nightweaned... issues

[natty529]

x-posted in nighttime parenting

I am in need of some advice... ds will be three next month, we recently did jay gordon's nightweaning plan. it was rough. but has been effective, particularly the first few nights, i thought i was going to LOSE IT!!! but we got through and he now sleeps from the time he goes down (8:30 ish) until 5 am or so, per the jay gordon plan he is not supposed to nurse again until 6 am... but i am a little foggy on it. when he wakes at, i have been trying to sooth him but he has a very hard time with it for sure. then at 6 we nurse and he will rest/sleep until 7 or 8

this whole thing has been great in some respects, I am so proud of my ds for sleeping for such long stretches but i think it is the nighttime/ 5 am disturbances that have really effected us in other ways. he is no longer napping everyday, (since we started the plan) which is creating issues for nighttime sleep, also he has been crying at school (two days a week for a total of 7 hrs a week) and i am thinking that the change in his mood is due to the sleep issues :(

so i am wondering how to handle it. do i keep holding out until 6 am and keep having these early morning problems w/ ds? or do i just nurse him when he wakes around 5, not allowing him to wake fully and therefore helping him sleep better/more. if i allow him to nurse when he wakes so early in the morning, is he going to wake earlier and earlier, undoing all of our hard work on night weaning?? ugh... i am so exhausted! i need help!!!

thanks

[pinky]

I can't see how nursing him at 5 a.m. undoes all of the work that you've done.  Especially since it's just an hour earlier than you'd plan on nursing him anyway.  I'd definitely nurse him at 5 so all of you can get more sleep. 

[crunchy_mommy]

Hmmm... What we do is 'nurse when the sun comes up' -- and the benefit I see is that DS can easily tell whether or not the sun is up when he wakes up. Do you have some kind of system like that -- if not the sun, maybe a lamp on a timer or a nightlight that comes on at 6am? Maybe it's just confusing to him -- 6:00 may seem completely arbitrary and hard for him to recognize, but "when that light comes on" is something he can just roll over & check on and go back to sleep if the light isn't on yet (obviously will take a few nights to adjust him to that kind of system, but might be easier in the long run?)

[JudiAU]

5 a.m. sounds pretty good for me, I like using the "sun" as a way to discuss it. May be more concrete than a number.