To bed too early?

I put my children down to sleep around 6p or 630 or even 530 depending how tired and fussy they are. I have been trying to follow the HSHHC parameters altho I've not done the CIO part. My children are bad nappers (30 or 45 min naps) and not great sleepers. At night they might sleep without waking from 630 to 10p or even 11p, but after their first waking they are up about every 2 hours after that...so 10p, midnight, 2a, 4q, 6a or 1a, 3a, 5a, or any variation of that. They usually don't both wake up at the same time, so i'm up a good deal of the night. I've sort of resigned myself to this existence.

Someone suggested i might be putting them down too early. That doesn't exactly jive w HSHHC tho. Was curious what you all thought!

Thanks

Sotto

PS. My guys are full termers at 38w1d, but they are small, if that has any bearing. At 6 months, my DD was 12lb 12 oz and DS was 14lb 14oz...

TIA!

 

Mine went to bed at 5:30 for the longest time ever since they gave up that 3rd catnap. If I even tried to stretch them they would scream and then be overtired and then it was even harder to get them to go to sleep. So I just went with it. And now they can go to about 6:30. So I dont think they are going to bed too early. As for all the night wakings they will give them up in time although I know it is hard now. You might stall a bit before going in to them and maybe letting them cry for a bit to see if they go back to sleep on their own, or if you are bottle feedings slowly decrease the amount you are giving them until they think its not worth it to get up or give them only water. Good luck.

 

I guess if they're bad nappers, you don't have much choice. However, you would expect to see some improvement. Personally I don't think it's "normal" for them to wake up every 2 hours during the night at age 6 months. What do you do when this happens? Feed them, rock them? It seems like they have trouble soothing themselves back to sleep. They could be overtired because of bad napping and if they wake every 2 hours and get a respons, they are not learning to sooth themselves, and they'll need you. Personally, I would reconsider going in at all ... if they're well fed, diapered and old enough, they simply should not be waking up every 2 hours, but that's just me.

My oldest was a HSHHC text book example. Going to bed at 6 pm very early on (3-4 months), sometimes earlier ... sleeping 12-13 hours straight every single night. She still is a great sleeper. The twins go to bed at 6.30/6.45 pm, they tend to be early risers, but still sleep a good 11-12 hours straight on most nights and have done so very early on (when they were still going to bed at 6 pm).

Are they already on solids? Do you EBF or do they get formula as well? Maybe they need more (substantial) feedings as well. Although Weissbluth always told me that sleeping comes from the brain and not from the stomach. My oldest would take a 5oz bottle before going to bed, my twins more, but my oldest still slept way better. They all eat well during the day though.

Just some (random) thoughts ... Hope it helps!

 

i think you have a good bed time. i would agree with franca that they do not need to be up and eating every 2 hours. HSHHC says they should only be waking once or twice to eat at 6 months. it sounds like more of a habit than a need for nutrition. i know it's so hard but i would attempt letting them cry a little to learn to self-soothe.

ours had a 7 - 7:30pm bedtime until 5 months and then we started putting them down between 6:15 & 6:30. ever since we moved their bed time earlier they have slept 12 hours. they had only been waking once to eat (they are EBF) since they were 2 months. i tend to think frequent night wakings are more out of fatique/habit and a difficulty self-soothing.

it's sooo tough but as HSHHC suggests..i would pick 2 times that you are willing to get up and feed and then let them cry through the other wakings. let us know how it goes and what you decide.

 

I can't tell you how many people have said maybe my girls should go to bed later so they will sleep through the night but they can't do it! They go to bed between 6-6:45 depending on when they woke from the afternoon nap. The catnap doesn't happen here.
Would you consider waking one when the other wakes and feeding them both so you aren't up and down all night? That would make things a lot easier and maybe with them on opposite schedules the other one waking disturbs the other one just enough that they wake shortly after? I agree with the previous poster that they probably are waking a bit much for the age. I also would guess they are overtired and aren't getting into deep sleep.

I wish you luck and sleep

 

You know your babies best so do what's right for them.

We've found that we need to start later (we start our bedtime routine at 7:30--sleeping by 8:15). They sleep 10 hours straight and have since they were 4 months old. This totally contradicts the Healthy Sleep rules but it's what works for us.

I could never put my girls down at 5:30. Ever!

 

I can't imagine putting my girls to bed that early either. Mine are put in their cribs between 8-8:30 and they sleep until 8:30 the next morning. They've been sleeping through the nights w/o any wakings since about 2 months. I get two 1 1/2-2 hr naps from them each day and are generally very happy babies. The longest period they are ever awake is 3 hrs in the evening. I guess my thought is the same routine doesn't work for every baby. If what you are doing isn't working, you might try something different. It definitely sounds like yours have gotten into a routine of waking during the night and it's probably going to take CIO a couple of nights to stop it. I wish you luck, I have a 3 year old that slept all night from birth until 11 months. I think she's been up every couple of nights since then!

 

Sotto - My babies also go to bed between 6:00-6:30, but sometimes as early as 5:45. I've tried a later bedtime to eliminate early waking, but nothing seems to affect it. I sometimes wish they didn't go to bed so early, but they wake up from their last nap around 3:30, and they will not take a 3rd nap and are ready for bed by then. I love my babies, but I also love my alone time with the rest of the family in the evening.

But, your issue sounds like a separate issue from an early bedtime vs later bedtime - because what's to say if you put them to bed at 8, they wouldn't still wake every 2 hours (just starting 2 hours later). So to me it seems like you need to focus on elminating the night waking through some of the ideas suggested by other pp, and once that is straightened out, you can better determine what bedtime works best for you family.

Good Luck,
Suzi

 

I have been exactly where you are and I read HSHHC and I had to take what worked for us and leave the rest. Here is what I did that has helped a lot. First I had to make sure they were eating enough during the day, they have been uninterested in eating and more interested in everything else. I tried the early bedtime thing for several nights and only ended up with a much earlier wake up time and our whole evening interrupted with feedings. So 7:00 has been the majic time, even if they get up from their last nap a little early they don't seem to be too overtired by 7 to get them to sleep. I did have to kind of try and push their last nap back a little though. I also found that a lot of the time when they were waking if I soothed them back to sleep I could get an extra hour or so which eventually led to them not waking as often. It was the same thing though I would get one good stretch when I first put them down and then after that first feeding they were up like clockwork. Mine don't eat every 2 hours during the day so I didn't think it was necessary to feed them every 2 hours at night not to mention half the time they would just spit up all over their crib. Also when I do feed them now I am back to waking the other when I am done feeding one. I found that the other would get up within a half hour or so anyway and it saved me from being up every hour. I know it's hard when you are that tired but it really does seem to save time. They are back to sleeping from 7-12 and then until 4 or 5 so it really is not great but better than every hour. Hang in there :hug99:

 

QUOTE(Sofiesmom @ Nov 13 2007, 02:53 PM) [snapback]493957[/snapback]
I guess if they're bad nappers, you don't have much choice. However, you would expect to see some improvement. Personally I don't think it's "normal" for them to wake up every 2 hours during the night at age 6 months. What do you do when this happens? Feed them, rock them? It seems like they have trouble soothing themselves back to sleep. They could be overtired because of bad napping and if they wake every 2 hours and get a respons, they are not learning to sooth themselves, and they'll need you. Personally, I would reconsider going in at all ... if they're well fed, diapered and old enough, they simply should not be waking up every 2 hours, but that's just me.


Just some (random) thoughts ... Hope it helps!

I think I've over catered to them at night. It is a result of all sorts of circumstances, living in a hotel with them for nearly 7 weeks when I was looking after my father dying of cancer and then living in the same room for the last month while the rest of the house is being remediated from a house fire.

So I put my DD back in her crib in the nursery tonight, she had been sleeping in PNP in our room for the past month. She's in there now crying her lungs out for the last 12 minutes. The crib is familiar to her, although not recently, so I might be changing too much at once.

DS in is his crib in our room. He's the really bad one for night waking, so I am not sure how this will go with me sleeping in the same room as he is...but I'm going to try to bite the bullet on catering to them. I'll feed them at 10 or 11p and then again at 3A and if they wake in between...well...guess we'll try the CIO...

Thanks.

Sotto