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Waking earlier and earlier every week... help!

5 replies

ellie3009 · 29/09/2014 10:30

Hi all, I'm back again...
DS now 9 months old. Through July and start of August he was often up for hours, several times in the night. He would generally then sleep until 8.30, sometimes as late as 9.45.

In a bid to stop the ridiculous hours of being awake during the night, we started a regular getup time of 7.45 and a regular bedtime of 7-7.30. This has worked (mostly) for the night wakings. Although he still wakes, it is normally a max of 45 mins wake time. For the first week we had to wake him up at 7.45am.

However, since we started this in the middle of August, he now wakes on his own, and his wake time is shifting earlier by 10-15mins each week, so we are now on 6.30am. I am a little worried that there is no sign of this stopping and that soon we'll be getting up at 5am!! I cannot treat this as a night waking because he's always had his morning poop, a sign that he is definitively up for the day. He chats and squeals happily down the monitor when up for the day, (rather than crying for a night-waking) so I also know from that.

Ideally I'd like him to wake somewhere between 7-7.30 as this timing allows us to get out to groups. (He is very active and needs more in the way of entertainment than me at home!)

I did think about doing the 'wake-to-sleep' thing, but last night he woke once, at 4.30, and was back to bed at 5am, so it would have been nuts to wake him again at 6am surely??!?

Any ideas wise people? How can I ensure that his wakeups don't continue to creep earlier, and ideally reinstate a 7am wakeup?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

OP posts:
taxi4ballet · 29/09/2014 13:28

Put bedtime back by 15 minutes?

Littlef00t · 29/09/2014 18:57

If not crying I'd ignore him until nearer the right time as at the moment you're reinforcing that the earlier time is the correct time as I presume you are going to him and getting him up.

mrsmugoo · 29/09/2014 20:19

Haha yes it would be ideal if my DS woke for the day at 7:30 but he seems to have other ideas! He's usually awake between 6-6:30. I leave him in the cot until 7am though - he usually plays with toys and is happy to gurgle and coo.

Liveinthepresent · 30/09/2014 06:19

Not helpful but 6.30 is a lie in here !
I would have a look for guidelines on daily sleep and review the whole day.
Not all babies will sleep 12 hours - many only need 11. But you may be able to tweak daytime sleep to help ?
Also you may find even if he wakes earlier you don't need to change morning nap if this makes it easier to get out And about

ellie3009 · 30/09/2014 15:23

I tried leaving him in his cot, he babbles to himself for a few mins but then gets cross that no-one is coming to play and cries.

I can't really put him to bed later, he is soooo tired by 7.30 that he can barely stay awake for his last feed.

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