4 month old waking early but still tired

[lmg2011]

My 4 month old is generally good at night (these days) and goes to bed (in her moses basket) around 8, gets up for a feed at 4ish, or sometimes goes right through the night. She naps fine during the day - usually 3 naps of around an hour or so but this does vary - her naps are on me as she refuses to sleep on her own during the day(!)

Anyway my question is how to encourage her to sleep later. She usually wakes up between 5 and 6. Sometimes she fusses and coos the whole time until i get up at 7ish. Other times she cries and I go to her. On these occassions where i am picking her up she quickly goes back to sleep with a little rocking so it isn't that she is awake and ready to start the day.. it's almost as if she is suddenly in "day mode" and therefore will only sleep on me.

I dont want her to get in the habit of 5.30 wake up but also what her to be getting enough sleep and sometimes (on the occassions where she is clearly awake but not crying) I feel like she must have been awake for so long before I get up.

Anyone experienced the same? Oh also her room ius blacked out as I thought the morning light might be affecting her..

Many thanks!

I dont have any real advice but I do have lots of sympathy!

My 19 week old DD will wake up at any time between 5am and 7am - sometimes its hell and sometimes its bliss. She is the kind of baby that once she is awake, it is nigh on impossible to get back to sleep.

To try and discourage the 5am waking, we have a rule that we dont get her out of the cot before 6am and we dont feed her until 7am, no matter what. We also try and keep her awake until her 9am nap to try and get the day back on track (with varying levels of success!).

Would be interested if anyone had any other ideas!

Yes we're the same! I try to get as close as possible to the 9am nap (without her getting too tired) as she has a good routine going in the daytime. And also I was told to try and gradully make the gap between getting up and morning nap slightly longer so they dont use it as an extention of their night sleep

We were up today at 6. She wasn't interested in being rocked back to sleep so i fed her and she fell asleep on the boob so she was clearly still tired. I have read that the best thing to do is to treat it like night time until you want her to be up. Today it worked but sometimes like yours she is awake and ready to party.

I realise 6am is not too bad and some have it much worse. But I am concious of keeping an eye on it before morning starts creeping earlier and earlier.. :-)

Not sure if I am going to be much help, but I have similar 'rules' to stabiliser. I try not to feed before 7am and any wakings before 6am are carried out as the middle of the night, i.e. no lights/eye contact/ interactions etc.

When my 17week old DS wakes up crying and I know he is still tired I try and settle him without taking him out of the cot. I try the shush pat, which often works a treat. Sometimes I need to resort to using a dummy, but I can usually get him back to sleep. I do the same for early wakings from naps too.

If she is awake and babbling that is harder. I would be tempted to just leave her and she might re-settle herself. If not and she is happy, then I would just leave her be. If however, she starts to cry after a while, then I would go in and try to re-settle.

Hope you get it sorted soon

Thank you for that. I think re settling without taking her out is a good idea.. however i have never done this! I have tried a few times with no joy - she just cries more. I guess it's something you need to persevere with?

I could do with being able to do this with naps too as she always wakes after one sleep cycle and cries as she needs longer. I can usually rock her back to sleep.. Anyway napping is another issue as she still naps on me at the moment. Would like to get her to nap in her basket soon!

Thanks again :-)

img2011 that is EXACTLY what DS does, wakes after one sleep cycle for a nap, but if he ic crying or twisting then I assume that he needs longer and I will not get him out of the cot. The shush pat has worked really well for me, you roll them onto their sides, pat the back and shush past their ear. DS normally stops crying after a few minutes and then I continue until he is asleep.
It doesnt always work tho< and then I resort to the dummy! haha

suzym1984 thank you for your advice. I have heard of shhush pat but not tried it recently as DD has been napping on me and i just rock her while standing up to get her to sleep. Also I never knew you put them on their sides.

When I read your post I was sitting in the room next to hers listening to her not settling (for the night). She got to the point where I knew she wasnt going off on her own so I tried it. By putting her on her side she couldnt see me which really helped. She was immediately soothed and although it didnt work in the end I did use the same method whilst holding her in the rocking chair and with a bit of angry screaming along the way it worked.. this is a step in the right direction as at least I wasnt standing up rocking her. I think if I start doing this for her naps and then progress to putting her down in her basket and doing it.. worth a try..

Anyway thanks for you post!

Brilliant!

Yeah, I never knew about the side thing til a few weeks ago, and always wondered how on earth you pat their back when they are lying on their back

Im glad you are getting in the right direction. At least if she was soothed in the cot hopefully in time she will re-settle while still in the cot and then progress to settling herself in the cot.

Thats the theory anyway! Hope things keep getting better for you!