4 mth old waking at 5am - help!

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My DS who is 17 weeks still keeps waking around 5am and seem wide awake. He usually have 2 feeds after bedtime around 6.30pm. First feed between 10pm-12 and second between 2-3am. Occassionally he wakes closer to 6am and it seems to depend on when he last was fed. I used to wake him up for a feed at 10pm, but recently have let him go until he wakes himself and if it is around midnight he seems to then wake later and therefore sleep longer. He is also a 35-40 min napper every 1.5-2hours during the day. Any good tips as this drives me mad. I sleep really badly during the night myself now.

can't really help sorry but my ds is 19 months and still wakes at 5:30 everyday

is it hunger that wakes him up, or just the light (summer night - god, almost burst into the travolta/newton-john song ). have you tried balckout curtains? do you interact with him at all? dd used to do it, just gave her a dummy (convinced she wasn't hungry) and rolled over. she now wakes up at around 6.30 for a feed at 7.

Yes, blackouts might help. It is hard work at this age, as you're right in the middle of the 4 month sleep regression. Hopefully things might improve once you get through that.

My now-6.5 m.o. has had spells of waking at 4.30 - 6am, but it has always changed again despite me doing nothing different - just feeding him every time he wakes. At the moment, he wakes at 6.30 at least one day out of two, which is wonderful!

My DS is 17 weeks now and does the same. Mornings vary from 5.30am fed and really unsettled until abou 6.30when he had a classic 45min snooze til 7am. Yesterday I fed him at 5,30am and he was flat out til 8am.

Not so worried now....but both my other two have gone through 5.30am phases as toddlers which really is no fun as they was to up and about playing.

COuld you get DH to do a 10pm ish dream feed and go back to that...hoping DS then wakes around 1 then 4 then 7am? You'd still be up twice but your day wouldn't start til 7 then. My DD had this pattern...and when DS has a good night but is up at 2or3 and 5.30ish I'd rather have 1,4,7 really.

"as they want to be up and about playing" you can tell i'm still half asleep today

A-hem.....my boys awoke at 5am until they were about 18months.

Babies do wake early. It hard for you but it is just normal. The best thing oyou can do is try to get to bed earlier yourself so that you are not so tired at 5am when he wakes you.

At least you know it won't last forever. By the time he's a teenager you will be struggling to get him out of bed in the mornings

Thanks. Got black out blinds and he doesn't seem hungry. Even if I wait feeding him until later! My DH does help with the 10am feed and also helps during the night,so I am pretty lucky, but I have to kick him out of bed and won't go back to sleep. I am such a light sleeper now, but used to sleep very well before! I don't seem to be able to sleep even when I can! I just hate the fact that I have an 5am start. Have also tried giving dummy.

Not sure what your views on co-sleeping are, but if you really can't face getting up at 5am, you could try it. My DS tends to wake up at 6ish every day and I usually take him out of his cot (where he has spent all of the night up till then) and take him back to bed with me. That combined with a bit of boob normally gets him back to sleep till 7 / 7.30 which is much more civilised! Might be worth a try?

I have also been been bringing my DS into bed with me if he's wide awake at five. We snuggle up, I give him some milk and he usually drifts off again until about 6:30 - 07:00 where I do the same again if he has had a restless night (so I can get another doze) and we get up between 8 and half past.

Another fan of the bringing back to bed idea. When DS used to wake up pre-6.30, we'd always put him in our bed and behave as tho it was still sleep time, sometimes give a bf then all back to sleep. Since about 1yo he's woken around 7-7.30 - which is later than most of my friend's DCs, they didn't bring theirs into their bed if they woke up early but not sure if the two things are connected.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; This is what babies do. They are supposed to wake through the night, give the little guy a break.

I'm not trying to be mean, I honestly find it more helpful when people just tell me straight. Your not doing anything wrong and neither is your DS.

I too bring my 5 mo dd into my bed if she wakes earlier than is civilised! Being snug and warm with us normally makes her drift back off again and I don't see the harm in it.

LPP- I don't think all babies wake through the night, it just depends how much sleep they need, much like adults. Apart from the 4m sleep regression when she was waking a couple of times per night, my dd sleeps 12 hours straight and has done since 10 weeks old.

Yep, I am another that will move my DS into bed if he wakes before I am ready to rise. He usually drifts off with me in bed. Unfortunately, DD will come in between 7 and 7.30 and get us all up whether we want to or not.

Thanks for all replies. Not sure about co-sleeping as not breast feeding anymore. Can see how that would be easier to make him go back to sleep. Used to bring him back to bed, but DH found it disturbing his sleep so stopped. Might try again!!!....

My ds just woke up even more if we brought him into our bed. He's coming up to 14 months now and his wake up time has been anywhere between 5.30 and 6.30 his whole life! This morning it was 5.45 and he's still up! I think some babies are just early risers... I seem to be surrounded by people with 7-7 babies at the moment too which is quite annoying!!

What do you do when he wakes up? Do you feed him?

Tbh I would ignore those people who say thier babies sleep 7 -7 it usually is untrue or only last 1or 2 nights ! Is this your 1st dc ? Your dh will need to get used to having sleep disturbed ,even the best sleepers get sick , nightmares or have growth spurts ! My 3 nearly 4 yr old still wakes every morning at 5.30/5.45 ! Luckily now she plays until 6.30 ! My 12 wk old is awake every 2 hrs during the night and does not nap in day ! My dh was like yours and still moans about poor sleep but has adjusted !

morning - DD2 (9 months) has been up since 5 - I'm knackered. She's been up every 2 hours crying . DD1 has a friend coming round to play today - so no naps for me. I'm fed up

Morning lal ! Good luck today ! I totatly understand about lack of daytime rest when u have older child ! My eldest dc does not nap and is off nursery this week ! Cbeebis and Disney channel have been v helpful over past 12 wks ! !

ds1 is 9 and still gets up at 5am every day