Completely flummoxed - does dd have internal alarm clock?

[makedoandmend]

Buggered up the naps yesterday (but got some very good advice so thanks mn'ers) which meant that dd refused to sleep until 11pm (her usual time is 7). Thought that this would at least mean a little lie in, but no - she was up at 6 as usual. Her getting up time used to vary according to when she went to bed and how much sleep she had during the day, but recently she's developed a constant waking time which has no relation to how much sleep she's having. Bit worried that she's not getting enough (she's 7m and getting anything between 9 - 12 - she has had a couple of nights at 14 but can't think for the life of me what I did that day that was different). Up until 6m she was averaging 14-16 hours a day and then she just dropped several hours overnight.

As I said on my previous nap post - everything sort of went to pot when I weaned her at 6m. Oh and she's also teething.

Does she have an internal clock? There are no loud sounds at that time to wake her. I don't use blackout blinds as it's never affected her sleep before - maybe I should. I'm really perplexed!

[makedoandmend]

I guess I'll never know!

[angel1976]

I would say they do have an internal clock! DS sleeps 7-7 and other than the odd teething bout etc, he is usually awake 10 minutes on either side of 7. He has blackout blinds so I don't think that matters. I can put him to bed some nights a bit earlier and on the rare nights, later (about 8pm) but he will still be up at roughly the same time. He does occasionally lie in till 7.30am.

BUT DS's sleep didn't get 'regular' till he was past 12 months old. He was always a good sleeper but he went through periods of early wakings (just gone 5-5.30am!) at around 10 months as well as taking only 40-45 minute naps at around 7-8 months for a few months. He's 16 months now and has only started reliably sleeping through since about 12 months. At roughly the same time, he also started taking one long nap (2-2.5 hours) a day though during nursery days, it's a bit hit and miss how long he sleeps for and it doesn't seem to affect his night sleep. Go figure! I wouldn't worry too much and just go with the flow for now...

[makedoandmend]

Thanks angel - I was beginning to wonder whether I was somehow depriving her of sleep! I'll plough on and cross fingers for 12 months!

[angel1976]

No worries makedoandmend... The hardest bit I find about parenthood is really the unpredictability... It used to drive me mad that we will sort out one sleep issue and then another will crop up. And no one tells you it's all normal! All you hear about is babies who sleep or who don't! You don't hear about the stages in between... Of course if someone can tell me why DS seems to wake up at 7.30am on days that I work and on days I am off, he is up at 7am! Argh! That extra half hour would be nice though I know I shouldn't be complaining...

[JackBauer]

DD1 and DD2 wake at 6. It doesn't matter when they go to bed or how much of a nap. The only thing the naps affect is how well they go to bed in teh first plcae!
I would check there isn't anything outside that is waking them though, we think the birds that live in our roofspace might be the culprits at the moment. They went through a phase of waking just after 5 but it turned out that was a van starting up on their side of the house 6 days a week!

Although when we were on holiday DD1 still woke at 6

[makedoandmend]

Thanks to both of you. You're right angel about the fact that noone tells you about the in between stages - according to books/friends/old ladies' in the street's unsolicited opinions babies are either good or bad at sleeping. I was beginning to think I was the only one with a 'sometimes' baby.

JackBauer will check on the noise situation. Maybe it's my husband's snoring. If I can't figure something out it's probably his fault