Grrr... sleep!

[Becky]

A while back I posted about a "phase" Gabriel was going through where bedtime was becoming more and more difficult.

I don't think it's a phase. I think it's just what he does now, and I would love some suggestions.

Bedtime used to be at 6:30 and he would sleep a good 11 hours, which was perfect. We might keep him up a bit later on the weekends, but nothing horrendously off schedule.

Now it doesn't seem to matter when he goes to bed, he wakes up 8 hours later. This especially sucks during the week when I get up at 4:30 and so does he. This makes things cramped for time. BECAUSE he wakes up so early he falls asleep before lunch at daycare. This week it was 2 days that he did this.

I'm not opposed to CIO, but does it work in the morning also? What else could I try? There's not time during the week to try to soothe him back to sleep because DH and I both have to get ready about the same time.

Any ideas as to what this could be about and what things I can try to help him sleep better??

I appreciate any advice you can give me!!

[Goosey]

Id make the bedtime a bit later permanently.

I think you could do some CIO in the morning too. I used to let mine cry a wee bit day or night and it worked. Or they would cry and, if I had to get something done straight away, Id put on a toy in their crib and let them watch/play with it while I got done what was needed.

Im sorry, Im not a bunch of help.

[Jojo]

CIO is the only thing that has actually worked for Matt. Even during the day. That's actually when I started it. Sometimes he'll actually fall asleep on his own (like tonight!) and he has never ever done that.

Try it. If you hate it you don't have to do it. I totally sympathize with you on the sleep thing. it sucks! :support::support:

[Heather]

I agree, I would push his bedtime back just a little bit (you might just want to try 30 minutes at first and put him down at 7:00) and then just let him CIO in the morning if you can stand it. Cohen has gone through brief periods where he was waking up at 5:00am, and I just left him in there to go back to sleep. I rarely get him out of bed before 6:30am even if he's awake. Of course he doesn't usually cry, but he might sit in there for an hour talking to himself. :hehe: Good luck girl!:support:

[Cindy]

I agree I'd move his bed time to a little later. He may just be needed less sleep. I dunno.

I could also let him CIO in the morning. I have to do this once in a while with Conner. Usually I can tell by his cry that he's really not ready to be up and he goes back to sleep.

Good luck Mama! :support:

[Ashley]

I agree with the later time. I would try different times to see what works. We went through a cio stage with Tyler around a year/year and a half, because it was all that would work. The kid loved his sleep but would just fight it. Good luck I hope you find something that works!! :support:

[Farah]

Charlie used to go down at 6:30, too, but ended up pushing his bedtime later and he slept longer. It was good!

[Leah]

How much is he napping during the day? I only ask because I wonder if he is sleeping more during the day and that's why he needs less nights sleep. Sometimes Talon will take these marathon naps and then sleep less at night. I've learned to wake him up from his nap if it is going on too late. After only 8 hours of sleep does he seem rested or cranky and still tired.

I would probably also push bedtime back a little. If he wakes up too early I would ignore him if he's not really crying and let him go back to sleep. If he is waking up crying, I would go in and check on him, lie him back down and tell him it's not time to get up and go back to sleep. If he cries at that point, I'd probably let him for a bit and see if he'd go back to sleep.

[Becky]

Thanks for all the suggestions, ladies!!

It seems we've made a bit of progress over the past few nights. He's still not happy when we leave, but he'll only fuss for a minute, as opposed to going into an all-out cry. That in and of itself is amazing because bedtime now takes about 5-10 minutes as opposed to an hour or more. I hope it continues. The past couple mornings he has slept a bit later, though still not as late as he has been. I really think this is partially because he's become a little bird and barely eats anything at dinner. So he wakes up early hungry.

I still think the teeth have something to do with it as well.

We'll see how the next couple of nights go.

[Leah]

Glad you're getting it figured out. ;) You're probably right about the teeth too. I notice that Talon seems to wake up earlier in the mornings when his teeth are bothering him.