If your baby goes to bed early... When do they wake up?

[PenelopeChipShop]

Just that really! My ds has many many sleep issues but one of the hardest for me is that, in addition to waking up all night, he wakes up between 5 and 6 am every day and despite still looking tired, won't re settle. I think this is creating a vicious cycle because if he's up at 5 or 6 he still wants a nap about 2 hours later, so only at 7 or 8 in the morning! He can only stay awake about 2-3 hours at a time so this means his daytime naps are all really too early - his last one is sometimes at 2 or 3 pm and he only sleeps for about half an hour so then by 6pm he's so overtired he has to go to bed early again. I just don't know how to break this cycle. I thought having a bedtime routine and early bedtime was a good thing but his sleep is worse than almost every other baby of his age that I know. He goes to bed at 7pm so he's getting about 10 hours a night - and interrupted hours at that. Is that enough?? Is anyone in the same boat? He slept a lot better til he was about 4 months then it all went to the sea monsters. He is now just over 5 months.

Yes - same boat. No suggestions as I've tried pretty much everything without success. At the 'praying for a miracle before I have to go back to work' stage now!

DS (7 1/2 months) goes to bed between 5.45 and 6pm (it is very precise!) and then generally He either wakes in the night once or twice for a feed and then wakes up for the day at 7-7.30 or sleeps through and wakes up at 6am starving hungry. He has two naps in the day-one at about 9, and one at about 12.45. First one is usually about 45 mins long, second one about 1 hour 15mins. I am a bit torn about what to do really-I like him going to bed early, DH often gets up at 5am for work so we are usually in bed by 10pm. Also when I go back to work in April I'll have to get him up at about 6.30 three days a week to get him to the childminder, so part of me thinks just to leave bedtime where it is. How much sleep does DS get in the day? 10 hours at night doesn't sound much at 5 months.

DD used to have 3 naps until she was 9 months old. Like your baby, she couldn't stay up more than about 2 hours between sleeps for absolutely months and she used to want to go back for her first nap really early, about an hour after waking. So she'd have a sleep about 7:30am, 11:30am and then a short one at about 3:30pm that I'd wake her up from after 45 mins. That seemed to tide her over until bedtime.

Could it be worth adding a 3rd nap so that he's not getting so over-tired? That might help him sleep in for longer in the morning. I think 10 hours probably isn't quite enough at night but every baby is so different and I know what works for one doesn't for another.

(I was tearing my hair out over my DD's rubbish sleep until I read "Healthy sleep habits, happy child". I know it's not perfect and some bits I didn't buy into my it massively helped me understand how to help my DD sleep better).

Yep same here.

Ds is 6 months.

4.30-5am up for the day
7-8 nap
12-1 nap maybe maybe not
No more naps despite trying everything
Absolutely knackered bedtime anywhere from 4.30 onwards!!!

I'm exhausted and fed up and my dd aged 9 was exactly the same. She gradually grew out of it.

No matter what I do I can't get ds to nap longer or go to bed later. It's the same every bloody day !!

I keep telling myself at least hes doing 12 hourrs... just in the wrong time !!!

I had this problem and pushed back the morning nap gradually until it was at 10am this did take a few weeks but worked for me as has a knock on effect to the rest of the naps! Bath time is 6.30 bottle and bed for 7.15ish. Good luck early mornings are harsh! My baby girl has a cold at the moment so not getting much sleep! Xx

Thanks for all replies. Teacher if I were you I'd probably leave things as they are if you'll need him to be up early in a few months anyway! Ds naps three times a day, occasionally even four times if they're all really short. It probably totals about 2.5 hours at most though. I'm beginning yo suspect he is chronically overtired and I feel like a bad mum but I can't force him to sleep! He cries when put in the cot awake even if he's v sleepy and I can't leave him so I always crack. Then he wakes up and sometimes I miss the nap window so that doesn't help. Only way he naps is in the pram.

Greenleaf thanks for the book recommendation I will get it! Have got No Cry Sleep Solution but am still reading it! Takes a while to formulate the plan.

Tilly I would love too but I just can't get him to stay up! When he's overtired he absolutely screams... Yet he also resists sleep when given the opportunity! This is definitely the hardest part of being a parent for me :-(

Fairy it seems some babies just resist naps don't they? It's as if ds thinks he might miss out on something!

Yep mine obviously thinks sleep is incredibly boring ! :)

Up again at 4.30 here... he was full of the joys of spring as I stumbled half awake down the hall. Groan.

He had a ten minute nap at 6am... then another bottle. Then some breakfast (banana puree) at 7 when dd got up.

I took him on the school run with me at 8.30 and now we're home I've just put him down for a nap in his cot... amazingly he's asleep! Who knows how long for.. probably ten minutes !

How long did you get?? Mine has surpassed himself today... Up at 6, 10 minute nap at 8.15, 10 minutes at 10.30 and that's it. He looks grumpy but he won't sleep!! And because those ten mins take the edge off a bit he probably won't even try to sleep again for another 2 hours! Wish I knew what I am doing wrong.

My dd goes to bed anywhere between 9 and 10 - she then wakes briefly a lot but feeds at 3 and 7ish and gets up for the day 8.30/9.....^but^ you would not believe the hassle and comments we get from everyone about it being too late and why isn't she is bed yet. If we try a 7/8 bedtime she treats it as a nap and is wide awake again by 9. So yes it's more civilised in the morning, but it's hard to get anything done in the eve and we never have a quiet dinner and you get a lot of criticism....can we ever win?

Awake at 5.45am here... I'm sure that the next bit of teething or whatever will cock it all up anyway, so I'm going to try not to worry about it too much. To be honest though he does tend to nap better when he wakes up earlier, so I may just leave things as they are for the moment, possibly try and push bedtime back 20 mins or so, for some reason, psychologically 6am seems acceptable, 5.55am, is definitely too bloody early!

My 9 month old DD would most definitely be up for the day between 4 and 5 am if I didn't bring her into bed with me. She'll generally stay in her cot from bedtime through until then, with a feed or two and endless shush pats on the hour. I cuddle her up, bf lying down and co-sleep and that gets us through until 7ish. Sometimes she's awake for an hour or so - when that happens it's rough but I just do a nappy change, get back in bed, keep things fairly dark and quiet and boring and eventually she gets fussy for the boob and settles back down. But if bf hadn't worked out as well as it has then I'd definitely be up for the day before dawn. It's been a lifesaver as she's struggled with sleep from birth. That extra hour or two really helps.

Squidgermummy our 4 mo ds has a v similar pattern to your dd thanks for making me feel less bad. We do get him ready for bed about 7 (bath etc) he then naps and feeds throughout the evening and I would much rather have him happy with us In the living room than going back and forth to a crying baby. Or be up all night as his main long sleep would begin before I go to bed.
We've even had a few odd happy days when his first sleep is 10-6.30 mostly when he has had the most naps in the day. I've definitely seen a correlation between the amount of daytime sleep and night time sleep. The problem is then trying to get him to nap well in the day!!!