We did a version of the Ferber method w/our 15 month old son--wait 10 min. then go in every 3. It worked extremely well. However, the past few nights he's been waking up soaked w/pee around 2:30a.m. We put him in double diapers so I can just change him in his crib in the dark. Then he cries for another 10 min, but he will go back. Still, he wakes again at 4:15a.m. w/poop. I can't do this change in the dark (not that talented :))so I have to put a little light on and take him out of the crib. At this point, he wants to wake up for the day. I put him back in the crib, but he cries for the whole time (still do the 10 min/3min thing). His normal wake time is 5:00 so I understand that he's not too tired and is now very hungry. To top it all off, he shares a room with his 3 yr old brother and the 4:15 crying is waking him...he's up for 5:00 , too, so again, it's a lite sleep. I do not want to get up at 4:15. 5:00 is early enough. Any suggestions? What am I doing wrong?
Try a larger diaper. I've heard of doubling them, but even a larger diaper might work, and maybe even a larger sized night diaper would be better.
Huggies and Pampers make good overnight diapers that really hold a lot and you can get diaper doublers if you need them. You can go up a size for more absorbancy if your son is close to the upper end of the size range.
I do sometimes give my 18 month old a bottle in the middle of the night if she wakes up--I much perfer it to her waking me up super early.
Hang in there, with consistence things will go back to normal. There will be all sorts of night disruptions every now and then, but if you keep a consistent schedule and deal with the irregular early wakings, he will get back on track. I don't think you're doing anything wrong. On those early mornings let him wake up do some calm activities, like reading and let the day start earlier. Maintain same nap times and length even if you have to wake him up. Don't allow him to make up for the nighttime during the day, keep him entertained. My son would be fussy those days, but was only for a day or two.
Hang in there--usually kids don't poop while they're sleeping so he is waking up before that.
I (pat on back to me!) was able to master the warm-wipe-middle-of-the-night-poop-change--so it CAN be done! lol
Look into a diaper doubler for the pee-at-night soaking issue.
I'm confused as to the double diaper at night thing--don't you still have to take off the O. closest to him and re-put on the second O.? how does that help? Sorry--confused.
Is there another place the 3 yo can sleep til you get his schedule ironed out and just do the CIO at 4 am?
Continue with the Ferber method and and put him to bed an hour later. I know teaching infants to sleep is difficult but you must continue and he will get it, he is just very strong willed, but you have to be stronger. He will get it once he realizes that you are not caving in.
It worked with my two kids.
Dont let him eat anything for at least 3 hours before bed and no drinks an hour before. A child does NOT need to eat and drink all the time and especially at bedtime.
I'd not give him anything to drink for two hours before bedtime - that way he can get a dry diaper before bed and not have as much liquid in him in the middle of the night to pee out.
My daughter poops at about the same time - how to get that on a different schedule, I'm not certain. I'd try giving him a mashed up prune during his first feeding every morning for a few weeks - prunes help pooping - and it might get his bowels moving earlier so that he poops in the afternoon, instead of the early morning.
I'm not sure why you're doubling his diaper--that has to be uncomfortable for him. I think what you need to do is stop his fluid intake an hr before bedtime and then change him right before you put him down for the evening. If he's having a bowel movement in the middle of the night, he needs to have a little more exercise earlier in the day so he can have that taken care of before bedtime as well. You may also want to make sure you aren't giving him foods that will help him along before bedtime--no chocolate, juice, fruits, sugary foods, etc. Juice could be the culprit for both issues you're having. Good luck.
Hi There,
Sounds like you have done a great job with the CIO method and being consistant. About getting up so early... is there a reason they have to get up at 5:00 or are they just early risers? Maybe you could push their bedtime a little later gradually, so they sleep a little later. Maybe eventually his poop cycle will change too... also, limit the amount of foods and drinks he has berore bed or increase the time between dinner and bed, and maybe he will pee more before bed. Just a thought....
I have no advice on the diaper issue, but it sounds like others have provided great responses. As one person asked, is there a reason that you think he's getting up so early? I think your little guy should be able to sleep 11-12 hours at night; maybe if you wanted, you could push his bedtime to 730 or 8pm and don't go into to get him until 7am? If he's already going to bed at that time, then maybe let him try to soothe himself back to sleep at 5am. Maybe it's just become habit for him to get up that early. My daughter often wakes around that time too, but we did a little sleep training and she'll stay down now until after 7am. Just an unsolicited idea!
Are you using cloth diapers at night and that's what you're doubling? I don't see how 2 disposables would work since pee won't soak through one diaper to the next. If you're using cloth, I'd just to go sposies at night. We had too because both sons wet so much they always ended up with pimply diaper rash because they were wet all night.
I'm sorry, I have no clue on the rest of it:(
youre getting there. he just needs to adjust to the schedule and then he will stop pooping during the middle of the night. dont give him any juice before bed. put him in an overnight diaper (huggies - he is probably a size 4 or 5) and you wont have to change him during the night except until he stops pooping. when you go in to change him - dont smile, dont make any eye contact and dont talk. turn the light on as low as possible and do it as fast as possible and sometime a wipe warmer will help. the coldness of the wipes sometime wakes them up.
