I recently posted on this, but Im seriously tired.......and so are they!!! Just to rebrief on the topic.... My Lo's dropped their third nap a few weeks ago. I had to put them to bed early, around 6. This allowed them to adjust to this long period of wake time. Downfall.....5am wake time for a bottle. They would go right back to sleep until 7am. That was great.....until now. I have been trying to adjust their naps to 9 and 1 in hopes their afternoon nap would allow them to go to bed a bit later, in more hopes that the wake up time would become later. Now they are waking at 5:30 ( I should say my DD), now they will not go right back to sleep. They fuss around, babble, maybe somewhat fall back to sleep. I end up with tired babies who can barely stay up to take a 9am nap. Im wondering if I should try and stop going in at the 5am in hopes they will sleep until morning. If they could sleep and not wake up I think they wouldnt be so tired all the time. Here's my questions. My friend just went in for their 9 month appt. Pedi told them to wean her off the 4-5 am bottle. My Lo's are not 9 month just yet but I feel like this waking is not helping them. So, did any of you do this (wean from night feedings at 9 months)? What did you do? How long did it take? If your Lo's sleep until morning.....what time is their last bottle and what time do they sleep until? Im trying to see just how long they can go without eating at this age. ( they have before gone until morning 12-12.5 hours)
I did not have to wean from night feedings at 9 months, however mine did go through a short period around that age where they would wake early, if they were not crying or stinky I would let them babble until they fell back asleep. Our "wake up" time was typically 7:30 and that was when they got the first bottle of the day. Mine were bed by 7:30 at night. Last bottle would be around 7pm. I would try not going in there and seeing if they will go back to sleep (as long as they are not crying or seem to be in any type of distress). Good luck, early wakings are frustrating. I hope they get back on schedule soon for you!
Mine weaned themselves from night feedings, they just started sleeping through, but mine weren't going to be for the night until 7:30 or 8:00 with a bottle right before bed. Then they would sleep through until 6:30 or 7:00, nap around 9:30 or 10:00. So, I'm not sure, I know a lot of people put their babies to bed a lot earlier than I did because that's what worked for their little ones but maybe early wake times are just a natural consequence of that?
I would LOVE to get them to a last bottle of 7pm even 6:30!! Im trying to stretch them to that. I believe if I could get them to a later bottle they would sleep a bit later. Its getting them to that without them being exhausted!!
Mine are about the same age as yours and we recently dropped our 3rd nap, too. Our schedule looks like this: 7:00-wake, bottle, solids (They actually wake up around 6:30-6:45, but I don't get them out of their cribs until 7) 9:00-nap 11:00-wake, bottle, solids 2:00-nap 4:00-bottle 6:00-solids 7:30-get ready for bed & bottle I've found the 2-3-4 schedule is working really great for us. I, personally, would let them be until you are ready to wake them up in the morning. It's normal for babies to wake early and talk themselves back to sleep. A 9 month old should definitely be able to go for 12 hours without eating. Hope this helps!
we have been having some early wake times around here sometimes too, not consistently, but maybe 1-3 times a week. if they wake early, i do not go in unless they are crying and upset. DS will lay there and talk LOUDLY to himself for 20-30 minutes and then he either stops talking or falls back to sleep, i don't really know since i haven't gone in. somehow DD sleeps through his discourse.. thank heavens, because she usually will cry if woken that early... i usually try to hold out until at least 7:00 before going in to get them to start the day. also, i try really hard not to adjust the first nap time by more than 30 minutes, i have found that they may be a little cranky but i can usually get them to hold out until 8:45-9 before they go down. that helps keep the day on track. (it doesn't always work out, DS fell asleep in his highchair once because he was so tired, it was the cutest thing) i know every baby is different, but i am pretty sure that they can make it without a feeding at 5 am. our bedtime here is around 6:30, they have their last big solids meal around 5:30, then bath, then i TRY to give them a bottle which they refuse. so they aren't eating until the next morning at around 7:30, and strangely, they don't seem like they are dying of hunger.. weird... it is possible that they have made a habit out of the early morning feed, so if you don't go in they may just go back to sleep. at least i hope that is what happens for you! oh, i have also put a little soft dolly/stuffed animal in with them for them to play with if they wake up and that seems to have helped. i don't know if you are comfortable with that, but it's an idea..
For us, there was nothing magical that we did to finally get them to STTN. They did it at 9.5 months. Once they started not really being interested in eating the bottle, I took longer and longer to get to them instead of running in at the first fuss. They never really cried. They just fussed a bit and then went to sleep. They were getting plenty during the day. If your are comfortable, you can do CIO. At 9 months when we dropped the catnap, mine were going to bed at 5:30 and waking at 5 for the day. There was nothing we could do about it except wait for them to mature to stay up a bit longer and therefore sleep a bit longer. Yes, it sucked, but it does go away. Hang in there. I know that you are frustrated. But dont beat yourself up trying to figure out how to make it better. KWIM? You are doing the best you can. :hug: Yep, same here!!
