Well...[I am whispering very quietly]...DS is now sleeping past 6am! Not every morning but more than not. I think it's just down to the fact that at 5am it's now pretty dark. The only other changes are that I dropped the morning BF and the cat doesn't have the run of the house at night now! (We think he might have been making the problem worse by dashing upstairs and miaowing at the slightest whimper from DS!) He still has a moring nap (DS not the cat) and then another after lunch and bedtime is usually between 7.30 and 8.

Has the darker mornings had a good effect for anyone else?

[Of course I will have jinxed things horribly now...]

2 x 5am here. Anyone doing better? After a raucous wedding too - killer.

Hello Ladies
I am so glad to have found this thread. Ds is 9 months old today and for 5.5 months I thought that I was the only one with a baby who thinks that 4am is a perfectly reasonable time to start the day. This is made worse by the fact that ds (AKA Captain Insomnia - he looks like a superhero when he pulls his bib round to the back!) will only nap for 30 minutes at a time during the day.

Earlier this week I thought I was onto something when I swapped his dinner of veggies for porridge. For 2 nights in a row he slept to 4:45 and 5:00. Alas, this did not last.

This morning he woke up at 1:30, 2:30 and 3:00. I finally gave in and got him out of his cot at 3:30. I turned all the lights down so I could only barely make out what I was doing and gave him his bottle, but this boy just will not sleep.

I spoke to my mum this morning. She said that my brother was the same and did not sleep properly until he was 4 years old.

I feel for you all

hello - look at me up LATE!

Just decided to drop from four days to three at work. Was about to go loopy.

Ds still at 5am bunny but sometimes will go back to bed with a bottle for an hour.

13lucky and melmog, my tip is earplugs. I know it sounds V bad but I just couldn't cope with the broken sleep. Ds would cry in the night but might not wake up. I used to leap out of bed and wake him up and prolong it. If I had earplugs in then he would have to cry until he woke DH, who would then wake me. I'd go in and sort ds out. We all slept much better.

We tried wake-to-sleep but it didn't work. Ds would either wake up at 4am or wake up at the normal time. But lots of people I know used it successfully.

Am rambling - had a large glass of wine as it's my birthday toms!

for you melmog and 13lucky. We are pretty much the same, sometimes okay then snaps back to rubbish. The only difference is I'm back at work three days and I'm like something out of a zombie flick.

melmog - I don't know what to suggest other than the usuals - later to bed, earlier to bed, cutting out/down on daytime sleep, the terrifying wake-to-sleep technique. 3.30 is very early - what time does she go back down for a nap then?

13lucky - could it be teeth, do you think? Or separation anxiety?

God, I wish someone had all the answers for us...

Sorry, that sounds awful too 13lucky. Is he screaming in his sleep do you think? My dd1 used to do that and if we went in we always prolonged the agony. I used to stand outside her door and she'd go for about 3/4 mins then stop and like you say, would be all smiles in the morning.

Strange little beings they are!!

Well, I went on the baby sleep answers forum in desperation as we're still pretty crap here too. I can't figure it out as dd was a brilliant sleeper (still is) and I haven't done anything differently with ds. Clearly, they are all made different.

The problem we now have is that ds wakes up at least once or twice a night, screaming - so instead of early mornings we've now got totally disturbed nights. The advice seemed to be to leave him for a few mins when he first wakes, then go to him and say ssshhh, night night etc and leave the room (minimum fuss, don't get him out of bed). Well, I've tried it for a couple of weeks and he goes nuts every time I leave the room but to be fair, does then calm down after a couple of mins...but it is agony listening to him...I hate it. But in the morning, he is all smiles and a truely delightful baby all day...I too am at a loss and deeply sympathise melmog.

Well.

I've been away for a bit what with one thing and another.

Still all crap here! Back to half four wakings after having to pander to dd2's every whim on holiday and this morning and yesterday had half three wakings to contend with. Bloody rubbish. We are at our wit's end and are willing to try any advice anyone may have? Was thinking of starting a new thread about it.

The biggest problem is she is such a gorgeous smiley bundle of lovelyness normally that I just can't leave her to scream. And she does scream. This morning she made herself sick I'm sure. As soon as I go in, she calms down, hiccups a bit and gives me the biggest cuddle.

My plan and how we cracked it before, was dh going in instead of me, but he's so knackered and has to work full time that it's not fair on him. It's just if she sees me, she won't let me leave again til she's asleep and I have a bad back so can't stand and rock her. Once I've taken her downstairs to to sofa so I can sit down that's it, she's up for the day.

Reading this back, I can see I've created the problem, but please help me sort it!!!

Brill, thanks Arti. Potatoes, pasta and polenta for dinner it is then!

Hi feral, it's been a bit quiet on here. I suspect we've all given up! (although my DS has pulled some 6am's recently, which is luxury!)

If the problem is the poo, it might be worth looking at what he's eating. I had a similar problem when first weaning and apparently it can be caused by an imbalance of fruit/veg late in the day (<whispers> this is a GF tip!) I stopped giving him too much fruit/veg for supper and introduced more carbohydrate instead and it solved the problem (but ours was a 3am poo ).

Of course, it could be that he wakes up and then decides to do a poo, in which case it might not work and you might be stuck here with us... Alas, I think some of them just go through this phase when they start sleeping through - exacerbated by early mornings.