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11 Month old BB waking at 4am wide awake

10 replies

MissMuldoon1 · 21/08/2011 20:42

Hello all, I'm having trouble with baby boy's he is waking at around 4 am wide awake, and just will not go back to sleep. We have made sure he isn't hungry and doesn't have a dirty nappy.
He isn't teething, he goes down at 7pm fine with no problems, and will usually sleep from 7pm until 4 am and then its as if he has had enough sleep and is ready to get up.
However if either myself or my partner goes in too settle him down and walk away to leave him he goes bonkers screaming, he can be crying for up to an hour.
We have even tried him in our bed just to get some sleep but he doesn't want to sleep their, again he wants to get up and play.
Any suggestions for two sleepy parents :-(???

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vez123 · 21/08/2011 20:53

What's his sleeping pattern like in the day? You may need to shorten/drop a nap. We dropped our DS's morning nap around that time (a bit earlier in fact) as it was messing up his nighttime sleep.

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louloupoo · 25/08/2011 07:51

My 12 mo ds is exactly the same!! I tried cutting his morning nap back by 15 mins but it made no difference. I'd like to try cutting it out all together to see if that helps but I know he won't make it from 4/5 am till 12/1. I feel your pain and hope the magic answer comes soon!!

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Geordiegirl79 · 30/08/2011 06:01

We are in exactly the same situation. She is wide awake from anywhere between 4am and 5am, have tried feeding her then putting her back down, not feeding her, toys in the cot, in bed with us etc etc. She just wants to be up.

I kind of know that by getting her up we are reinforcing the habit, but her room is right next door to us so if we leave her she just gets more and more wound up and nobody gets any sleep (including neighbours ).

Naps are usually anything between 0.5 hours 1 hour at about 8am as she's so exhausted, then between 1 and 1.5 hours after lunch.

Tried showing her that it was PITCH BLACK outside this morning, therefore still night. Apparently 10 month old babies don't understand that.

Any tips would be gratefully received!! Am back at work next week and dreading it.

(Sorry MissMuldoon for not being able to help but I feel your pain!)

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TanteRose · 30/08/2011 06:05

the sleepy parents need to go to bed earlier - that is the only thing to do.

at this age, you have to adjust to their schedule, because they cannot adjust to yours...

it won't last forever, promise

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RitaMorgan · 30/08/2011 06:45

What time does he nap in the morning? When my ds was doing this I pushed his morning nap back to 9.30 and only let him sleep for 45 minutes and eventually he started sleeping til 6am.

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MissMuldoon1 · 31/08/2011 21:49

Well he naps usually for about an hour at around 9,30 ish and then about another hour at 2/3 ish. However we have put a small night light plug in thing into his room and toys in his cot and a juice cup and since then (touch wood) he seems to be sleeping alot better im not sure if it was just luck or the fact he has a man cold at the moment and feels he needs more sleep .

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bail · 01/09/2011 13:01

o'k, I have a 13 month DS who used to also wake almost on the dot of 5am. He now goes through to 6.15/6.30.

We did the following and it worked after 2 nights:

I do not let him sleep for longer than 25 mins in the morning.

He goes for lunchtime nap at 12.45 and if he ever rarely sleeps beyond 2.30, I go into nursery, draw blinds and kiss him awake. He does not sleep after 2.30, and if I ever see him getting dozy, for example we are in the car driving back from somewhere, I sing, give him snacks etc, anything to prevent him dozing off.

It really worked. Good luck

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Geordiegirl79 · 01/09/2011 13:58

Right, I am going to be trying your tips bail!

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bail · 01/09/2011 21:01

Good luck... I think the key is that first nap needs to be short and sweet at this age. Just a little doze. It really is 25 mins max, more like 20 mins usually. When I go in, he is generally fast asleep, but a few kisses, and stroking feet gets him moving. This gets him through until lunchtime without being moody, and then 1.5 hours after lunch, NEVER after 2.30.

Sorry, just repeated myself! Just wanted to reiterate keeping the first nap very short.

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MissMuldoon1 · 02/09/2011 14:57

Yeah thank you for that because he has gone back to his old tricks so will try this over the weekend.
Thank you :-)