waking up too early--babywise moms come in

eyelovemascara

Hi ladies,

I'm wondering what time you all put your LOs to bed (on average) if you have babies around 6-9 months? My girls are 7 months and I find that they start having meltdowns around 5:00 so its really impossible to get them to stay up later than 6:30ish. Because of the early bedtimes, they wake up really early and I can't exactly be mad at them for sleeping 10 hours straight but still waking up around 4AM or 5AM. Do you think I should dreamfeed them later at night after they've gone to bed (9-10PM) so that they will sleep longer into the morning? I am so tired of waking up at 4AM!

Last night they actually woke up at 3AM and I thought it was just out habit rather than hunger, so I let them cry it out (off and on) for an hour until feeding them and they were really hungry so I think its not just waking out of habit. Advice?

stuzyq14

have you tried a short nap at 5pm?  We had to do that from about 5-7months.  We wouldn't let them sleep more than 45min-1hour.  Then up, feed, play and put them back to bed 7:30-8pm.  They now, at 10.5 months,  are down to 2 naps and sleep from 7pm to 6am.

caden

How many naps do they get during the day and how much are they sleeping in a 24hr cycle? I had issues like that when my boys napped too long. I went from 3 naps to 2 and that did the trick. When my kids were around 1 yr old, it reoccurred and I just gave them (actually just 1 b/c DS2 was the only problem) pacis and let them chill out in their cribs til a normal wake up time. I didn't start their day at 5 am ever. It didn't last very long and they're back to normal again.

eyelovemascara

They're taking 2 long (1.5-2 hr) naps and 1 catnap, but not at very consistent times. I would guess that they sleep around 16 hours in a 24 hour period (might be WAY off here...) I guess taking a short catnap at 5pm would be a good idea, but they consistently nap from 2-4pm, so I guess I would need to rearrange the whole schedule earlier so that they aren't waking up at 4.

caden

eyelovemascara:

They're taking 2 long (1.5-2 hr) naps and 1 catnap, but not at very consistent times. I would guess that they sleep around 16 hours in a 24 hour period (might be WAY off here...) I guess taking a short catnap at 5pm would be a good idea, but they consistently nap from 2-4pm, so I guess I would need to rearrange the whole schedule earlier so that they aren't waking up at 4.

Yeah, definitely ditch the catnap. Why don't you want them waking up at 4? 

amanda31H

I personally do not like super early bed times - I think it's sillly for kids to go to bed at dinner time only to rise at the crack of dawn.

At 7 months, my girls were still taking a cat nap around 5:30 for 20-30 minutes in their bouncy seat while I prepared dinner. 

Their bed time at 7 months was 7:30 pm.  We would go upstairs at that time and start their bedtime routine.  They were in their cribs with lights out by 7:45 and asleep by 8. 

We did go through a phase around 9 months when they were waking at 5:30.  Like Caden, I would give them a paci and let them hang out in their cribs.  Eventually they'd fall back asleep and I'd get them up around 7:30.  It only lasted two weeks.  Now they sleep 8-8 no problem. 

caden

caden:

eyelovemascara:

They're taking 2 long (1.5-2 hr) naps and 1 catnap, but not at very consistent times. I would guess that they sleep around 16 hours in a 24 hour period (might be WAY off here...) I guess taking a short catnap at 5pm would be a good idea, but they consistently nap from 2-4pm, so I guess I would need to rearrange the whole schedule earlier so that they aren't waking up at 4.

Yeah, definitely ditch the catnap. Why don't you want them waking up at 4? 

Oh wait. I'm dumb. I thought you meant you don't want them waking at 4 pm from their nap, but you meant at 4 am. Anyway, if they have more than 2 naps, definitely go down to 2. If that still doesn't work then try just giving them pacis/blankie/lovie/whatever in the am and seeing if the problem just corrects itself.  GL!

mrs.cam

we put our twins down to bed at 6pm then,  and only 6:30 now!  By 4 months they were sleeping 6-6 but they did have a random relapse around 5 months and started waking around 5am.  We just let them play in their cribs for the hour and then got them at the normal time.  Luckily they never got too upset and they grew out of it.

If you think they just aren't 12 hour a night sleepers I'd try moving all of their naps back a bit so that they can stay awake until 8.  It really is just trial and error sometimes...good luck!

Kristen61607

we don't put our girls down until 9:15 or so..they eat at 9 then go to sleep right after. They take a nap at 5-5:30 then another one at 8 ish. But they aren't put in their cribs until after their 9pm bottle. If you're interested in seeing my whole schedule, I just made a blog post about it: here.

cookiemonster03

We don't do babywise, but (at 5.5 mo/4.5 mo adjusted, so about a month behind yours in sleep terms) we have 3 naps still. Generally in the 8-10, 12-2 and 5-5:45 range, give or take 30 minutes. Sometimes if they take a long midday nap (its usually just one) they'll skip the last one. We do bedtime at 7, and they *usually* sleep till 4, are starved, eat, then sleep until 6:30 or 7.

erinruns

The other side of Babywise is getting them up at a consistent time every day, so that their naps are at a consistent time, which will give you a consistent bedtime.  Maybe try approaching it from that angle instead of from bedtime?  I agree, my girls at that age went to bed around 8pm, with a catnap around 4:00.  Once we ditched the catnap, bedtime became 7:30pm.  They woke every day ~8am.

google123

I'm in the same position as you.  I try to get them to nap around 4-5, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.  If they nap, we usually wake them around 6ish.  Bedtime is 7:30.  It doesn't always work out, sometimes they don't nap, and in that case they wake up at 3am hungry!    Hope the new naps will work out for you.

eyelovemascara

Kristen61607:

we don't put our girls down until 9:15 or so..they eat at 9 then go to sleep right after. They take a nap at 5-5:30 then another one at 8 ish. But they aren't put in their cribs until after their 9pm bottle. If you're interested in seeing my whole schedule, I just made a blog post about it: here.

 Props to you Kristen for getting in 5 naps a day?!?! I looked at your schedule in your blog and I don't think I would be able to remember all the different nap/awake times! Either that or my girls would be like WHY ARE WE BACK IN OUR CRIB AGAIN!? But seriously, its tempting because it sounds like you get a good night sleep EVERY night....jealous!

GeauxTigers82

Your girls sleep situation is very similar to mine. I doesn't matter what you do, as long as it's working for you!

My girls nap from 12:30 to 1:30 (because we have to pick up big sister at 2). As a result, they are ready for bed by 6:30, and start having meltdowns around 5. We eat dinner at 5, bathe around 5:30-6, and then bottle/bed at 6:30 (or 7...it's hard to get everyone in bed by then!!). Since I'm still up at 11 or midnight, I do a dreamfeed then. They sleep til around 9 am (give or take 30 min.).

What time do you go to sleep for the night? Why don't you keep their nap as is, and put them to bed in the evening when they start showing signs of being tired, and then do a feed right before you go to bed? I'm with you on the waking up early thing...ugh!