Up from 5am?! Tips needed!

[breakfastinbread]

My 4.5month DS has a fairly consistent bedtime of 630-7pm with well established bedtime routine of milk, bath, story, bed. He sleeps in a travelcot next to our bed. Naps fairly well during the day. Usually 45mins-1hr about 830. Lunchtime nap varies between 1-2hrs and afternoon nap of 30mins no later than 430pm.

He generally wakes about midnight-1am and settles with a dummy. Wakes again between 2-3, at which point I BF him. Then from anywhere between 430-5am he grizzles and is unsettled, throws head around and needs dummy putting in repeatedly.

If I leave him in his cot, we will both usually be up at 6am, and he'll be napping again by 730am. If I bring him into bed with me, we both usually sleep until 7am, so I'm not sure it's hunger.

Any tips to stop this early morning waking? I don't want to make the habit of bringing him into bed with me!

At that age I would feed. Treat the 5am wake up as a night feed.

But that said, I think there would be a way to get your baby to stop waking so early. Sounds to me like over tiredness - not enough daytime sleep. Being over tired makes sleep fretful and disturbed.

Good sleep promotes better sleep so you might find your son will sleep better and for longer in the morning if he is getting better sleep and more sleep over 24 hours and not getting over-tired.

I would go for either more frequent daytime naps or longer daytime naps - whichever suit your baby at the moment (it will change, nothing ever stays the same).

For my DD from 3 to 5 months old she was sleeping approximately 45-60 minutes in every 2 hours through the daytime. So five naps per day - about 4-5 hours total daytime sleep.

She is now 5 1/2 months and is just transitioning to fewer longer naps - she has 2-3 hours at 9am, 2 hours at 1pm and then sometimes 45 minutes afterschool (and sometime not). Still about 4-5 hours total sleep, but only over 2 or 3 naps.