sleep question/CIO?

chocolatechip06 · June 2011

DS is getting better with sleep (he usually goes about 9-10 hours) and then wants to eat-I've tried to let him CIO but he is starving (eats 5 oz) and goes back to sleep. He goes to sleep around 7 and wakes up between 3-4 am. Eats and goes back to sleep until 6. If he eats/falls asleep and wakes up a hour later-we let him CIO and he goes back to sleep at some point.

He has been at my parents house the last 2 night since I am sick and trying to get a good night's sleep myself. On friday night he went to bed at 9 and got up at 6 (so 9 hours but a 'full night). Not sure what he did last night since i have not spoken to my parents.

I am planning on dropping the early morning feeding once he and I get over our colds. But is he just programmed to sleep 9-10 hours (we never get 11 hours straight, maybe 10.5 hours once a month or so)

He naps well but takes about 3 naps a day still (since he is up at 6-he naps from 8-9, from about 12-1:30 and if he had an early afternoon nap from 3-4:30).

I want him in bed no later than 7:30 pm-I go to bed by 9:30-10 and I need some downtime with DH since we are up at 6 and DH is gone from 7-6:30 pm daily. He is very ready to sleep at 7 pm-bottle and bed and he is asleep in minutes.

How do you push him to start consolidating naps? If I got rid of the 12:30 nap I think he could sleep from 1-3 at least. I try and keep him busy in the afternoons but you can tell he is ready for a nap-do I push through that and deal with a cranky baby for a while until he gets used to it?

dana316 · June 2011

I would definitely start weaning that early morning bottle. I woudln't cut it out all at once though...maybe decrease it by an ounce every couple of days?

I would also consolidate to two naps...maybe keep him up until 9am then put him down for a nap, and then put him down for a nap after lunch??

We just dealt with a cranky baby while we were consolidating naps...but I was really suprised at how quickly she adjusted.

Good luck!!

njdcgirl · June 2011

Andrew sounded really similar to your LO - until we Ferberized about a week or so ago. He was always waking to feed anywhere between 2 and 4, occassionally we'd get to 6 but rarely. He would eat anywhere from 4 - 8 oz at night, so I knew he was hungry. Anyway, we began weaning his night feeds a few weeks ago. Went from an 8 oz bottle to a 6 oz for abut 4-5 days, then to a 4, finally to a 2. Then, he was still waking and not going back to sleep until he was held so we knew it was time to Feberize!

It only took a few days (hard days, yes!) before he was STTN. Now, he will wake (sometimes we hear a cry or two) and then he puts himself back to sleep. Another side effect is that he's been napping better too - he used to only sleep about 45 min - 1 hour in the morning (around 8:30 and then again around noon). Now he's doing one longer nap in the morning, dropped the midday one, and goes down in the afternoon for another longer nap. It's much easier with only two naps!

Not sure if this helps at all, but I wish you good luck!

Dochas · June 2011

My son is miserable when he wakes up that early. I know a lot of people here say the more they sleep during the day, the more they sleep at night. But that's not how it works for us at all. He has a certain number of hours he will sleep in a 24 hour period. If he sleeps too long during the day, he sleeps less at night. Does he have to be up by six? If not I would try cut the afternoon naps shorter. If he gets up later, his morning nap will be later and then you might just lose one naturally. I don't know how old your son is, but we let ours (almost 10 months) drop his night feeding when he was ready. One night, he just stopped waking up. He had been getting up between 3 and 4 like clockwork and one night he just didn't do it anymore. I had planned to give him until just after a year before we addressed it. I was nursing, but since you're doing bottles I would just cut the number of ounces. Can you up his amount of solids for dinner? That helps fill mine up.

hopecounts · June 2011

We were dealing w/ a 6 am wake up and what helped was pushing the morning nap back, she was napping around 8:30 I moved it by 10 min. a day until it was at 10 and as it got later she started sleeping later, she's up around 7 now which works for us.

As for the night feeding I night weaned DD by cutting back on the nursing session, cut it by 2 min. every other night then we ferbered and she stopped waking up and now sleeps ~11 hrs straight.

I'd deal w/ one issue at a time rather than attacking everything at once, I think it would be easier on both of you.

perry7285 · June 2011

have you read ferber's book? he discusses all of these issues really well, i think.

good luck!

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