Some naps parents may not consider naps at all. Like when their child wakes super early in the morning and stays up for a short time before going back to sleep (see Early Morning Awakenings) or when their child goes to bed at an early time each night but wakes up in the evening for quite a while and doesn't settle back to sleep easily again after eating or comforting. The thing is, these periods of sleep are somewhat separate from
the period of night sleep and can cause a bit of havoc...assuming that most of you don't enjoy your child waking at 5 am (if not earlier) or waking in the evening unable to fall back to sleep. The solution to this problem is to try and get theses little naps to be more separated from the rest of the night. To separate the morning nap start making it occur at a later time each day. To separate the evening nap you may need to put your child to bed a bit later each day until this awakening stops occurring.
Another common form of nap is a really short one that often occurs in the car while doing errands or while going on a walk. Although these naps may only last 10 minutes they can have a big impact on your child's ability to fall asleep for his regularly scheduled naps or at nighttime. If possible, these extra little naps should be eliminated allowing a more healthy and orderly sleeping routine to result.
the period of night sleep and can cause a bit of havoc...assuming that most of you don't enjoy your child waking at 5 am (if not earlier) or waking in the evening unable to fall back to sleep. The solution to this problem is to try and get theses little naps to be more separated from the rest of the night. To separate the morning nap start making it occur at a later time each day. To separate the evening nap you may need to put your child to bed a bit later each day until this awakening stops occurring.
Another common form of nap is a really short one that often occurs in the car while doing errands or while going on a walk. Although these naps may only last 10 minutes they can have a big impact on your child's ability to fall asleep for his regularly scheduled naps or at nighttime. If possible, these extra little naps should be eliminated allowing a more healthy and orderly sleeping routine to result.
Your blog is so helpful!! Thank you for posting this useful info! My 5.5 mo started early waking about three weeks ago but still takes a long morning nap and two others but makes for an extremely early bedtime! Any advice? She's been waking at 4:30/5am and we could start our day at 7:30/8!! First nap is 2.5 hrs if I don't wake her. This appears as an extension of night sleep. Am I correct?? The next nap is around 75/120 min after waking and lasts abt 1/1.5 hrs and then we take another 1hr if its an early wake day. If not its normally 30-45 min. How can we arrange our schedule to sleep later in the morning? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!! 5am wake ups are killing me!!
ReplyDeleteTarayn Comer,
DeleteSo glad you are finding the blog helpful! That first nap may be an extension of night sleep although many kids will sleep this long even without this issue. Since you are having those early morning wakeups, let's consider that it is an extension of night sleep or too much daytime sleep (you're going to do similar things). I would try to have more of a set nap time right now, even if she wakes early in the am. Put her down a little early for the nap like 15-30 minutes prior if needed. Get that first waketime to around 1.5 if it isn't there already. You just don't want it to be too short right now. Get the following waketimes closer to 2 hours, maybe longer for the last ones. Keep a sleep log. See what happens when 1)bedtime is too early 2)waketime is increased between naps 3) you keep on relatively set nap times 3) you decrease day sleep a little.
Great!! Thank you for your quick response! A few questions.
Delete1. When she wakes early should I go ahead and feed her and get up for the day or should I feed and put back in the crib until normal wake up time (desired?)
2. Should I wake her from that first nap?
3. What's average day time sleep for 5-6 mo with 3 naps? Nighttime? 10-12 hours?
Tarayn Comer,
Delete1) You can feed her (I'm assuming this is her only feed at night, if she has a dreamfeed too, I definitely wouldn't be feeding her again at night--assuming she is growing well etc) then put her right back down.
Did I already mention that you might want to try wake to sleep?
Keep in mind that many children will not sleep past around 7. This happens more as they get a big older (which she is getting!) so you might want to aim for more of a 7-7 routine to see if it helps things out.
2) Take things one step at a time and see what happens. If you don't have much improvement with one step, add on another. If you change too many things at once it'll be hard to see what is causing what.
3) check out the total sleep posts (for day, naps and 24 hours)
DeleteThank you for your reply! She has slept through the night (since 9 weeks) until the last month when she's been early waking at 4/5/5:30am. So what I've been doing is feeding her if I can get her back to sleep and then waking at 7. 7 is when I'd like to start our day!
Not sure what wake to sleep is????
Tarayn Comer,
DeleteYou can find articles in the index or on the right column in the search bar. Here's the wake to sleep one
http://www.mybabysleepguide.com/2009/02/wake-to-sleep.html
If she used to sleep 7-7 and you don't have much luck extending, then I'd consider dropping that last feed to see if getting her out of the habit of waking to eat helps.
Out of the last 3.5 weeks that she's been waking early (4/5/6) I've prob fed early 5x. I'm really not thinking she's waking out of hunger but waking and not going back to sleep bc sleep pressure is lower and realizes she's hungry. Maybe it's a stage...? She was 5.5 months this week.
DeleteI've been successful in two awake times today of 120 min each! :)
Could be a stage tarayn. But feeding can quickly turn it into a habit so keep it in mind. Doesn't seem like she's needing a feed so you are probably right, she isn't waking for just for a feed.
DeleteThanks! She's never been a 12 hr sleeper more like 10-11. Is this pron bc of day sleep? Total of 4.5/5 hours most days.
DeleteTarayh comer,
DeleteToo much day time sleep *might* be an issue with the night sleep. Some kids do fine with this much, but it is definitely an issue for others. I'd consider decreasing by a bit and see what happens over several days.
Thank you for your response! We both have been sick with a cold so it's been a bit crazy in the sleep dept the last week. I'm going to try decreasing her naps today to 1.5 hours and feeding every 3.5 so we still get 5 Feedings and hopefully 3.5/4 hours of daytime sleep will do for her to make it from 7-7. This is a goal I've never achieved! :( I've been trying to get her to sleep until 7 since the time changed. I would settle for 6:30 at this point. These 4/5 am Wakings make for a long day for this mommy. :(
DeleteI'll keep you posted as to how it goes.
Good luck tarayn!
DeleteI'm having the same issues with my 3 month old. Some days she sleeps until 6, others she wakes at 4:30! I have tried giving paci to stretch her out a bit, but now think I've created a sleep prop.
ReplyDeleteNicolewynne,
DeleteI wonder if she sleeps longer in some kind of pattern--like waking sooner on days she's had issues with naps or slept well.
Sometimes it can take a couple weeks for a baby to stop waking once a feed is dropped(dunno if this is the case). Then there are the kidoes that hang onto waking, especially if they're helped back to sleep. With these early morning wakings, it's hard to know for sure if they'll go away once you stop helping, but it's worth trying if things are worsening or haven't improved for doe time. I like to try wake to sleep in situations like this. If you do it, consider 4:30 the habitual wake up.
I like to take my 4-month out for walks every afternoon and he usually sleeps in his stroller. Normally this has been good because he wasn't napping long enough. Now that he is napping, is there a way to keep him awake while on walks? What would be the best timing - right after a nap? Or should I just swap out a nap for a walk? I really don't want to stop getting that fresh air every day!
ReplyDeleteMichelledanger,
DeleteIf the nap in a stroller doesn't seem to cause any other sleep issues, then no need to change something that isn't causing issues. If it seems like it may be causing issues, then I'd try for a walk right after a nap when he's less likely to fall asleep.
best,
rachel
Thanks!
Delete