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Sleep

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Original poster

awake at 5am

11 replies

littleweed · 28/04/2004 07:11

any ideas what to do witha baby that insists in wkaing at 5 and won't go back to sleep? we have balckout curtains, there is no outside disturbance, I fed him, changed stinky nappy, put bonjela on gums (not al at same time obviuosly) to try and eliminate any problems and he has just wailed for the last hour and a half. have tried controlled crying before (he's 7 months) but with no success. he only slept for an hour and a half in the day yesterday so its not a case of too much sleep. Am I destined never to have a decent night sleep again?! littleweed (knackered and fed up!)

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hmb · 28/04/2004 07:36

I can't help to solve your problem but I might help a little by saying that this happend to us with both our children, and it did pass. The children still wake early, at around 6.30 but the 5.00 morning are a thing of the past. It seemed to pass after a few months.

After 6.00 I don't mind so much but 5.00 is so depressing isn't it? Hope that things get better soon for you.

katierocket · 28/04/2004 08:30

my ds (2.6) has done this in phases since he was born, usually last 3-4 weeks and then he goes back to 6.30am (seems like a glorious lie in).

do a search through 'sleep' under 'topics' there is lots of threads about this.

You have my sympathy - we are currently in the 5am phase again and it's a killer.

for the record I've tried everything to stop it and nothing seems to work - black out blinds, putting to bed later, bunny clocks, etc etc blah blah

Monkeysmum · 28/04/2004 08:38

Littleweed sorry your feeling knackered, I don't blame you! We have had this problem with both our boys but particularly our second who is 22 months. We tried black out blinds, controlled crying etc but I think that some kids are just early birds, the good news is in the last month or so he has started lying in until about 6.20, which for him is a miracle, and for the first time in a long time the alarm clock is actually waking us up, not him calling us! So even if your little one is a 5am riser now that doesn't mean to say he won't grow out of it, i'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

katierocket · 28/04/2004 08:51

agree with monkeysmum - I think some children are unfortunately early risers

inkstigmata · 28/04/2004 09:07

I'm not sure from your message but are you saying he always has a dirty nappy at 5am? If so you're probably only going to be able to eliminate the waking if you eliminate the poo - and I don't have any advice about this, but that it might pay to look at what foods he is eating at what points in the day.

Other than that, if he's very tired when he goes to bed, this can result in early waking, so perhaps a longer nap in the day would help?

tatcity · 28/04/2004 11:28

Thats awful - I find it a struggle getting up at 7.30! YOu need to knock that one on the head asap! How is his eating pattern during the day + how much milk does he have? Whenever mine went through phase of waking early was always linked with hunger. I adjusted amount they were getting during the day and it resolved itself. Make sure he knows its not getting up time - minimum fuss etc. Difficult if he's crying I know - but if this carries on you've got years ahead of you of early waking..... Good luck! Does he have a morning feed/bottle at 5.00?

MancMum · 29/04/2004 10:01

I did ask this same question a few months ago with my DD so I know the hell you are going thru - she was about 6 months old - what worked for us was a mixture of the following

more clothes on at night ( extra vest - think I had been paranoid about overheating and poor mite was cold!)
moving bed time every day forward by 5 minutes so that she goes to bed nearer 8 than her natural 7.
more sleep during the day - this was advice I got and it worked - made more of an effort to ensure she slept properly during day (ie routine, cot, left her to cry longer than would normally)
she is now 11 months and sleeping until 7ish - took a few weeks but hopefully these things might help

gloworm · 29/04/2004 10:45

agree will lots of whats been said here. i found both mine started to wake more when they were going through a growth spurt, more food always seemed to do the trick.
Also my mum always says "the more they sleep, the more they sleep". Meaning if they sleep more during the day, they will usually sleep more at night. I almost always found this to be true.

As regards 5am nappy...what time is his last solid feed in evening, is it too close to bedtime?, could you give it a bit earlier? (I know its hard to change their eating habits...they eat when they're hungry, not by the clock...so just a tentitive suggestion!)

karen99 · 29/04/2004 12:57

Had the same problem and did exactly the same as Mancmum !

Now ds is waking up at 6-6:30 which is hard but much much better than before 6. Let us know how you get on.

Original poster

littleweed · 29/04/2004 13:14

thanks veryone. last night he slept from 7 -7 a major first!!!!!!!!!! I htink he might have been cold before - with teh weather being warmer I was putting himto bed with less on, and 5 is probably the coldest part of the day too. so am hoping for the same tonight but have a feeling he has other ideas!

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rosehip · 30/04/2004 21:28

I do sympahise, I had this problem and found it did eventually pass but during this stage I used to get him ready then go do my shopping at our 24 hour tesco whilst it was VERY quiet, come back do breakfast, see my hubby off, get dd ready for school by which time ds was ready to get hi shead down and so was I. This time will pass.

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