Waking at 4.30 ???

[minibmw2010]

DS (9 mths) was until recently teething really badly. 4 teeth have come through in pretty much 2 days so he seems happier, no pain as far as I can tell.

Our latest thing is he sleeps well until 4.30/5am or so and then wakes up with a bad nappy. I change him and put him back in and he really cries for ages, but we are not getting up at 5am !!! So I give him some water and hope he calms down (he hasn't yet this morning, joy).

I thought it might be the noise of the house, boiler kicking in, etc. that was waking him so we shut his door completely (but with monitor on so i could hear any problems) but that hasn't really changed anything.

Any suggestions?

Hate to say it, but we're currently going through similar with DS (10 mo). Been like it for about a month now, it's a developmental thing.

Having posted on here and spoken to a few people, there is feck all you can do apart from ride it out. My DS actually went back to sleep this am after his 5:15am wake up, which is the first time for a month.

Good luck, it's bloody hard work. Fingers crossed for you it's a short spell!

Ditto! My DD 8 months has been waking at 5.30am for months now,I'v done everything. I think you just have to go with with and hope it's gets better soon. And get early nights when you can.

Thanks ladies. Tonight we've had desperate crying at midnight as well. Confusing things these babies eh .,, roll on better sleep for us all soon

We've had this for a couple of months in our nearly 6 month old DD and she still wakes between 2 and 4 times prior to that to feed :(. I'm beyond tired so good to know there's others out there awake at the crack of dawn,or before! Had been thinking this forum needed an early wakers support thread...

still happening here at 12 months...not feeling optimistic about it being a passing developmental thing - here's hoping

Without sounding negative, I don't put a huge amount of stock in developmental things affecting sleep badly and for a long time. I really think good sleep is a learned habit and those that do it, will continue to do it reasonably well through all their developmental phases. I often think it's something mothers say to reassure themselves that things will get better. :)

I had an early waker for over a year and it didn't get better until I did something about it. In my case, she was sleeping too much in the day and was simply ready to start the day at 5am for no other reason than that. I cut down her naps, which everyone said was cruel because she was waking at 5am (no matter how much I tried to explain that they were the very reason she was waking at 5am) and although it took 6 weeks, she gradually started sleeping until 7am every day.

Mini, one other thing I forgot to say is that the bad nappy can often be a red herring. They do a poo because they're awake already - they don't wake because they've done a poo. If that makes sense...

My 1 year old s a 4-5am waker too. (6 on a good day). I'm just waiting for the clocks to go forward & I'll try to keep her on GMT!

Yes,clocks,I'm hoping the same! Sadly i don't think i could reduce her naps further as she's already a rubbish napper...

How many naps did you go down to and what times? my 6 month old is the same and has 1 morning nap 3 hours after he wakes and then another one which he fights at 2ish. Sorry to thread hijack.

love I happen to sign up to the school of thought that developmental 'leaps' coincide with shitty sleep. I am firm believer in the wonder weeks book - it seems that every time my DS goes a bit awry, I have a look in the book and (slaps head) he's going through a phase.

More often than not, his sleep isn't the only thing going weird...this time he was very clingy etc. So in isolation, maybe not, but if behaviour overall is crap then maybe it is.

But you're 100% right on the whole nap thing. We have cut down from three to two naps and it seems to be making a difference to DS.

I've also noticed a big change in his behaviour though - putting shapes in to the box, opening/shutting cupboards, braver cruising etc. Which does make me think he's coming 'through' this leap.

Love, yes that makes sense, thank you.

I've been meaning to get that Wonder Weeks book for a while now. I had a good one 'You and Your Baby' which covered the first 26 weeks and it was usually spot on so I'll be off to Waterstones tomorrow to get it, thanks.

I completely believe in the 'wonder weeks' theory too - my DS has always had a blip at around the time the book suggests they will. However I do agree with love that this is usually just a 'blip' and that developmental things shouldn't be affecting sleep long term. I completely agree that good sleep is learned, but I'm also a firm believer that the daytime routine can often be one of the biggest things to affect night sleep, and in particular, early waking.

mini what is your DS's daytime routine? It might be that he needs a tweak. EMW is usually caused by overtiredness, or the morning nap being too long/too early (or both!) & addressing these factors can have a really huge impact on his WU time.x

Having an 11month+1week old, I can confirm that she did not just miraculously just start waking later after the last wonder week - if anything she's been waking earlier. Sorry milla hope you have better luck (though she is now happier than I've seen her before, into everything and a joy to be with, so it's not all bad :) )

He's definitely had sleep blips during developmental times like teething, learning to roll, crawl, etc. He was doing so well until the teething started at 4 months and hasn't really slept that well since (he's now 9 months).

Routine is:

Breakfast/milk at 7
Lunch 12/12.30
Milk 2.30/3 (after nap)
Tea 5/5.30
Milk bedtime (about 6.45/7)

Any suggestions helpfully received.

Do you offer milk at that time?

We didn't for ages, and ended up with a 16mo who thought 4:30am was the start of the day. Just give milk, then night wean once sleeping is better.

(apols if I've misunderstood)

Id add a snack/milk at around 9:30am to try and get calories up in the day too.

One of my worries has been the lack of snacks. What do people give? We have a bit of a problem in that he's never shown any interest in baby led weaning of any kind. He'd eat a cheese puff type thing now he has teeth but only if I literally hold it to his mouth. He doesn't put toys in his mouth, never has, or teething rings so when I hold food to him he just doesn't do anything with it.

I typed the breakfast/milk thing wrong. It's 7am milk, 8am porridge.

Thankfully last couple of nights it's been 6.30am so still not great but a bit better.

Do you think his nap times are about right?

Little yoghurts are good snacks, breadsticks or raisins? To me it just looks like he needs something mid morning. Hope you don't mind me saying

DS had 2 naps a day at that age. One after milk at about 10am and one after lunch or after pm milk if running late

Jarreth, I don't mind at all, I appreciate any help/guidance I can get. He's just done a full 200ml bottle (3am) and though awake sounds like he's trying to settle himself and is yawning so let's see if that helps. As you say, the weaning can wait.

I'll try yoghurt later between his nap and lunch. At what age can they have raisins? God I so need a manual for ALL this stuff.

Organix make a great range of snacks, DD loves all of them! Fruit also good, or toast, hot cross buns a fave at this time of year.

I am feeling quite positive - three mornings of post 6am wake ups. He did 7pm-6:30am last night, which is defo back to 'normal'.

The only thing I have 'done' is put him back down for morning nap 3 hours after waking, not 2. And made sure he's only having 2 naps a day...we used to often have 3 before. He just seems happierin himself, like you say fifi.

Mini my DS doesn't have many snacks as I find that it tends to interfere with his food/milk - he's happy to feed himself, I just prefer him to have good 'meals'. Sometimes he might have half a bit of toast mid morning, but I usually find that this stops him eating a full lunch. How much is your LO eating at meals and milk-wise? My DS can eat pretty much anything snack wise now, but you need to go at their pace - toast is our clear fave, but cucumber sticks (skin off) are good, as are little organix biscuit things, the sweetcorn rings, rice cake things.

We are still on 4 milk feeds a day at 7, 11,3 and then bed. I figure that once he gets to 1 year we'll cut them down, but he's still interested in it and weight-wise he's fine.

omama what you're saying about cutting morning naps makes absolute sense. I think that if/when DS starts waking earlier again I am going to bite the bullet and start limiting it - I don't expect three nights to mean we're through it completely! I must confess that I usually sometimes go back to bed, so will be reluctant to drop this completely . But I know it's for the greater good!

We only have 2 naps here now, I did wonder if I was putting him up for his morning nap too early but I know he's been awake since 6 and he's been asleep now about 10 mins. I wait till he shows signs, I don't just put him up because it's been a length of time. He moaned for about 2 mins and is out cold now.

He woke really crying about 3am and took about 260ml while awake so I guess he still needs that 4th bottle but where do I fit it in so it doesn't interfere with his 3 meals? Or should I give bottle and accept he just eats a little less each meal time?

(Confused)

I think mid-morning. Just offer a small bottle for now, and then gradually decrease the night bottle and see how you go. You can always push lunch back half an hour if it's interfering with how much he eats. He's still only little though, and milk is more important at this age.