 with poop. And last night I put her to bed at 6:15 and she talked to herself until almost 7 before falling asleep. She may be waking up because she is hungry, but if I go in to give her a bottle, it stimulates her and she is up for the day.

Do I need to temporarily go SUPER early? Like say 5 or 5:30? That cramps our life a bit obviously and that means Mike would not see her. But I guess if I start tonight, it's okay because it is weekend tomorrow. Today she has slept a total of 45 minutes. That's not a typo. A 25 min nap this AM and a 20 min nap in the car on the way home from the mall. She is currently in her bed talking to herself.

So we all agree? 5:15 bedtime tonight?

Thanks for your input. :)

7 comments:

Keri Donald said...

I'm definitely not an expert on sleeping children, but I'll share my experiences anyway...

I've never used any books to get my kids to sleep and I'm horrible about keeping schedules (even for myself), so I'm very "go with the flow" in terms of sleeping for both kids. Until Annabelle started school, she was up until 11pm some nights, but she also wasn't waking up until 11am. See... not good with the bedtime thing.

Anyway, right now, both of my kids go to sleep around 9pm (on school nights anyway). Corgan usually goes down first (anywhere between 8:30-9:30) then Annabelle soon after. For Corgan's routine, I usually just make sure he's eaten (usually breastfeeding him to top it off if he's just had solids). Sometimes he falls asleep while feeding, other times he's too squirmy so I just put him to bed. He usually falls asleep on his own pretty easily (sometimes with screaming, but it doesn't last too long). In general he sleeps until 7:30 or 8:30 in the morning. He might get up and do that "continuation of night sleep" thing at 6 or so, but that's happening less and less. Also, he's still waking up overnight, but 9 out of 10 times he falls back asleep within 5 mins with no intervention (which is good, but still kinda sucks since he's in the room with us and it's hard to ignore a screaming baby in the middle of the night).

So, I know every baby is different, but I guess what I'm saying is that keeping babies up later has always worked for me. I remember when Annabelle was little, she pretty much slept with the sun so she was usually down around 8-8:30 (during the summer) and up around 8-8:30 (but usually back to sleep an hour or so later). She also didn't sleep through the night regularly until she was 9 months old, but I really believe now that it was because I didn't let her cry enough and because she didn't take a pacifier or suck her thumb so she didn't have anything to soothe herself easily. Corgan has a mini-blanket that he holds while sleeping, and I think that's helping him since he doesn't "suck" anything while sleeping.

Good luck with the sleeping baby!

Rhiannon said...

Welcome to my world!!! Well, not anymore but Ty use to be a very early riser! If I left him he wouldn't go back to sleep and would eventually start screaming. So, his wake up call was about 6 but usually 5:45. Granted he would go down for a nap at 9 but it still sucks getting up that early! It wasn't until we moved into the apartment that he started waking up around 7. Now, go figure, for the past week he as been sleeping until 8 or 8:30!! Not that I get to benefit from any of that. Does he do that on the weekend, of course not!

We tried the earlier to bed thing, still up early. We tried the later to bed thing, still up early. I just started going to bed earlier myself so I could get some good sleep in. 5 just seems really early to be going to sleep for the night. I would be worried she would wake up in the middle of the night and not want to go back to sleep.

Chelsi said...

Ethan is an early bird as well.. He usually gets up around 5:30 am - this started happening when he started sleeping through the night over a month ago. When he wakes up in the morning he is not only bright eyed, but is ravenously hungry. I've tried quietly feeding him (which lasts for only like 5 minutes because he gulps that bottle down) and putting him back to sleep, but he is super awake by then and won't go down.

Like Rhiannon, we've tried an array of bedtimes and it didn't make a difference - he was still up at 5:30 am regardless. His normal bedtime is 7 pm, but we've tried as early as 6 pm and as late as 8 pm. I was all excited about the time change last weekend, thinking it would trick him into sleeping until 6:30 pm, but Ethan figured it out within a day and was back on the 5:30 track :)

We've just accepted the fact for now - I think his empty belly wakes him up partly, but Ethan always been more alert in the morning than in the evening, so that may be a contributing factor.

I'm curious to see how the 5ish thing works out, though!

Mandy said...

Your instinct's right: 5 PM or 515. Mine are like yours - down by 7 pm - 730 at the latest. If Mae wakes up earlier than 6, I start putting her down earlier at night. Healthy Sleep is my sleep bible too, and I *almost* consider myself a sleep expert. :)

Grace said...

that never worked for any of my kids..Avery included. Drew was the ideal baby-slept through the night from day 1,never had him on any schedule-the minute I put him in his crib he was out. Bruno was and still is my party animal.He will go to bed at 11pm and up at 6,dosent matter what time he crashes out-he just doesn't require allot of sleep. Avery being the 3rd I thought I would do things the "right" way and have her on a schedule..hahaha! With our crazy schedule she has had no choice but to be a go with the flow girl. Maybe that's just who Erin is..an early riser. It sucks for the parents but maybe that could be special Mommy/Daddy time.Depending on Mike's work schedule you guys could take turns. I am no sleep expert and don't have any books published but I do know that if I put any of my kids to sleep at 5pm I would have a little friend wide awake by midnight!

Nikki said...

Wow, everyone's chiming in on this one! :) Not to be left out...

I only have one kid so this is pure speculation, but I tend to assume the philosophy that every kid is different, and we don't have as much control as we'd like to. I know with Halle, some nights when she goes down early, she sleeps just fine through the night, and sometimes she wakes up at midnight and thinks she just took the world's greatest nap is ready to party.

I have to say, overall, Halle tends to wake up at the same time every morning regardless of what time she goes down. Lucky for me it's usually around 7:30. She has had the occasional earlier wake up or later wake up, but those are really the exceptions.

In any event, let us know it goes!

The Ayers Family said...

Both my boys go down around 9, sometimes later on the nights Chris has school. It's rare to see Kleven before 7:30 and Ezra will sleep until 9 if I let him, granted he does not sleep through the night yet. I did notice that if Kleven gets a late nap, he'll be up earlier the next morning and if he gets a good early nap he'll sleep in til lunch the next day. Weird huh! And yes, he is still taking naps, even if I have to put him in the car and drive circles in the clu-de-sac to get him to fall asleep!