Sleep going a bit wrong at 9 months

[milkyjo]

Not majorly but DS has been waking up at 5:45 on the dot every morning. He will not go back to sleep and he is hungry. He eats so much food in the day, has breastfeeds and has a 7oz bottle before going to bed, sometimes he leaves about 10 mls. He used to wake up between 6:30-6:50 and we could cope with that. He has always gone to sleep at about 7pm. Should we be changing his bedtime to a bit later? Also I've read that at 9 months babies drop their morning nap. I cannot see my DS doing this in the near future as getting up at 5:45 means by 8am he is ready for a nap again. Even if he was waking at 7am he still needs a nap about 2-3 hours later. Sometimes he won't have a late afternoon nap as he will wake from after lunch nap at about 3:30pm and sometimes we put him to bed a bit earlier. How can we get him to sleep longer or later. I am getting worried about the clocks going back and then it will be 4:45!!!

Let me get this right... Your ds sleeps from 7pm-6ish every night without any middle-of-the-nights feeds and you're complaining about it????

Good gracious! Please can we swap?

Does he have a long morning nap? You could try keeping him up til 9am and waking him after 45 minutes, and then let him have a longer nap in the afternoon. I would stick to 2 naps at this age, they usually don't drop til 1 until after 12 months.

I agree with ellesabe though - 7pm-5.45am is pretty good going.

It sounds like he's having too long a nap in the morning and too late a nap in the afternoon. I'd cut the morning one down to 10-15 minutes no matter what time he wakes and make sure he'a awake no later than 1030 and then try and get him down for lunch by 1230 and up no later than 2.15. Give it a try. My little one is very sensitive to nap timings and a later lunchtime nap definitely affects him. You're probably giving him too much sleep in the day. We are on our way to cutting out the morning nap at 10 months, some days it works and others he doesn't quite make it in which case I cut his lunch nap back so he's always up by 2.30. You might have a few grumpy days whilst he adjusts but you'll get your mornings back.

Dropping morning nap at 9mo? Frankly none of the babies of this age I know did this. My DD is 10 months and I don't think she will drop it for some time yet. Agree with pp - my DD is always up by 2.30/3pm. However, she sometimes wakes at 5.45 no matter what - it is quite normal so you have to just get on with it I'm afraid.

sorry I don't agree that you just have to put up with it. you can experiment with nap times and get them to sleep longer, it just takes a bit of adjustment and effort. If they wake up at 5.45 its not surprising that they need to sleep in the morning... I'm not saying it's gone by 9 months, but they are on their way to not needing it. My son has moved from needing a nap at 9am to not being tired until gone 11am, by which time it's worth struggling on a bit until noon and getting a really good lunchtime nap, or else he just cat naps later and is a right grump all afternoon. He often wakes at 5.30 and cries out once but then goes back to sleep...

Also worth remembering that not all babies are the same - a sample size of 1 doesn't tell you much! Most babies need a morning nap til over a year.

Just to clarify - my DD does not wake at 5.45am but rather at 6.30/7am and still needs the morning nap.

Not going on just my son - my nanny has been working for over 20 years and is of the same opinion. It's not like he wouldn't sleep if I put him down late morning, it's that I'm trying to stretch him so that he has a really good 2 hours for lunch and that's far more beneficial than him having a mere 30 minutes later in the day and really struggling through the afternoon.

Of course, it's up to you what you decide is right for your child and if you are happy with getting up at 5.30 every day. But the OP asked for advice and suggestions on improving that which is what I am doing. I don't think saying just suck it up is either of those things...

Ok thanks everybody. I am not complaining about it. Its just I know that he gets very tired in the morning. He'll be off to nursery soon and he'll have one nap with the other babies after lunch. Obviously if he needs more then they'll let him sleep! Its just that we were in a good routine before and now it seems to be going all over the place.

Ellesabe, why bother?

RitaMorgan I will try your suggestions, sometimes he has 3 naps a day.

Honeymoo thank you I will also try your suggestions

Momo36 thank you for telling me its not so common to drop the morning nap at 9 months!