5am starts with 8 month old

[sheeplikessleep]

DS2 has never been a good sleeper, although in last couple of weeks, he is down at 7pm, feeds between midnight and 2am and awakes again at 5am.

This was from waking every couple of hours and we basically settled him every other wake through rocking etc i.e. without feeding! So far so good and to get more than 2 hours sleep at a time feels like heaven!

The 'trouble' is that he wakes at 5am for the day. I feed him as he seems hungry, but then very alert and doesn't get tired after his feed. I don't change his nappy at this time, keep room dark, don't speak to him etc, exactly like the other night feeds. BUT, he is then 'up for the day'. Is there any way of getting him back off to sleep for a bit? 5am is ungodly hour and I'm shattered by the end of the day.

He naps in the day about 3 times,but only up to 30 minutes each time. He is still being fed to sleep .

Any advice on how to encourage my little monkey to go back to sleep after his 5am feed very much appreciated.

Thanks

Maybe you should try controlled crying - it's hard work but it really does work. My oldest was and still is quite clingy but he has always slept well and I believe it was due to the hard work in those first few months with the controlled crying. You could try Gina Ford contented baby for a guide.

thinking of you as I know it's blooming hard work. You're doing a good job.

We're going through a similar thing here. Our dd (9 months) sleeps from 7pm through the night- which I am grateful for, honest- but wakes up any time from 4.45am and like your ds is awake for the day, feed or no feed. She also has 3 short naps in day and I just can't seem to do anything to change that. She self settles for bedtime, naps and when she wakes in the night, but not at 5am and not after a 30 minute nap!

I'm going to try "wake to sleep" for the early risings I think (google it- it's where you rouse them a little about an hour before they normally wake, then settle them back to sleep) but it sounds insane and terrifying so have been putting off. Apparently v effective though.

DD is 10 1/2 months old and i've just accepted that my day starts anywhere from 04.45 - though this morning it was 5.45! She has got a bit better with naps during the day since we cut down from3 to 2 a day though - sleeps for longer in those naps and is a bit better at night - might be something to consider?

tiger66 - thanks for posting. i am considering cc, but i just don't think i will be able to hear the crying and not go in and pick him up. i would like to try other ways in the next couple of months and if we are in the same boat when he gets to a year, we do cc then. but i know it would probably work quickly.

napwhatnap - good that your dd is self settling! that is what we are working on at the moment, i'm putting ds down in his cot drowsy and we're finding we hear him call out at about 10pmish (when he used to wake for a feed) for less than a minute, then go back to sleep. so we are making small steps, i think . that 'wake to sleep' does sound quite scary! i'll google it - thanks for that.

liskey - likewise the daytime nap thing is worth thinking about (he had 4 naps yesterday, due to his early rise!). but then in the last 3 days, he's had 2 x 90 minute day time naps, which i cannot work out why, but at least i now know he can do it.

i think with ds1, he went through an early waking thing for a couple of months, but we let him cry a bit more, i think we gave him 15-20 minutes, before going into him. i think he learnt to get himself back off to sleep.

this shall pass ...

I'm trying wake-to-sleep tomorrow morning [quakes] will let you know how I get on. 4.30am start this morning, feeding didn't send her back to sleep so she's getting no more milk at that hour! Will report back tomorrow...

My DS now 4yrs still wakes at 5-5.30 most days at the moment, sorry think some children are programmed that way. I have to go to bed very early just to continue functioning.

DS was like that til about 2 1/2. Nothing made any difference. One day he just seemed to start sleeping a bit later - to around. He 4 1/2 now and some days will sleep til about 7 but most mornings it's 6.

good luck nap - let me know how you get on!

topsi and choufleur - i wish you hadn't posted

so how did u get on nap/?
we had week from hell laSt week with ds 3.3 years and dd 6months. however(anD i know i shouldnt jinx it) 2 things are seeming to work/give us hope. 1.cc and 2. timers on night lights. The night light timer is ingenious (to be fair it is only our third morning) but our ds is really responding to it so far.we got given this advice off a family with 4 kids (including twins) who went down the gina ford route but said this really worked too... basically we set a light for 7am and tell him if its still dark when you wake up you have to go back to sleep (will give more details if anyones interested).
anyway,night before last they both slept 7-7 but this morning dd is up at 5am. i know thats bliss compared to what it was/could be but mainly my reason for coming on here was whether or not to do cc at 5am.im point blank refusing to bf back to sleep now but i couldnt be sure she wasnt hungry at 5am so i brought her down to feed her. want to start the night light thing with her/cc but am frightened she'll wake him up and spoil all our hard work!!