Wee one used to sleep 12 hours a night.
Oh sure we had the time change debacle when he first came home but he settled in fairly quickly and about 2 months once we got a really nice routine going he slept thru the night.
Not a peep.
The last 2 weeks everything seems to have changed.
He has been waking up earlier and earlier. 7 instead of 7:30.
Then it was 6:50, 6:40, 6:20 and a few 6:00a.m. wake up calls.
This morning it was.......
4:00 a.m.
4 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING!
Ready to play!
Um, no thanks.
I heard him open the door to his bedroom and my eyes popped open and searched for the clock.
My heart sank when I saw the time.
So, I got out of bed and directed him back to his bed, tucked him in and dragged myself down the hall and crawled back under the duvet.
Thankfully he slept until 6:30 but I did not.
I have a hard time falling asleep after he wakes up like that. My ears are attune to the creak of the bedroom door for the rest of the hours remaining until morning actually comes.
My bleary-weary brain is left asking,
"Why is this happening?"
He was napping great but this last week the naps are very short or non-existent (just talking to himself and his stuffies)
Help! Someone please help!
8 comments:
Sometimes when kids are making developmental leaps, their sleep goes out of whack. It might be a growth spurt or acquisition of a new skill that is on the horizon. You might also look at his history and see if there was any trauma that occurred at this time last year. Anniversaries of hard stuff can definitely throw sleep off. Regardless, it does get better after a time, so hang in there!
Don't have any solutions for you, just commiseration. Our little girl had just turned 12 months old when we met her in the Spring, and had been sleeping through the night (12 hours) since she was a little babe. Our transition visits occurred in a hotel and a cottage, and we had 1-2 sleep-through nights in those settings, with a few 1.5-2-hour wake-ups in the middle of the night or very early morning. At home, she has slept through a few times, improving greatly during the first month. Then, right back to a 2-3 wake-ups per night pattern. We also managed to get her hooked on bottles at every night waking (something she was not generally used to, for the most part - but was the only thing that would soothe her distress with us - as my attempts to hold, sing, soothe, etc. increasingly resulted in complete wakefulness and/or rage) - for the bottles, there can be instant (and sometimes unrelenting) screaming and fury for up to a couple of hours if the "need" is not instantly gratified (e.g., if I try to soothe her at all before handing over a bottle). Two nights ago, she slept through. And last night was up only once early morning (thank goodness - the 11:30pm and 1:30pm wake-ups were the hardest for me). Not getting my hopes up yet, though. At least she has been pretty consistent in sleeping until after 7:30am (sometimes with an added 6:30-7:00am bottle)...although recently she no longer "plays happily" in her crib for a while after waking. I've purchased various sleep books (knowing there may be some things to attend to, such as trying to find the "ideal" bedtime, and waffling on whether the bottle is a helpful security thing right now, or a hindrance to self-soothing) and have re-visted attachment & adoption books to get ideas, but am so far rolling with what gives her and I the most sleep, which is a bottle on instant demand & a quick exit on my part to help her stay sleepy. (Hoping that diluting the bottles gradually will allow us to start keeping a couple of water bottles in her crib, to see if that diminishes her need for parental intervention at night. We'll see). I'd be happy to have her in our room (where there is an extra crib) or bed if it helps her sleep, but so far those experiments have proved unsuccessful.
Her brothers, at 3 and 4, had a few night disruptions during early transition, but are sleeping through very nicely now (as per their pre-adoption pattern). We have a night-light on a timer in their room, which goes off at 8:00am, and is a signal that they can leave their room and play quietly downstairs until I and the baby are dressed and groomed for the day. Until 8:00am when the light goes out, they know to stay in their room and quietly look at books, etc. For naps, I've been trying to figure out how to signal to the eldest in particular when he can come out of his room so that he's not back downstairs after 30 minutes or so - I think we're going to find or create a CD to play quietly in his room for the minimum duration of rest time, and when it finishes, he can come out. That way, if he is sleeping (which he usually does, given enough time, and which does not seem to disrupt his night sleep), the CD ending likely won't wake him up (the night-light solution came out a similar desire not to wake them up if they're still sleeping, but to signal quietly that they can leave the room in the event that they are awake).
Hope things even out soon, for everyone's sake :)
We invested in a heavy duty blind for That Girl's room, sometime around age 2. Changes in the light began to screw with her wake up times and sleep routines. Now she sleeps consistently all the time, because the light in her room is always the same.
Also, growth spurts can play with sleep (and eating) routines, too.
Hi Rana,
We too in the last month have had some early morning wake ups for about two weeks, i also directed him back to sleep. Anyway the last 3 nights he is back to his old sleep pattern, so will see what follows. Thinking it may be a growth spurt, change in routine as we were on holidays and have had lots of activities we have been going to, and maybe part of still settling in.
Take Care
Carey
No words of wisdom.... just wanted to say welcome to the club!!! For the past 10.5 months Leul has been getting up between 5 and 5:30. I get my coffee through IV now!!!
Carolyn
Oh dear! That sounds very un-fun! I was going to ask, like Cinn, if you have blackout curtains in his room. Any bit of light can create havoc for some people. Also, perhaps your recent travels have thrown him off. In any case, I hope this resolves itself soon!
Oh my! Hopefully you can get your coffee by IV like Carolyn. Ha!
18 months now, my friend. 18 months of really shotty sleep and I am still here. Could be a growth spurt or something along those lines...either way mysery loves company. ;)
Hang in there. I'll call you tomorrow!
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