On Mar 13, 3:48 am, "lu-lu" wrote:
"cjra" wrote in message

...

4. If she's waking at a specific time each night, there is a technique
you can use called the wake-to-sleep technique or scheduled awakening.
Basically, you set your alarm, go into your room between 15 and 60
minutes before the time when you expect her to wake (so, between 3 and
3.45 a.m), wake her partway up, and settle her again. This can readjust
the sleep cycle and thus eliminate the habitual waking. Tracy Hogg
gives the most complete description of this that I've got in 'The Baby
Whisperer Solves All Your Problems', and advises that if the child is
still waking up at the usual time after three nights of trying this, you
might as well drop it, but if they seem to be stopping their usual
waking then continue with the scheduled awakening for six nights before
stopping. This has been found to be as effective as CIO techniques, but
it's a pain to implement.

Well, she's in 'our' room - although I've been sleeping in another
room lately. She's in bed with DH. I still wake up automatically about
3:45 knowing she'll wake up (I do this even when I'm away, it's so
annoying!). I guess i'd be afraid to try this...the idea is to wake
her a bit before she really wakes up?

Hi Cjra

I did this with Jessica. When she was 6 weeks, she used to go to sleep at
9pm, sleep til midnight, nurse and then sleep until 6am. I started going im
at about 23.50 and nursing her without waking her properly. That eliminated
the need for her to wake fully (as with you waking while you're away, it'll
have become part of her routine too) and she very quickly learnt to sleep
through. I don't know how it will work for an older child, as Jessie was
still at the newborn 'I can sleep and eat at the same time' stage, but I
think it's worth trying. I think part of it is the surprise at being woken
when they're sleeping peacefully and the gratitude of being allowed back to
sleep!

Aha! You mean the "Dream Feed"? Yes, I used to do that about 10pm in
the first 4 months or so. Then she started waking up like clockwork at
10pm and I was convinced it was because I got her used to eating at
that time and swore never to do that again. I finally broke her of
that habit. I honestly am not willing to try that one again at this
age, I fear she'll get so used to it she'll be hungry at that hour. I
don't think it's hunger waking her but habit.

In regards to the 6pm meltdowns, it kinda sounds like Jessica when it all
gets too much for her. You might find she's tired *and* hungry, and
therefore unhappy too. If dinner's going to be later than madam would like,
I give her something little in the car like a roll or some fruit. It
occupies her while she's waiting, takes the edge off her hunger and gives
her a little energy boost.

I think the problem is that she's not hungry. For a long time DH would
give her a snack in the car on the way home, then she wouldn't eat at
all. As it is it seems 6pm is sometimes too early for her to eat (but
on the odd nights she's up much later, she's all happy to eat at 8pm -
I think she's a European baby with these late dinners ;-)).

She gets offered food now as soon as we walk in the door and she's not
interested.

How much does she sleep duing the day? I tried cutting Jessie's naps out in
the day, but she just wasn't ready for that, and if she doesn't sleep at
all, she's pretty evil by 7pm. I try to get her to nap for about an hour
after lunch and then gently wake her up. If she's desperate to stay asleep,
I let her have an another half an hour or so. Her bed time hasn't changed
since she was born, and she's always grateful to go to bed when we take her,
and impatient if the milk/pyjamas etc aren't ready!

At daycare she sleeps ~1.5 hours. She stopped a morning nap at about 9
months as she wouldn't sleep when the older kids were up. I've told
the babysitter to let her sleep as long as she needs, but she's
usually ready to get up when the other kids do.


Heh... It looks like we just sleep and eat here!! She does munch a lot
during the day, but the snacks are little, and I normally keep packets of
raisins in my handbag so that she can have them while we're out. If she's
hungry, her energy levels drop, and we get (extra) tantrums All I need to
do now is to get her to stop screaming when I put reins on her!

There are some weekends it seems that's all we *try* to do and not
succeed. She began throwing tantrums recently with the high chair,
refusing to sit in it (I think the time out at daycare was in a high
chair and since then, at least at home, she sees it as a torture
chamber...). However we've let her scream and now she only resists for
a minute, down from 30 minutes.