2mo FF DS waking at 5-6am but NOT hungry! WTF?

[DangerMousey]

DS1 is 2 months old and a big boy - he weighs 14lb, and as over 9lb at birth.

He has a feed at around 6pm/7pm every night and then goes to bed around 8pm/8.30pm. We give him a big 'dream feed' bottle at around 10pm before we go to bed.

He then usually sleeps well (might have to get up once to soothe/pop dummy in) until around 5am. I know this is pretty great for a 2mo, but after 5am it all goes a bit wrong.

He spends an hour between 5am - 6am occasionally crying/groaning/grizzling in his sleep, but every time I get up and look in his moses basket he is fast asleep.

At around 6am he finally decides he is awake, and starts full-on crying. So I get up, change his nappy, prepare a bottle of formula quickly, and then he shows no interest in it whatsoever. Or worse, he sometimes has a huge screaming fit when I try to feed him, back arching, throwing himself around etc etc.

Either way, he doesn't feed. He then stays awake until about 0730am, and then naps for an hour. He then eventually cries again is actually hungry for a bottle at around 0900.

Is this normal? Why is he waking for the day when he is not hungry?? Why isnt he hungry after so many hours without a bottle??

I wouldnt mind waking up so early, and our day starting between 5-6am if he was actually hungry. Dont really understand what this early waking is about....anyone else experienced similar? Is there anyway I can encourage him to sleep a little longer, at least until 0630/0700 if he's not hungry yet?

Maybe he just wants his mummy and a cuddle...seven hours is a long time. Then when he's reset himself, maybe then he will be ready for milk.

Could he be cold?

I agree he might be cold. What blankets etc does he have on?

Also if he's a big boy he might be a bit big for his basket now? He might not like being so closed in?

My 4 month DS did sort of similar (sleeps 10-12 hours, but ready for a bottle within 30 mins of properly waking), until we (this week) did two things - put him in his own cot in his own room, and started using baby sleeping bags to regulate his temp better (was previously swaddled & used blankets). Now he sleeps quietly right through the night and wakes up gently ie no thrashing about.

Wouldn't worry about him not wanting to eat straight away. As long as he's taking his approximate daily quota of milk within that 24 hours, it doesn't matter when he takes it.

My DS used to do the exact same thing, he'd detour, get cross that he wasn't sleeping, cry more, waking him up more, get crosser in a horrible circle.

My theory was that his 5-6am sleep cycle was the lightest and when he stirred for longer than usual i would go to him which would then wake him more when he was actually just trying to sleep. It got to the point that just putting his dummy in made him irate & ordinarily he was very happy.

One morning I just left him, he wasn't crying, more fussing. After 20 mins or so he went to sleep and would wake at 8.30 hungry. Have you tried not picking up? Maybe just shhing or ignoring? Assuming he's not really upset.

Or could be cold? Room gets light? Someone gets up for work? Wind/poo trapped after dream feed? My DS is 20 weeks now and maybe 2 in 7 days he still wakes for 5-20 minutes, has a chat & wakes properly between 7.30&8.

Oh I also moved my DS to his own room so that when he came into his light sleep we wouldn't disturb him. Obviously this is against SIDS advice.