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tips for stopping 5am wake up for 11mth!

7 replies

milkyman · 03/10/2013 09:50

my ds has started wanting to wake at 5am and bedtime is getting earlier. how do I break the cycle?

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omama · 03/10/2013 12:33

Can you post what time he naps & how long for, plus what time's bedtime?

early morning waking can be caused by overtiredness, or developmental leaps, but is most often related to the morning nap being too early &/or too long. Usually a routine tweak i.e. slowly pushing the nap later can help.

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milkyman · 03/10/2013 14:16

he generally sleeps from 9am for anything from 45mins to 1hr 45m. he usually naps in the afternoon from 1.15 , from anything from 45 to 2hrs depending on how long he slept in the morning. he used to go to bed at 7pm but it now seems to be 6.30pm.

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sharond101 · 03/10/2013 22:29

Try and push the morning nap back towards 9.30am. DO this gradually by 5-10minutes at a time is the normal consensus. For us though nothing helped early mornings at 11mo. It was a phase and he grew out of it. Now we have somewhere between 7-7.45am at 16mo.

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CarlyRose80 · 26/10/2013 21:05

We've been the same with our LO 10 months. Just got him to go till 6am and now the clocks will mess it up so will hawk to tackle it all over again. Gutted:-((

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CarlyRose80 · 26/10/2013 21:05

Have to *

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JRsandCoffee · 26/10/2013 22:25

Ooooh I feel your pain, I really do. I have no actual advice for stopping the early waking but a sort of compromise has been reached after the five am wake ups got a bit much for me. I picked the time of 6.30, before which barring illness or some other catastrophe she does not leave the cot. Full stop, end of story, no, sleepy time etc, even if it's 6.15 it gets treated as a night waking. If she cries I'll go in and check if she's cold or wedged in a corner and sort her out but I don't get her up. When I go in for morning I make a big deal out of it being morning, fling curtains wide, good morning etc, radio on in big bedroom etc, etc and the fun starts and we have a cuddle and feed etc in the big bed then, before she gallops off to persecute the dog, her toys, examine the contents of my sock drawer etc.

The first few mornings she was not impressed but did take the hint fairly quickly bless her. Now I might get the first chatter any time from 5.30 onwards but often now not until gone 6.30 and frequently she realises there is no fun to be had and after a while falls asleep again sometimes until after seven (heaven). I have found that I have to stick to my guns, no taking her off to Mummy's bed for a lovely doze, no getting her up because it's only ten minutes before the time etc as pretty much any deviation from the plan seems to result in earlier cross waking in the days after as she wonders why that morning is different and where exactly is her cuddle, play, feed, song etc!

So not exactly stopping the waking but managing it if that makes sense. Now I just need to stop me waking up anyway!

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BotBotticelli · 28/10/2013 09:30

Our 10mo DS goes through periods of waking really early. Whatever time he wakes up in the morning he needs a nap 3 hours later,and changing the nap doesn't seem to help at all. It seems to be a case of riding it out in this house, and hoping knowing it will pass in a couple of weeks as it has done before.

I think with my DS it's a developmental leap thing, or maybe he has a scary dream/is feeling a bit of anxiety about waking up in a dark room on his own? Cos when he wakes up that early he tends to wake immediately with a very upset cry as if the world is ending. Whereas if he wakes up at a normal time (in our house, anything after 6am I am happy to call the morning!) he wakes up gradually,chatting and babbling.

He did it this morning at 0540 and he was literally hysterical sobbing. Couldn;t possibly leave him (and I am usually a big advocate of leaving him to pickle for 10 minutes to see if he goes back off to sleep). This wasn't pickling he was very upset. So i gave him a cuddle, tried to put him back down: no joy Very upset. In the end I took him into our bed where he proceeded to roll around and snuffle and smack my face, gouge at my eyes until i gave up at 0620 and got him up. He seemed happier in bed with us but still couldnt go back to sleep, so there's no point lying there too long.

I just keep telling myself that in the blink of an eye he will be a teenager and will spend all fecking day in bed no matter what i do...!

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