3 month old seems to think 5am is wake up time!

[Mamabear12]

My DS goes to bed around 6:30/7pm and wakes 11pm for feed and 2/3am and then 5am and (or earlier)and doesn't want to sleep! He becomes chatty cathy and wants to goo goo ga ga. seriously cute. But annoying! I'm tired and have a almost two year old to look after as well! How to get him to sleep until 7?? Help!

Hmmm, I'm not the best one to comment. I celebrate the days we get to 6.30.
But, mine have never slept 11 hrs a night, let alone over 12. I think you need to shift bedtime (and then breakfast, lunch and dinner) back by at least 30 mins, and maybe an hour, so bed is 7.30 isg. This will get you slightly later in the mornings, but only if you shift food times as well.

Problem is he is so tired and cranky by 6:30pm. Pushing it we can last until 7pm. I don't want him up last 7 bc I like spending 30 minutes quality time with my daughter before she sleeps. I think part of the problem is he doesn't know how to settle himself!

Well he is sleeping for 11 hours - I think if you want the wait bedtime then it's difficult to expect him to sleep later in the morning .. It's horribly early and I've had the same problem ! I know it's tiring I a different way if you push bedtime back but that's probably the best solution

Sounds amazing tbh, he's sleeping loads! Ds woke at 5.30 until he was about 3, think that's just par for the course with kids.

That all sounds good tbh. I have 2 early wakers (aged 8 and 9) who woke at 4.45/5 until they were about 4!

Just to add - I think a lot of babies go to bed later than that at 3 months - my ds was probably still settling at about 8/9 then sleeping - with night feeds - till about 7. When I started earlier bedtime that morning went back to 530/6 - next time I will not be in a hurry to have an earlier bedtime!

You will be able to stretch bedtime if you do it slowly - it's like changing time zones - a tiring few days but then baby will slip into the new zone!

We went through a few dreadful phases of 5am wake ups when DS was that age. He was going to bed at about 7pm, having a dream feed at 10pm and then usually sleeping through till 5 which I thought was pretty brilliant so I just thought we better roll with it. Can see why you're less thrilled with it doing feeds in the night as well though.

Have to say I agree wih other posters...I don't think all babies really need 12 hours sleep until they're a bit older than 3 months...with my DS that magical 1900-0630 'sleeping through' happened when he started crawling at 8mo. I just don't think he was tired enough till then.

So I think you might either have to roll with the 5am starts for now OR push bedtime back later. To push the bedtime back, could you try to make sure LO has a 40 minute nap at 5pm ish? And then try for an 8pm bedtime?

Or if you prefer to stick with things as they are, can you go to bed at 2030 or something so make sure you're getting enough sleep?

Just thought I would update - he FINALLY for the first time slept until 7am! We were shocked! He woke for his usually 11pm feed and again at 2:30pm...but after that slept until 7am! I am very happy about this! :) I hope it continues.

And to answer some of your questions on why I would like him to sleep until 7am is because I thought that is what most babies did by 3 months...bed 7pm, dream feed 11pm, another feed around 3am and sleep until 7pm. His older sister by 3 months didnt need the 3am feed anymore! I know all babies are different though.

mamabear, glad your son did a fab nights sleep.
Please don't go round telling other Mums who are sleep deprived that most 3 month olds should do 12 hrs with just 2 feeds.
At 9 months, I was lucky to get 10 hrs with 2 feeds.
At 2 years, I was still up twice a night with my oldest.
Hope you have another good night tonight.

I agree, glad you got a good night but don't be irritated/disappointed if it doesn't happen again for a while. Babies are all different and some nights they sleep and other nights they don't, just like adults.

Addicted to sugar, I have mums telling me their babies sleep at 8 weeks 7pm to 7am straight w no feeds (liars!). Well, that is what they say..not sure if it true.

I'm happy to say we have had another good night...so far. He woke at 4am and back to sleep. I just pumped and decided to go on here to update....to give some hope to moms that it eventually gets better.

I was so tired about getting up so often in the night..felt like there was no progress or hope from newborn stage. And all of a sudden when I'm debating on what to do to improve his sleep...he does on his own!

One thing I wonder that might have helped that we do different now is get him up for his dream feed at 11pm instead of waiting for him to wake at 11:15/11:30pm. That is the only new thing past two nights.

I'm just saying that if you'd come to me 4 years ago with your "he won't sleep" I'd have been in tears as soon as I'd got home, and would have killed for that "lack" of sleep, and please be careful who you say it to.
I don't disagree that some kids sleep like a dream. Many don't. Mine was worse than most. And as you say, parents lying about how well their kids sleep just make everyone who has a babay sleeping less feel worse.
May he continue to sleep well.

My boy wouldn't even open his mouth for a dream feed

My baby did sleep 8-7.30 with a feed or two in night when he turned 12 weeks, however by 14 weeks this stopped!!! He started getting up around 6 and being cranky as heck one hour later. For the last 3 weeks we've tried bedtime forward and back as we weren't sure if bedtime was wrong but nothing has helped. He tends to sleep 10hrs total with two night feeds (often one, sometimes 3 or even 4!!!). From speakIng with other mums I think there is this myth babies sleep 12hrs at 3 months but most actually don't. (Which makes you feel bad until you speak to other mums!) There's also the well known 4 month sleep regression! I'd love my baby to sleep till at least 7am too but things are very random here! He was up at 5.15 this morning! Shattered but could be worse!

My first DC (boy) slept from 7pm to 5am from eight weeks... and I thought it was something I did that produced good results..I was very wrong! My DD (now 7 months) still wakes up in the night often - and sometimes for two hours of chatting at a time! (not even remotely cute at 2am like last night...) She also still needed night-time feeds up until 5 months. I've done exactly the same routines etc with both.

I think your bed-time routine sounds fine OP. That's the time my two always went/go to bed. Moving the bed-time later doesn't necessarily mean they'll sleep later, particularly as being overly tired can make them wakeful. In fact sometimes moving it earlier can make them sleep later (was told this by a sleep expert that had been hired by a sleep-deprived friend). I have a feeling you may just have to sit it out, and you'll find he finds his way (as he seems to be beginning to do now). GOOD luck! I feel your pain!

PS Mamabear, I've got three close, lovely, kind friends with babies a similar age to my DD, none of whom are liars, who have far better sleeping habits than my DD - and hearing them talk about doesn't make me feel depressed. They're my friends - they can say what they like! I'd hate it to be any other way. Two of them have babies who slept from a dream feed at 11pm to 7am from about 3 months. Obviously if there's a particularly sensitive girl in the group, or a girl who's feeling miserable with lack of sleep, it would be nice to be sensitive - but generally I think you should be able to be honest about your life - including your baby's sleeping habits if the conversation comes up...as opposed to keeping quiet or fibbing...in case you offend someone.

And on mumsnet you DEFINITELY must be honest. Your problems to you are JUST as important as others, even if others don't think yours are as bad as theirs! I remember once asking how I could get my DS to sleep past 5am at three months - he slept from 7pm to 5am without a feed or waking!

Thanks lifesobeautiful :-) I agree. I'm am open with my friends about my children's sleep habits. Some have babies who sleep better and some who wake a lot. With my first she slept 11:30-7am from about 3 months. She was def a better sleeper. I have a few people who have said at 8 weeks they sleep 12 hours straight!! With no feed! I was joking when I said liars lol.

All babies are different and have different sleep habits. I am just glad mine is starting to get better and hope he continues. I was just talking to a friend about crying it out (I felt he was too young but was losing hope!). Three of my friends had success of controlled crying. However, the night we decided we were going to try it out (giving a feed at 11 and 3am only bc when he was waking every hour he would only take an ounce or less, which showed he wasn't really hungry or got in the habit of snacking! And I wanted to break snacking habit)....he just on his own started sleeping much better. The only thing we changed was at 11 feed we gave it to him before he would wake crying for it. Not sure if that helped or if it was a coincidence! But it worked.

Another interesting thing is today he woke 4am and called out and I went to him and said I'll be right back I'm going to warm your milk (my husband laughed and said you told him that??) well, for the first time he didn't start crying! He just waited there lying in bed with eyes open while I went for five mins to prepare the milk! I wonder if he understood or if it was a coincidence? Normally, he would just cry and cry until I brought the milk (never told him I would be back with milk).