sleep problems

My girls are waking up too early. Way too early, we're talking 3:45 - 4:15 am. So I got out my copy of HSHHC and quickly read a little bit on this - they are definitely not going to bed too late. They had been falling asleep around 5- 6 pm. So DH took them to the pedi, and the pedi suggested we keep them up til 10pm or so. (clearly she forgot I am a SAHM, because by the evenings I need a break from them - she told DH we should play with them in the evenings and enjoy them) So - what would you do to correct this?

What I've done so far is pushed their bed time back a little bit - now I'm giving them their last bottle between 6 and 6:30 (depending on how late I can distract them from having a meltdown) - and then they are in bed by 6:30 - 7:00. So far it's not been helping and they've still been waking around 4 am It's been almost 1 week now. This morning I heard Amelia making happy noises at 4 am so I went and shut their door and shut my door and set my alarm for 5:30 am - I knew if I could hear her crying I would go to her - but I still couldn't sleep, I just laid there awake until 5:30 and then went to her, she was screaming. I feel terrible about letting her cry until 5:30 but what else could I do?

Please give me any suggestions! I can't have babies that wake up to play in the middle of the night! (BTW, I can tell the difference b/w them waking in the night to eat versus waking in the night thinking it's morning. If they wake in the night to eat then they cry; when they think it's morning they wake up and coo)

TIA!

 

My ds was waking at 5am all the time. We just finished cio and he is sleeping from 7pm - 5am. Yeah but 5 am is way too early. I was told they will start to sleep later but then people kept saying maybe hes hungry, so I started feeding him. Mistake. He then started waking at 4:30, then 4am then 3:30am so hes not hungry he wants to see me. So the other night he woke at 330 and I let him cry. He cried for an hour. Put himself back to sleep and slept to 5:30. Not great but this morning I heard him talking at 5am (first waking), dd woke at 6am checked on him he was asleep and didn't wake till 7am. It might just take a couple of nights for them to figure out your not coming to them at such a horrible hour.

 

QUOTE
So DH took them to the pedi, and the pedi suggested we keep them up til 10pm or so.


OK, first of all, your pedi is CRAZY! :crazy: The only thing keeping them up that late would accomplish is making those girls very, very, very, very overtired. Which would probably make them sleep worse, not better.

I think the waking up to play thing is actually pretty common around that age. They're starting to get so much more aware of the world. I'd just ignore it. I'm a total softy when it comes to night feeding, but anything else, I am Nurse Ratched! :lol: At night, I always kept it dark (very dim light if any), no talking, no playing, just feed and change and straight back to bed.

What is their "normal" wakeup time? If they're not screaming, and they don't sound hungry, I just wouldn't go in until it's really morning. If it does get ugly like it did today, maybe you can go in and check, see if they're hungry, check diapers, and then put back to bed. Maybe just give a little reassurance, but then let them work it out.

Good luck! I can tell you that this is just a phase. It won't last forever. :hug99:

 

QUOTE(fuchsiagroan @ Jun 3 2008, 12:43 AM) [snapback]806411[/snapback]
OK, first of all, your pedi is CRAZY! :crazy: The only thing keeping them up that late would accomplish is making those girls very, very, very, very overtired. Which would probably make them sleep worse, not better.


I totally agree with this. My boys at that age were going to bed at 5:30pm. They couldnt last a second longer. They did not STTN until they were 9 months old. I fed them bottles when they would wake and they would down it. Once they started playing around and not finishing it, I would start taking longer and longer to get to them and they eventually worked it out and quit waking. Then they at least slept until 5am. They just had to mature to sleep longer and make it to 6a. Hang in there.

 

I have no advice, just wanted to let you know you are not alone. My girls have been getting up really early for almost a week now. It sucks! I want to sleep.

 

Thanks for the advice. I hope this is something they grow out of quicklyl, it sucks! I had no intention of putting them to bed at 10 pm, couldn't do it even if I wanted to, they just fall asleep!

 

I could have almost wrote the identical post as you and nearly the same age... 6.5 months. lately I find they are having this late nap say at 6 pm then wake up an hour later then go to sleep at 8:30.

Before it was always AM nap, afternoon nap then bedtime at 7:30- 8 pm. They have always had a AM wake up at 6:00 and my dh gives them a bottle change and then they sleep or sometimes chat away. What is with this age ? I was liking things the way they were. Like you, I don't have much time to read my HSHHC book. I just need the Coles' notes......

It is just the pits. I can't predict when they are going to sleep now.

Heather

 

My twins were early risers for a long time too (5-6 am) until about 1 year of age. They went to bed early (6 pm) and since Weissbluth was our pediatrician I spoke to him more than once about this. We tried to move up their bed time a little bit, so I did, until 6.30 pm or so but nothing really worked. We tried earlier, later, not going in til 6 am, going in, etc. Especially my ds would just scream until he got his milk. So what we did for quite some time, is feed them if they would wake up before 5-6 am, leave and let them stay in bed until 7 am. Sometimes they would go back to sleep, sometimes they wouldn't. Sometimes they would sleep until 6.00-7.00 am, sometimes they wouldn't. Just after age 1, it stopped (Weissbluth told me this was very well possible to happen since we tried everything, they were well rested, good naps, etc. and it did). Some kids are just early risers, although 4 am is definitely a no-go.

What would happen is you would feed them? I mean, Weissbluth and I agreed that at some point I needed to stay sane and if I would let them fuss a little without much result, I would feed them and go back to bed. Because in the end they did sleep from 6 pm / 6.30 pm until 5-6 am already.