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middle of the night play sessions + early morning wake ups??

post #1 of 8
10/11/10 at 7:00am
Thread Starter 
My almost 8 month old has been getting up in the middle of the night to play lately. Last night it was midnight the night before it was 3am. She doesn't wake up crying but just gets up and starts crawling around or trying to pull herself up on the bedrail (we co sleep) so i bring her into her room and put her into her crib with some soft toys and just let her play for 20 mins or so before she is crying and i go in and rock and nurse her back to sleep. I've read a lot about sleep regressions and i know they are at 4 and 8 or 9 months. She did this at 4 months too so i am thinking that it is probably what it is. But does anyone know if usually they want to play in the middle of the night during a regression? Everything i've read leads me to believe they are usually awake but cranky but she is happy as a clam. I'm wondering if it is actually that something is wrong with her sleep routine like she isn't awake enough hours during the day? She is usually awake between 9 and 11 hours during the day depending on how good her naps are and what time she woke up that day. She just recently dropped her third (cat) nap but still wakes up at like 6am then wants to go back down in an hour, then does another nap at like 10 and then 1pm like is typical for a baby her age. How to i get rid of this first early morning nap? Any suggestions to how i can switch things around? TIA
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post #2 of 8
10/11/10 at 11:52am
nak
but i had to say my dd is doing the same thing! i thought the same thing as you about sleep regressions... but maybe not? hmm...
post #3 of 8
10/11/10 at 12:21pm
My baby was up at 5 am (sometimes earlier) for a couple of months before I finally figured out a solution. He did the same thing. Up at 5 am then down for a nap in an hour or so. He was younger at the time, but this is what worked for me.

He got up at 5, and I made him stay awake for at least 2 hours. It was tough the first morning, and the second, but by the 3rd or 4th day, he was sleeping in. It was great! He now gets up between 6:30 and 7:30, which I can handle.
post #4 of 8
10/11/10 at 12:55pm
My DS did the same thing everytime he was about to pop a tooth. He seemed happy to play for a couple hours in the middle of the night, and any attempt in trying to get him back to sleep was met with lots of crying. Never found a solution, just had to get through it a couple days at a time when a new tooth was about to pop through.
post #5 of 8
10/11/10 at 1:02pm
Mine's been similar (we're at 6.5 months here), but she's also teething. I think she wakes up initially from discomfort but has slept long enough at that point (4-5 a.m.) that she can't return to sleep right away. We calmly wait it out, like you.

As for the nap thing, DD's been leading the way to dropping a morning nap by just not really falling asleep during that first one. We do the routine, she gets sleepy, might close her eyes a bit, but then wakes right back up. We go about our day for another 1 - 1.5 hours, and then she, quite miraculously, usually will take a long nap at the time she would ordinarily have taken her second cat nap. Is there a way you could maybe do some quiet time with your LO, give her a bit of rest without her actually taking that first nap at the usual time?
post #6 of 8
10/11/10 at 1:03pm
My 14 mo has been doing this all week. He'll be up for 2-4 hours in the middle of the night. I'm getting really exhausted. I know he's not getting enough sleep either. Right now the biggest problem is that his sleep routine involves being in the carrier nursing while I'm bouncing on an exercise ball. So I've been getting up in the middle of the night to bounce him all week. This week I'm going to start working towards changing his routine to just laying in bed/nursing to sleep. It will be a slow process, but I'm hoping that it cuts down on the up to play thing.
post #7 of 8
10/11/10 at 4:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RiverandJulie View Post

He got up at 5, and I made him stay awake for at least 2 hours. It was tough the first morning, and the second, but by the 3rd or 4th day, he was sleeping in. It was great! He now gets up between 6:30 and 7:30, which I can handle.
Thanks! i'm going to try this starting tomorrow!
post #8 of 8
10/12/10 at 12:54am
my ds is doing the same thing! he waked up at a random time in the middle of the night and wants to play. he is up for awhile and usually my dh will take him into the living room and they will fall asleep together on the couch. not ideal but we dont know what else to do. i wonder if he's going to get a new tooth? he is just 12 months now. i dont know why he does this! he woke up at 10 last night and wouldnt go back to sleep for hours! then he was exhausted today and cranky. he only takes one nap a day now - he seems to be cutting out his afternoon nap. very hard to get him to take that one even though he seems very cranky.
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