sleep question - is this cruel?

[alison]

I am so lame. I think I've only posted in the parenting threads since M was born.

The girl can sleep!!!! Last night, she went from 8:30p-2a. 2:30a-4:50a. 5:30a-7a.

I would LOVE it if she went to bed a little later and slept until 8:30-9am.

Is there any way I can push back bedtime by an hour or so?

As you know, she's been doing the whole witching hour thing. It really has to do with her being so so tired. I think it's the sun/daylight that drives her crazy. It's like she can't fall asleep unless it's pitch black outside. Finally at around 7p, she eases up and lets us feed her, give her a bath, and swaddle her. She's usually asleep by 7:30p. At 7 in the morning, she's ready to go! She doesn't want to sleep any more, sees that it's light outside, and cries for us to get up and entertain her.

Can we trick her into falling asleep later? Sleeping longer?

I have a feeling this is asking for too much...

[peggyfromwastate]

I hate to say it, but get ready for an earlier wake up time for yourself. Although some kids are different and sleep later...

I think actually sleeping until 7 am for her age is really good- usually 5 am has been our wake up time.

[alison]

I hate to say it, but get ready for an earlier wake up time for yourself. Although some kids are different and sleep later...

I think actually sleeping until 7 am for her age is really good- usually 5 am has been our wake up time.

Phhoooooooey!
Dh and I are night owls (yes, even my dear anesthesiologist...). I wish M would be the same --within reason, of course.

Once she let us sleep until 8:30 and it was heavenly. I told dh we should line the windows with garbage bags to keep it dark in the room. That was too much for his neat freak sensitivities, although if it could buy us an extra hour or two in the morning, I think I could get him on board.

[Deebs]

Her sleep schedule is actually really good (and it's supposedly healthier and more natural for kids to get up around the time she is). Will she nap when it's light? If not, I'd probably invest in some kind of blackout shade. We are a sun-sensitive family, and it has made our sleep, especially at nap time, so much better!

Cruel? No. But if she is sleeping that well I wouldn't mess with it!!!!
She'll change it up for you soon enough anyway. Like when daylight savings hits. I am hoping to take advantage of that to get my night owl down earlier, it's the wrong way for you though.

[peggyfromwastate]

Whatever you do, I wouldn't mess with the bedtime. If she goes down easily at that time, if you try to push her later, it just might backfire on you...

Sleep issues... THey will be your constant companion.

BTW, we did the super-heavy blackout shades mounted OUTSIDE the window frame. We got them at Home Depot, I think. Josie is really sensitive to the light and was waking up at 5 am in the spring when it started to get bright. We go these new shades, and she instantly slept in an hour later. We cover the whole thing with a nice curtain so that it doesn't look so ugly, but considering I've tacked blankets and towels over windows before to block out light in a pinch, the aesthetics are definitely secondary to the efficacy of the blackout shades! The shades mounted inside the window let in too much light for us...

[SuzySunshine]

We have the blackout shades as well, they work for Adele but we didn't put them in until she was about 18 months so I can't speak to how they would have done with her as an infant.

I agree about being careful with messing with her natural patterns, if you push them to hard one way or the other it will backfire. Its not cruel, its just how each child is different.

[alison]

Oh waahhh! I just want to sleep in....

[migirl]

I'm going to tiptoe in here and agree that that sounds like a pretty darn good sleep pattern for M's age. No matter what time we put them to bed, both of my kids were early-risers for the longest time. I'm talking they were up-and-at-'em at 5:00am... It wasn't until around DS#1 turned 3yo that he started sleeping in (and by "sleeping in," I mean he now sleeps until around 8-8:30am).

[alison]

Ok, I'll count my blessings. I didn't realize a 7am wake-up time was actually pretty darn good. 5 would kill me. We'd have to have a talk....

I guess because she takes a 1 1/2-hour nap from around 10 to 11:30am, just a few hours after getting up, I feel like maybe there was something I could do to get her to sleep until 9 or 10 instead.

[SuzySunshine]

She's probably going to be up for 2 hours, nap, up for 2 hours, nap, etc for quite a while. That's normal during the day

[MarissaNicole]

This is not based on my experience, but I have a friend with an eight month old and she goes to bed at 7 and now she sleeping until about 7! I was shocked at how well she was sleeping and she told me that according to research that if you keep babies up later it doesn't necessarily mean that they will sleep any later. From what she had read most kids will wake up at the same time based on their natural schedule whether you put them down at 7 or whether you put them down at 9.

But that doesn't mean that is the case with all kids, and I'm sure many people may disagree... but I just thought it was interesting and something to share - you need to ultimately go with YOUR gut and do what you think is best for you and little M!

[MarissaNicole]

Oh and one more thing - if your not sure if the light makes a difference or not I suggest trying aluminum foil on your windows first (just to see if it helps) before investing in the shades.

[DCJenn]

My experience is the same as someone else posted- and it holds true for both nephews as well. There's a certain time they they wake up and it doesn't matter if they've had 10 hours of sleep or 5 hours of sleep.

My nephew is an early riser. One Christmas I tried to buy us all some time by telling him that he absolutely couldn't get up until there was orange in the sky. Not purple, he had to wait for the orange. Let me tell you, he was there in my room with the blinds lifted up WAITING for the sky to get orange. "But Aunt Jennifer you told me to wait for orange..." There is nothing anyone can do.

Nikolai is a good sleeper- he goes to bed at 8pm and if he's not disturbed (by say a certain dawkter who gets up at 6am) he'll sleep until 7 or 8 on the weekends. He punched my nephew once because it was closer to 9:30pm and Nikolai had been trying to fall asleep and finally, he'd had it because, "mom, I HAD to hit him. He wouldn't be quiet!"

7 is good. 5 sucks. It's the worst part of everyone staying at my moms at Christmas- we all know Jack will be up at 5.

Jenn

[HouseofWool]

Alison, it all sounds like a great schedule for her age. Try the blackout shades. (or tack up a blanket or something)

At almost 9 months, a typical day for S is:

7 am - wake
9 - nap
10:45 Wake
1:45 nap
3:45 - wake (not nap)
7pm bed for the night (She may wake once or not at all - it's a crap shoot)