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Austin Babies
Sleep help please please please (long)
DS was sleeping 8-10 hours straight by the time he was 8 weeks old and then 12 hours by the time he was 12 weeks. Then the 4 month wakeful curse came along and he (1) decided that he hated the swaddle wrap but also hated not being swaddled (ummmmm) and (2) started waking up about every hour-and-a-half to two hours. In addition to all of this my mom was keeping him during the day and she would rock him and rock him and rock him (sometimes for TWO effing hours) until he fell asleep.
Okay, fast forward 3 months to the point when DH and I couldn't take it anymore... we Ferberized the little guy and it worked. No more nightime wakings, no more crying at bedtime or nap time, oh yippe. All seemed grand except for the fact that he now started waking up for the day at 5:05 every single day regardless of bedtime, etc. YES - 2 months later (9 mos old) HE STILL WAKES UP EVERY SINGLE DAY AT 5:05 AM. HOLY CRAP I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. He doesn't wake up all bright eyed and bushy tailed or anything - he's fussy and whiny and grumpy every morning until his nap time.
I don't know what to do. He's not getting enough sleep (even with two solid naps), and I can tell it's really affecting him. His mood is off, he's not picking up skills as quickly as he was, etc. A friend suggested we put him down at 6:30 for the night, but I just can't see this being reasonable?!
We've tried everything we can think of... Ferberizing at 5 am (even though the book says not to, I know), leaving him in there to extinction (he cried for a solid hour and showed no signs of stopping), putting a few soft toys/books in the crib for self-entertainment, darkening the room, putting a night light in his room, feeding him more at bedtime (4 Tbs cereal in an 8oz bottle)... what else is there?
I will buy you dinner if you come up with the winning solution. 
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Re: Sleep help please please please (long)
I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and did the extinction CIO method.
That book says that when they are waking up too early, put them to bed earlier. Your friend who is suggesting a 6:30 bedtime may be onto something. What time does he go to bed now? Try doing it 30 minutes earlier. Around 9/10 months old, Layna had a 7pm bedtime. So 6:30 doesn't sound that crazy.
My DD is 10 months old and has been going to bed at 6:30pm every night since she was 5 months old. 6:30pm doesn't sound crazy to me at all.
If she's not in bed by then...all h&ll breaks loose and she's in a foul mood and wakes up around 5:30am (vs. her normal 6:30am).
I suppose the reason 630 sounds crazy to me is because DH doesn't get home until 7, and it makes me sad to think he and DS won't get to do their evening rituals together. However, I'm willing to try it because the 5 am wake up time isn't healthy for any of us.
Currently his bedtime is 8:00, which I'm sure is too late for a 9 month old, so maybe we'll try 30 minutes earlier tonight as a start and then go from there!
Ditto. And I don't think he would go to bed at 6:30 right now if he's used to a 8pm bedtime. The book suggests only adjusting bedtimes by 30 minutes at a time.
DD goes down ~7pm and is just now sleeping until around 6am. Before then, she was up at 5am.
Moving her betime earlier helped some, but it appears that she is programmed for an early waking. ugh!
Ditto for us, too.
If you don't have the book or just don't have time (or mental energy!) to go read the entier thing
https://books.google.com/books?id=jGDm_5-GhGYC&pg=PA121&lpg=PA121&dq=morning+nap+consolidation&source=bl&ots=aWabYrKOmv&sig=igxkxUc7hxNvxWb0jdXGrxvbSuc&hl=en&ei=tyGQTPbHH4ah4QbK1ODVDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&sqi=2&ved=0CCkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=too%20early&f=false click on page 330
On the left you can also search "working parent" and see in writing that it's advised against and examples of how to maximize time with kids and why not to keep them up.
Ditto PP, the earlier we put Emily to bed, the better she sleeps. Which means I'm screwed tonight/tomorrow because I just got them both to bed!
Emily is almost STTN on a regular basis again. We had similar pattern to what you describe, STTN early, then 4 months, poof. Right now she still wakes at 5 or 6am for a feeding (nurse or bottle) and then she goes right back to sleep.
Do you want to avoid the AM feeding altogether because you can't fall back asleep or is LO the one who won't go back to sleep after that feeding?
I would try making sure the room is void of all light. Treat the 5am feeding like any other nighttime feed. Use the least amount of light possible to go in there (in our house a bathroom light down the hall casts just enough light into Emily's room) Do not talk or make eye contact. Go in, feed and then put back in crib. I personally feel Emily still needs that AM feeding. Abby did too until about 9-10 months. She dropped it on her own and it's not a concern in our house since we all just go back to sleep until 8-9. Their recommendation of waking a baby up at 7 just to have a 9am nap would never work for us. Abby sleeps until 8-9 and the way the book has it, I consider the 6-8(9ish) stretch to be a consolidation of her sleep and that's really her first nap.
But most importantly - DO NOT base your child's bedtime on the needs of adults. Your child needs proper sleep more than he needs to see daddy. I know, it sucks. But it's a common trap working parents fall into - keeping the baby up to see a parent. It destroys quality time on the weekend with a grumpy baby. As much as possible, protect the nap schedule and bedtime on the weekends too. Then the waking hours will be extra pleasent. Think quality over quanitity.