5 month old waking up cooing at 5am?

[Cafeaulait27]

Our baby started sleeping through 7.39-7.30 at 3 months and we felt so lucky, sometimes we’d have to wake him in the morning. But now he’s waking up earlier and earlier and not crying just cooing to himself. It’s really loud right next to us.

Is this just a phase that will pass? We’re wondering whether to just put him in his own room now so it doesn’t wake us as he doesn’t seem upset?

Not quite sure what’s happening. We haven’t started solids yet but will probably try this weekend as he’s really ready. He’s gaining weight well.

He naps 9am for 45 mins, 12pm for 45 mins - 1.5 hours, and 3pm for 45 mins. This used to work perfectly for him but now I have no idea what’s going on!

Thanks!

Sounds normal. It will probably sort itself out with the clock change but it would be fine to put him in his own room.

Some children are just early birds, I'm afraid! We had 5am wake ups for a good couple of years in baby / toddler hood, and even now as young teenagers they're usually awake by 6.30. The difference is that they don't want cuddles and games any more . Equally - it could be a phase. If the baby's happy, then I'd just ignore for a while and hope they go back to sleep. Own room would definitely help with this, so they can't sense that you're awake too.

Thanks all ☺️

@rattlemehearties I was being sarcastic because you appeared to be being sassy. Apologies if I got the wrong end of the stick. I’m well aware of the lullaby trust guidelines and had all the best intentions of following them to the letter. The only think we haven’t done is had baby with us 24/7 as it just didn’t work for our sanity. He had colic and spent every evening screaming, there’s no way we could have him downstairs with us all evening. We found he went down to bed in his next to me crib really well from 9 weeks and at first one of us would go to bed with him. At 3 months we stopped this and started enjoying a few evenings downstairs and just watched him on a monitor. Ideally he would’ve slept downstairs with us of an evening but that’s not the baby he is, abd it’s all worked out pretty well.

I think he’ll be in his own room tonight ☺️

@rattlemehearties

Actually I'm a bit annoyed by the "you sound lovely" thing, I've had more than one baby and my advice is sound! From lived experience, 5am starts ARE a phase and you do have to roll with it! There's no magic button unfortunately.

I agree, it's all a phase until they're about 18

@Airyfairymarybeary but he doesn’t seem to need anything he’s just waking us up which is annoying?! Lol obvs if he was crying we’d respond to his needs.

Sounds like the dream op. I'm assuming you formula feed? Mine were all bf and still up 3 times a night at that age ... I've never heard of a bf baby sleeping this well at 5 months tbh but maybe just my experience.
I have 3 DC and everything is a phase. One of mine was a relatively good sleeper from a year but once there were changes , teeth , illness etc etc it all changed. Also when they stop just cooing and can run into anytime they want it's a game changer ....( We are firm, consistent, routine etc they still woke up randomly until 3 with good phases of sleep inbetween). One of mine is 11 and still here up at 6am...

@Cafeaulait27
Might be time to start trimming down the last nap of the day

@Owieeee yeah he’s formula fed - wasn’t interested in my boobs at all after the first day!

@babysleephelp ah ok thank you x

Could well be a phase, how long is it going on? My almost 5 month old was waking 5:30-6 chattering to himself last week, lasted about 6 days I'd say but he is sleeping till 7:30 most mornings now. Baby's sleep changes so much in my limited experience, naps that work one month might need to be changed again a few weeks later.

@rattlemehearties There was nothing wrong with what you said, I was really surprised that you got that response.

@Cafeaulait27 not sure why you’re getting snotty replies here! Seems like unless your baby is screaming the house down sympathy is in short supply

You said it started 4 weeks ago? The 4 month sleep regression can last up to 6 weeks, I’d agree that it’s probably development linked. We had the same although not as a daily thing and I fully sympathise with the difficulties of being woken up in what I consider to be the middle of the night

I couldn’t find a pattern between daytime naps and the early mornings, just eventually grew out of it and was sleeping until 7.30 again by about 7/8 months (although waking earlier for a feed as well so not sleeping through like yours)

@rattlemehearties

Lullaby Trust guidelines are fairly clear on not putting babies in their own room so young.

This is a good point.

My mother put me in my own room very soon after I was born so I get people need to do what they think is right, but they do offer this advice for a reason.

American academy of paediatrics have recently changed guidelines to say 12 month in the same room is better, which I found interesting seeing as sleep training is promoted so heavily over there.

[quote Cafeaulait27]@RedRobyn2021 but this is every night for the past 4-5 weeks… so are you saying just put him in his own room so he doesn’t disturb us? That’s what I heard 😁[/quote]
You could try reducing the amount he naps maybe? No matter what I do my dd will only sleep 12 hours in a 24 hour period, this is the most she needs and wants. It might work or it might not. At least he is happy when he wakes.

I'm not sure there is anything you can do about this, I'd ignore him if he's happy but I don't see how you can avoid being woken up because if he's in his own room won't the noise through the monitor wake you anyway? If it didn't, I don't consider it would be safe to have him somewhere you couldn't hear him. Hopefully he will grow out of it again soon. I will say though, ime a lot of people whose babies sleep a lot very early seem to get a shock when their baby inevitably changes their sleeping pattern...it is highly likely your baby will change their sleeping a lot throughout the first few years of their life. It can be grim - I know, I have two littlies, both have been reasonably decent ish sleepers but both also have had horrific phases hah. You will get through it, but often there just isn't a fix or anything you can do other than wait for it to be over!! The other issue you want to consider is that your baby is sleeping REALLY well for their age and anything you do to try and stop this 5am chatting may have unintended consequences that totally mess up their amazing sleep for potentially a long time. For that reason alone I wouldn't try and move him into his own room - it could get much much worse...!