S.O.S. (Save Our Sleep - or Sanity) - { really, really, long}

mrs.wildman · August 2011

I know there have been a lot of sleep posts and similar issues posted, but I couldn?t find any going a few pages back and I?m desperate for help.

For the last 4 weeks or so, DD has been waking up EARLY- anywhere between 4:30-5:30. She used to sleep till 6:30-7. If she wakes up on the earlier side, I can usually get her back to sleep by giving her a little bit of milk in a bottle. If she wakes up 5 or later she won?t go back down at all.

I?m resigning myself to the fact that this might be it and she?s just moving up her wake-up time for the day, but she?s very clearly still tired (yawning + rubbing her eyes), and just won?t go back down. She?s teething like crazy, but doesn?t seem like she?s waking up from pain, but if she is ? every day at the same time? She sleeps in long sleeve jammies as her room gets cool. I have tried changing the temperature and her jammies over the course of the month in case she was too hot/too cold and that made no difference.

Her current bed time is 7-7:30 and she goes down without a fight ?I hear her talking and fussing for about ? an hour, so it?s usually 7:30-8 before she?s asleep. She?s also still taking two 1-1.5 hour naps (at 9 and 2). She sleeps through the night till she?s waking up in the wee hours. She was going down at 6:30 until Daylight Savings when DH was pretty adamant on pushing her bedtime back. At the same time she started teething like CRAZY, and was also weaning, so sleep really went to shiiit. She started waking up at night multiple times. We did modified Ferbering/Weissbluthing and all was well again within a month (so by May).

So now we are where we are and I have no idea what to do. I checked Ferber and HSHHC and both say if baby is early waking then to push bed time back. This just doesn?t seem right to me for a couple of reasons 1)She?s only getting 9-10 hours of solid sleep which doesn?t seem like enough and 2)She turns into a pumpkin monster after a certain point. My night time hours are precious to me. I have a full time job and operate a business on the side and night time is the only time that I can get my own work done - so if I have to push bed time back, I?m essentially screwed and might need to shut my business down for a while. If I need to, I will, but I don?t think we have a bad bed time routine. This also means that I can?t go to bed earlier myself as I have to get shiiit done. I?m almost always asleep by 11, but really don?t function well on less than 8 hours of sleep.

You?ll notice that there isn?t much mention of DH in this post. He helps when he can but usually works late, so bed time is up to me. He?ll wake up with her in the morning, but when /if she sees him, DD is instantly in play mode and there?s no chance in heck that she?ll go back down. He, too, is at the end of his rope and is letting me call the shots on what to do ? that is if I can figure it out. So now I turn to you all, oh wise women of el bump. Do I come to terms with the fact that this is my new alarm clock and go with it? Should I try putting her down for the night a bit earlier? Will moving to one nap maybe help? Any other suggestions? Can anyone help me???

**One last note - next week we're going to Cali for my sister's wedding. Thanks to this sleep situation, I'm officially DREADING the trip and wedding. 5:30 AM here is 3:30 AM there. We're staying in a single hotel room and getting her to sleep will be torturous. I also know that whatever modifications I make between now and then might fail me when I get back and we have to start over.

Edited to fix crazy formatting.

2H2L · August 2011

First, ((((hugs)))). Ocho and Nove definitely went through it when teething. How many naps is she taking? Dropping to one and moving it to around midday seemed to work for us, to get ours in a good rhythm. Now, mine get up around 7:30...much better than 4 or 5:30 though! That's all I've got. I hope someone else has better advice. Good luck. And :::sleep in dust for your DD::;

reading fail. You did talk about naps already. I'd try going to one and see if that helps. Good luck!

ec3under4 · August 2011

I think there is hope. Well, you have a 50/50 chance. My son is 4.5 and has always been awake before 6. But, it's more maneagable now because he isn't allowed out of his room until 7.

I would try to go down to one nap a day or, if she is waking up late from her afternoon nap then you could wake her up a bit earlier.

Pushing the bedtime later never helped us so we stick with our 7 bedtime. This way, I can be sure that he is going to get at least 10 hours. And, like you, I value my evening time!

Have you thought about giving her some tylenol when she wakes up? When she wakes up, is she happy? If so, I would turn down the monitor and go back to bed and just let her play in her crib. Maybe she will fall asleep and maybe she won't but at least you can get a little more rest. With my daughter, she would wake up, cry for a little bit and then put her back to sleep. I have always found that if we go in there, there is no chance of getting back to sleep. So, if you are confident that she isn't poopy and not hungry then I would just let her be and see what she does!

Good luck! I know that it's hard...

ebat · August 2011

2H2L:
I'd try going to one and see if that helps. luck!

agree. Also is she crying when she wakes up? If not just leave her in there until you're ready to get up. Good luck

mrs.wildman · August 2011

She cries when she wakes up. Some days it's her lazy, tired cry and some days she's in hysterics. I usually leave her crying for 10 or so minutes hoping that she might go back down, but that has yet to happen. Usually she snaps out of it and is very happy and playful the second I get her out of bed. If I wait until she's hysterical, will take her a few minutes to calm back down but then, too, she just wants to play not sleep.

As far as giving her tylenol (or ibuprofen), I've thought about it, but know that as soon as I get her up and out she will get over stimulated enough to not go back down. She's also not really rubbing her mouth or ears over the course of the morning - while eating, etc. It's definitely something I've considered though.

I know that one day it will get better because I'll be able to communicate just staying in her bed/room playing if she wakes up, but was hoping I might be able to nip this in the bud so that I can get through this next year. I think that this weekend I'll try the one nap thing and see how it goes then make her daycare provider follow suit if that helps.

Thanks for your input ladies.

Cheer4State · August 2011

I would consider dropping down to one nap at this point. Also, I thought i read in HSHHC, that if they were waking up early, you should put them down for bed earlier. It SO seems to go against rationale but I have noticed that when my boys are up later than normal, they wake up earlier. As it says, good sleep begets good sleep. I just feel like the more over tired and fussy my boys are, the rougher, more restless sleep they get - at naps and bedtime!

smb29 · August 2011

I don't really have any great advice (I would try one nap - my pedi said they are usually ready by 18 months and we found that to be true) but I just wanted to say I feel your pain. M has gone through long stretches off and on where he is up at 5:30am every day and he is doing it right now and its killing me. I have no issue letting him play in his room, except he won't do that. He would always cry in his crib or now he stands at his door crying "maaaamaaaa" until I go get him. I have never figured out how to fix it. That is my long whine to say, you are not alone.

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S.O.S. (Save Our Sleep - or Sanity) - { really, really, long}

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