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Behaviour/development

tips on getting 4 month old to sleep past 4.30am

3 replies

calypsosmum · 18/06/2008 08:44

my 4 month old baby boy naps like clockwork during the day and goes to bed like a dream at 6.30. he takes a good feed at 10.30 when i have to wake him and then sleeps til 4.30 at which point he wakes up but not from hunger as he never takes a large bottle at 7am. i have tried leaving him to cry but over a period of a week it doesn't seem to have improved the matter and i am now frazzled!!!! I don't know whether its better to do anything i can (dummy/patting/rocking etc) to get him back to sleep or just keep leaving him. he has blackout blinds AND blackout curtains in his room. any advice much appreciated as he has 2 big sisters who would like to have a smiley mummy again!

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MabelMay · 18/06/2008 09:24

hi calypsosmum
How much sleep is he having in the day? Is it possible he's having too much and therefore not tired enough at night?
If it's not that, then it sounds like you've been doing all the right things and it's probably just a phase. If you want to buy yourself some rest then have you thought of trying a dummy?

Basically, my 4 and a half month old is almost exactly the same as this! He wakes around 4.45 to 5am - he's been doing this for about 2 weeks now and the only way I can get him to go back to sleep is to give him a dummy. Leaving him to cry, as with you, just wasn't working and I also, like you, know he's not hungry as he has the 10.30pm feed and no longer takes a full feed at 7am.
Are you happy to try a dummy? I'll worry about weaning our ds2 off the dummy at a later date - but right now it's the only way I can get us all that much needed extra kip in the morning, before ds1 wakes us all up anyway at 6.30!

Good luck. Hopefully it'll pass soon enough.

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nooonit · 18/06/2008 09:39

No answers I'm afraid, but hopefully reassurance you are not alone!

DD2 (5 months) is exactly the same - dream feed at 10.30 ish, sleeps to 4.30. She'll take a bottle then with persuasion but like you say isn't hungry then till 9 /10 ish.

We are using a dummy too, trying to settle again and get some sleep before DP gets up at 5.30 or we are awoken by DD1!

Fun, isn't it! I've tried dropping the dream feed and she just wakes at 1 and 4.30, have tried putting a blanket up behind our curtains, keeping window shut (bird song theory)and various combinations of sleepsuit, vest etc with no success.

Am hoping someone comes along with an instant easy solution, otherwise I have resigned myself to sitting it out!

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calypsosmum · 18/06/2008 10:41

he is getting between 2 1/2 and 3 hours a day - which I don't think is too much? I will try the dummy solution as it seems to have worked for you. I did try it before but was shoving it in and crawling back to bed, at which point he spat it out and started to grumble again. PErhaps if I sit with him until he goes off it will work better. like you i am worried about weaning him off the habit later but i think the early morning habit would be a lot harder to bear! good to know i am not alone - couldn't think what i was doing wrong as never had this with my other two!