Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Flip

Original poster

what should I do when my baby is wide awake at 4.30?

13 replies

honeytea · 30/05/2013 11:39

Ds is 5 months old, so far he has slept fairly well, he tends to wake a few times a night but he falls asleep easily when I feed him. The last week he has woken up WIDE AWAKE at 4.30-ish. I have fed him but then he is still chatting and smiling and kicking his legs. I put him in his cot and he kicks happily for a while, then he grizzles and cries but only a whingy bored cry not an upset/scared cry. When they crying escalates into a proper cry I pick him up and feed him and he goes back to sleep.

Is there another way of doing things without leaving him to get to the crying stage? I don't want to leave him to cry but if I have him with me and entertain him he will be up for the day and I will be too tired to be a fun mummy.

He usually wakes between 8 and 10.

We have the Windows blacked out, I thought maybe it was sunrise that was waking him bit we live in Sweden and sunrise is earlier than 4.30.

Any advice appreciated :)

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

BellaVita · 30/05/2013 11:54

I would not be feeding a 5 month old baby in the night.

When mine did this, I gave them a drink of water without the light on and didn't speak to them.

Now someone is probably going to come along and call me mean but mine survived - now 16 and nearly 14

CreatureRetorts · 30/05/2013 11:56

Well mine did want a feed at 5 months in the night.

I would suspect that his routine might be shifting. 8-10am is quite a late start - what time does he go to bed?

Original poster

honeytea · 30/05/2013 12:04

8-10 is late, he used to get up at 6 but recently I have started letting him come in bed with me at 6 and he goes back to sleep and sleeps most often till 9ish.

He goes to bed at 7/8-ish but this is a new thing, until last week he stayed up with me and dp (spleeping on one of us or on the sofa until we went to bed) I think the waking him at 10.30ish and changing his nappy/putting sleepingbag on helped him sleep in the night.

I have never tried giving him water, he won't take a bottle we have tried lots of times.

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Families General parenting

CreatureRetorts · 30/05/2013 12:51

I would try and keep to a routine of waking up say around 6/7am then look at day naps then bedtime at 7ish. The hopefully he will sleep better in the morning.

Jayne266 · 30/05/2013 13:39

What is your full bedtime routine op?

FunnysInLaJardin · 30/05/2013 13:44

blimey I fed mine in the night past 18 months. They don't still need it aged 3 and 7 mind you

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 30/05/2013 13:56

Bella what would you do after giving them water if they didn't settle?

OP, I think there are lots of reasons for babies waking/being wakeful in the night. Feeding isn't always the key to keeping them asleep, it may be that naps in the day are overcompensating and they just don't need a full 10/12 hours at night. You probably need to look at the whole routine over a day and night to work out where you can tweak things. It can also be developmental so some people prefer to just go with the flow and ride things out.

I am still feeding my nearly 11 month old in the night having stopped at 4 months with my DD who slept through of her own accord then. They are all so very different - don't think that just because he's a certain age you have to be doing something specific.

mumofthemonsters808 · 30/05/2013 14:13

Oh I remember this well my DS who is now 3 went through this horrendous stage of waking at 4.30am.There was nothing wrong with him he was just awake and ready for the day to begin. I remember my day beginning at this unearthly time and it nearly sent me loopy, dealing with the lack of sleep. I never solved the mystery of why it was happening and what I could do to stop it the stage thankfully just passed. Hang in there it is so hard when you have just got used to having a good nights sleep.

BellaVita · 30/05/2013 17:17

I obviously made sure they were clean and didn't need changing, but if there wasn't anything "wrong" with them ie illness etc then they were left in their cot and yes they were not happy about it sometimes, but I wasn't going to get up in the middle of the night with a baby that wanted to play .

They soon realise that when only water is on offer to go back to sleep.

CreatureRetorts · 30/05/2013 17:45

"they were not happy"

Ie you left them to scream?

Nice.

Original poster

honeytea · 30/05/2013 19:30

I really hope it is just a stage.

Our routine now is he has a bath/shower with dp, then pyjamas on, a cuddle and book then a night time feed, he often falls asleep feeding so I put him in his cot.

Tonight it has all gone awfully and I have fed/put him down/he wakes up start over again as he is refusing to self settle :( dp is now trying to help him go to sleep.

I think maybe he is having some sort of sleep regression, he had his normal 2 naps today and we have had a nice interesting day, I have no idea why he won't go to sleep.

OP posts:

BellaVita · 30/05/2013 19:42

No they didn't scream Creature, they grizzled or whinged a bit, a big difference IMO.

lougle · 30/05/2013 19:58

I have to confess (DD1 was a terrible sleeper, still is, and has SN) that I resorted to putting her in a bouncy chair with an activity cradle, next to the bed and half-dozed, half watched. She was happy, I got rest. We both survived it, which is all I could hope for.

Flip