3am and awake for the day??!

[2Littleboys2]

Please help. Our 7 week old wakens at 3am every nite and seems to think that's him for the day.
He will usually go down at 8/9pm and sleep til 12, then he'll go from 1am til 3am...then he will only sleep for 20mins or so at a time (does go to sleeep ok but just wakes up really soon after...torture) until I finally give up at 6am and pull him into the bed with me. At this time I will be getting desperate as our toddler generally wakens at 7.
Please if there is anyone out here who has to deal with the same or has managed to manipulate their little'un's sleep pattern similar to ours please let me know how you did it!! Our 1st was a great sleeper and at this stage (7 weeks) he was only waking 2 times in the nite...which I would be delighted with. 8/9 times in one period is a bit excessive and we are slowly loosing the plot :) Any advice welcome thanks.

P.s we have a routine every night with bath, pj's btl and bed.
Thanks.

Do you feed him at 3am or just try to settle him?

Just let him sleep with you for the rest of the night - he is only very little.

Also don't expect him to follow the same patterns as any older siblings - they are totally different people and won't necessarily fall into the same routines

Thanks for responses!

Yes we feed him at 3am.

If i let him sleep with me am i not encouraging him to only want to sleep with me...is that wise?

I wouldn't worry about what's wise. If he sleeps better in bed with you, do that! It's all about survival at this stage. You were very lucky with DC1 ;)

Probably not the right thing to do but my 5 week dd sometimes wakes at 5am thinking it playtime. I just take her down stairs, change her and let her play on the mat for half an hour which is enough to tire her out, then feed and back to bed. Apart from a quick feed at 9am she'll sleep til midday. Luckily playtime seems to be moving to 7.30am lately.

I had my son in bed with me most nights until he was 3 months old. Meant we all got some sleep.
He's 3 now and sleeps in his own room without any problem. We never had any problems with transition to cot etc despite having let him sleep in with me.

He has reflux, although this has been sorted by thickening his milk. Neglected to tell you all that lol...would it have somethin to do with it?
It's just so strange because he goes back over to sleep ok but just wakens 20mins later and every 20/30mins or so after that until I take him into bed wi me.
Karen 1226, my 1st would always wake at 5am for the day too and again he'd just go back for a huge nap at some stage in morning so it waasn't so bad.. I was able to cope with that ok because he slept through the nite by then but I can't cope now with and early start after an interrupted night's sleep. and no nap on offer for me during the morning as my toddler is up wrecking the place!! Argh it's torture.

Maybe I'll consider the co-sleeping in the early am as a permanent solution rather than just something done in desperation. My hubby doesn't approve at all...but then it's not him who has to cope with the 2 kids all the next day on v little sleep.

Thanks again for responses.

Is your husband up in the night as much as you? If not, IMVHO he doesn't really have the right to 'disapprove'.

Best advice I can give for a ridiculously early waker is don't put them to bed until you go. That way you all get as much uninterrupted sleep as possible. It's all about self-preservation!

It just doesn't make any sense at all to put a baby to bed early until they can reliably sleep through to a time you deem reasonable. Before that, I kept them downstairs with me - napping, feeding, playing - during the evening, only putting them in their cots upstairs after the final feed of the evening.

Then everyone gets their biggest block of sleep at the same time. Bring bedtime forward as they drop the late feed.

But then I've never, ever put my DC to bed at 7. That's a peculiarly British thing that leads to endless threads from desperately tired parents asking what to do with a child who wakes at 4 or 5am every day...

Thanks again.
My hubby does a "night shift" twice a week so I guess he should have a say lol. I think he's just worried that he'll end up wanting in our bed all the time.

We don't deliberately put him to bed early. He just seems to take a big sleep at around that time. He generally sleeps downstairs for that 1st sleep from 9-12ish and then upstairs for the rest.
Our toddler doesnt go to bed until 8ish so we aren't into putting our kids to bed really early either, in the hope we get a bit longer in the morning :)

I dont agree with co sleeping either.

I don't know if you've tried it put with mine I found when they woke so early we were putting them to bed too late, sounds odd I know.

For example if my dd goes down at 8 she will wake several times and be up at 5. Yet if she is down by 7 she goes till 6.

I would do whatever gets you the most sleep now - I'd rather have a baby in bed with me and sleep those 3 hours than be trying to settle him every 20 minutes.

You can always change habits later if it stops working.

My dd slept with me pretty much second half of every night until she was 8 months when I stopped bf. would bring her in for a feed at 3 or 4 ish, easier for all involved to snooze together. Happily, she is now 5 and a delight at bedtime, 12 hours a night and more than happy to go.

Co-sleeping can often mean the diff between a knackered unhappy mum and one who is more rested and able to deal with the day! Your lo is still very teeny and needing you is fair enough?

Good luck with it!

It depends on if how well of a sleeper you are. I know I can't sleep with babies in the room or in our bed. Everyone is different