Baby keeps waking at 5am???

[LeoSun11]

My son is almost 7 months & for the last 2 weeks he constantly is waking up between 4-5am!!!

I’ve tried offering a feed at this time but he refuses, an earlier bedtime, a later bedtime, less daytime sleep you name it but he just will not sleep past 5am it’s driving me bonkers!!! I’m absolutely exhausted he used to consistently wake at around 6:30 with a 6:45/7pm bedtime. He’s sleeping 5/6 hour stretches. I’ve tried to even feed him in the early hours to try prevent him waking up too early in case it’s hunger but still the same end result.

I know a sleep regression hits around this age but he sleeps during the day fine, goes to bed fine it’s just the early rise and I cant seem to crack it !!!

any advice welcome from one exhausted mum

My daughter is 17 months and she’s the same at the moment. From my experience it’s usually just a phase, she goes through phases of waking up early then sleeping a little longer and honestly like you I tried everything or tried to work out why and I never found a reason or done anything that helped. The only other thing I can think of that you haven’t mentioned is are they waking up cold at 5am?
Hope someone comes along with better advice as it’s so tiring!

Unfortunately that can be a normal waking up time for some babies and toddlers, or it could be a phase and he’ll go back to later waking after a few weeks or months. My DS did the same for about 2 months but he’s now gone back to waking a later at 6.30am again. What’s his nap schedule like, has he gone to 2 naps in a day yet?

I would try to go to bed earlier yourself if you can

Thanks for your replies ladies - our rooms always 20 degrees sometimes more! He never feels cold he’s in a long sleeved vest & fleece sleepsuit as sometimes it drops during the night but our room is set to 20.

Because he’s waking up so early in the morning he’s not up for more than 90 mins without falling asleep in my arms so he’s clearly still tired. He naps for about an hour and a half in the morning, wake windows vary between 2 hours to 3 hours I just follow his sleepy cues for a nap now rather than trying to be strict as I felt it didn’t work for him.

yesterday he napped 2 hours the whole day & has woke up at 4:45 this morning! I don’t know where we’re going wrong or how to fix it. Hope it’s just a phase as mentioned. I’ve genuinely tried tweaking bedtime earlier & later etc less daytime sleep you name it & nothings resolving it. Have a feeling it’s a combo of teething & a sleep regression

It could be just that he woke that time by chance a couple of days in a row, now his body clock has changed. Could you do a dream feed nappy change an hour before he usually gets up, then see if he goes back to sleep. That might break the cycle.
Another option is take your time getting up to him, wait a couple of minutes and extend it a bit every day. Also go as long as you can before giving him a feed. Try and reset his body clock.

You likely aren’t doing anything wrong, it’s just sometimes that’s a normal time for babies to wake up in the morning. It’s sucks, I hate 4-5am get ups but there’s sometimes not much you can do about it until they change their pattern again. Sleep changes all the time in babies and toddlers and often it’s a phase and then will change again.

I’ve tried doing a 3am feed but he still wakes! It’s so debilitating he was tired at 6.15 this morning & fell asleep but woke up within 40 minutes I’m just at such a loss

Most kids go through a 5 am phase. Ours was sort of age 1 to 1 ½. It usually passes. You just have to go to bed earlier yourself.

Is he warm enough? 4/5am wakings can sometimes be a sign they are cold because it's often the coldest part of the night and our houses have cooled down from the day before.

Oh sorry, ignore me. I just saw your response to the other poster 🙈

No advice but solidarity, my daughter is nearly 8 months and is also in this phase and has been for a few weeks. 4:30 is the start of the day here😂 we had one random one last week where she woke up at 7am and then on Monday she woke up at 8am, I hadn’t done anything at all differently, no difference to day time naps, food, sleep, nothing, no explanation at all! I’ve given up trying to find any rhyme or reason and just trying to accept this is a phase and she will come out the other side soon!

We’ve cracked it!! I think it was a combination of him being cold & napping too long during the day - he’s only sleeping 1.5-2 hours during the day and what a tremendous difference it’s made. Hes been going to bed between 7/7:30 and sleeping a whole 12 hours!! (Minus the waking for a bottle at 2am)

we’ve got him in a long sleeved vest & 2.5 sleep bag now instead of the fleece sleepsuits I don’t think they’re as cosy as they appear!