Ok, so I've been mentioning how our sweet little boy loves to wake up super early in the morning. 5am. No matter if he slept alot the day before or if he barely slept at all. When he wakes up that early, he's not normally happy. He's yawning minutes after he gets out of bed and he's typically cranky. It eventually goes away and he's happy again, but he's not getting as much sleep as he needs. And yes, he does need more sleep. He has alot going right now (cold, daycare, down to one nap most days) so it's hard to tell what's normally and what's going to be the norm now. I'm sure we will settle into a routine in a few weeks.
It would be better for everyone involved (first and foremost, Carson) if he slept till 6. That extra hour would make a world of difference to him. Now - for those of you who can't tell from my blog, or don't know me in real life, know that Jeff and I are pretty laid back parents. We follow his schedule, we follow his lead and we change our schedules in order to make him happy. We've let him sleep when he's tired, play when he's not, eat when he's hungry, drink when he's thirsty... I don't think I need to go on. And so far, he's been a delight so I honestly believe that whatever we have been doing is working.
A friend of mine offered advice (I have no idea if she did this or not, or just read it, or heard about it...) that I'm seriously considering. She said that if you wake them up (well, just enough so their eyes would move under their eyelids) about an hour before they've been waking up, then you disrupt their sleep pattern and they should start sleeping later. I only take advice when it makes sense to me, and this makes sense. So... do I try it? If it works, it would be so worth it. Or, do I wait a couple weeks and see if he settles into a routine of waking up a bit later himself? I don't want to jinx anything. I'm going to set my alarm (I've been waking up around 4 but watch this be the first day I sleep "in") and see how I feel at the time. I'll keep you posted (like you had to wonder).
It would be better for everyone involved (first and foremost, Carson) if he slept till 6. That extra hour would make a world of difference to him. Now - for those of you who can't tell from my blog, or don't know me in real life, know that Jeff and I are pretty laid back parents. We follow his schedule, we follow his lead and we change our schedules in order to make him happy. We've let him sleep when he's tired, play when he's not, eat when he's hungry, drink when he's thirsty... I don't think I need to go on. And so far, he's been a delight so I honestly believe that whatever we have been doing is working.
A friend of mine offered advice (I have no idea if she did this or not, or just read it, or heard about it...) that I'm seriously considering. She said that if you wake them up (well, just enough so their eyes would move under their eyelids) about an hour before they've been waking up, then you disrupt their sleep pattern and they should start sleeping later. I only take advice when it makes sense to me, and this makes sense. So... do I try it? If it works, it would be so worth it. Or, do I wait a couple weeks and see if he settles into a routine of waking up a bit later himself? I don't want to jinx anything. I'm going to set my alarm (I've been waking up around 4 but watch this be the first day I sleep "in") and see how I feel at the time. I'll keep you posted (like you had to wonder).
This morning at "Breakfast with Santa"
3 comments:
I'm sure I've already asked you all of this, so please forgive. I'm just trying to figure out if I can help at all!
(1) When Carson wakes up at 5am, is he hungry? Do you give him a bottle?
(2) What's he like after the bottle? I'm assuming that you still see signs of tiredness?
(3) Have you ever tried putting him back down after his bottle, to see what he does? A *bit* of CIO might work, I dunno?
If I notice that R is rubbing her eyes during her AM bottle, I sometimes bring her under the covers with me (rather than putting her back in the crib). Sometimes, it helps us both get an extra 1/2 hour of badly needed sleep! She seems to like the change in atmosphere. Now, that doesn't always work - but sometimes.:-)
Yes, you're right - there are SO many changes going on in his world right now, so that's part of the complication in figuring things out!
hey christy,
i would try the method your friend recommended. it sounds weird i know, and i've never heard of it before but from what i've learned in my neuroscience courses it would make perfect sense. if you wake him up a bit before, he's still tired so he'll fall back to sleep, then he'll enter deep sleep and won't wake up so early. then only thing is that im not so sure exactly how long before you should do it. i think an hour is a bit too long. i think it should be more like 30 min before so like 4:30 am... a sleep pattern is from 90 min to 120 min and the last 2 stages are deep sleep. Anyways just a thought. I'm sure this is just a phase anyways. xoxo take care
I've read it AND tried it. Kailey got into a bit of a habit once and that was how I broke her out of it. An hour before is the recommended, but even 30 minutes is ok. I do it now too to extend her daytime naps when she gets into the habit of waking up after 45 minutes (regular sleep pattern cycle for a baby)
It works. But you have to do it 3 or 4 days to break a waking habit.
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