EMW - Desperate for help!

[flowercat]

My 10.5 month old has been EMW ever since he started to sleep through the night at 7 month. He wakes up anywhere between 5 and 5:30am every single morning and my husband and I are at the end of our tether!

We tried everything - late bedtime, early bedtime, later MN, cutting out the MN altogether, with/without the nightlight etc etc - but whatever we do, he ALWAYS wakes before 5:30am.

His typical day goes like this:

5:00 - 5:30 wake up
6:00 Milk (8oz)
8:00 Breakfast
9:30 or 10:00 nap (30 mins)
12:00 Lunch
1 or 1:30 nap (1.5 hrs)
5:00 Dinner
7pm Bed (after bath & 8oz bottle)

I think he's in a good routine and he eats fairly well.

I know from browsing different forums that making sure MN doesn't happen too early in the morning is the first thing to do to combat EMW but this hasn't worked for us. We even cut out the MN altogether for a week or so but this didn't make any difference. We tried putting him to bed late (around 7:30 - 8pm) for a week but he would still wake up at the usual time, which resulted in him having less sleep so we went back to the usual bed time of 7pm.

When he wakes up, he doesn't really cry or complain too much. He just chats to himself until we get him up. We often leave him until past 6am but we don't go back to sleep or anything, so we are tired all the same.

Not being able to have any break - not even a single morning - from the EMW is seriously getting us down. We are constantly tired and are moody with each other, and find it difficult to give our poor 5-year old the attention that he deserves.

If any of you ladies have any advice, please please let me know!

Thank you in advance xx

An unbroken 10-10.5 hour stretch sounds enviable to me. I'd just go to bed earlier and/or turn off the baby monitor if he's not unhappy.

The only other thing you don't appear to have tried is wake to sleep. Set your alarm for 4am, go in and rouse him slightly and see if it tips him over into another sleep cycle. It may not work though, as that may be enough sleep for him.

Thanks for your reply, ElphabaTheGreen!

Yes, I know I should be grateful that he sleeps through... I feel bad when I think about mums whose babies still wake up in the night.
We go to bed early every night (by 10pm) so in theory we shouldn't be too tired after having a 7-hour stretch every night, but somehow waking up early every morning makes you really tired!
We don't have the baby monitor in our room, but he's right next door to us so we can always hear him :(

flowercat we have one like that. He's 19 months now and, whilst he has phases of waking after 6am, he reverts back to 5-5.30 for no obvious reason. He sleeps through and like you, I know we should be grateful for that, but I can totally relate to the exhaustion of constant early starts! It's like my body clock knows it's a good 4 2 hours' earlier than I'd like to be up.

I don't have any advice I'm afraid as we tried everything too. The only thing I'd suggest is you take it in turns to get up with him so one of you gets another hour or two in bed (assuming your 5 year old sleeps longer too). I remember my GP saying that 'some kids are just early wakers' before she told me her 5 year old still wakes up at 5am!

I think sleep train him, I did with my little one who woke early. Didn't take long really. Once he cries go in every five minutes. He will eventually learn. I'll prob get shot down but it worked for us!

Have you tried giving him milk when he wakes, then putting him back to bed? mine used to do this and then sleep until 8am

Thanks for your replies ladies!

NoisyBrain - thanks for your kind words! Nice to know I'm not the only one experiencing this. I hope my baby is not one of these early wakers though! My eldest is (and has been for a long time) a fantastic sleeper. He sleeps until 7:30 every morning. So I'm hoping one day my baby will follow his steps :)

Cooper11111 - he doesn't cry when he wakes at 5. He's just awake and ready to start the day. So I don't think sleep training will do the trick. I'm not against sleep training by the way - we sleep trained him when he was 7 month old and he's fantastic at self settling & sleeping through now :)

waiting78 - we haven't tried giving him milk when he wakes. I'm a bit worried that it will encourage him to wake up early even more wanting milk...?

My son was the same, but neither of us (both working full time) could sustain waking at that hour everyday. Surely he would cry eventually if you didn't go to him?

He sounds lovely and it won't last for ever. It makes me sad when people seem to want to 'fix' their babies when there's nothing actually wrong with them

He's waking happy after a good night's sleep, I can't understand what you're complaining about.

That's like complaining that your Rolls Royce isn't a convertible.

Sorry - not much sympathy as it is a transitory issue and he's too little to try and control so much.

Surely he would cry eventually if you didn't go to him? ?????! Is that what you want to achieve? He's happy! You're suggesting making him sad so you get an extra half hour's sleep?

Good Lord

If he wakes happy, though, he's had enough sleep. OP says she leaves him until past 6am and he doesn't cry.

X-post. Psipsina wrote what I was thinking.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsh and I can see why you are a bit tired but really, I think you are giving this too much credit for the way you feel.

Most of us would be really grateful for a happy child at any reasonable-ish hour, perhaps you are just trying to fine tune him but really, chill out. It WON'T last for ever. Perhaps his body clock is just set to early riser.

I would be glad if my littlest one didn't cry every time he woke. Basically what I mean is, if it ain't broke, please don't try and fix it. Little chap deserves respect for being such a nice kid, whatever hours he keeps.

And if you mess with it by waiting till he cries then ignoring him, you have broken what was a perfectly good situation and he won't understand.

I hope you don't take that advice.

Flowercat are you me?!? My DS is exactly the same - only he's 9 month.
The only thing we have tried that you haven't is moving his morning milk.
It seems to have gained us an extra half HR... So he now sometimes wakes at 6 not 5.30...

So instead of giving him milk when we get him up - we play and distract him for 20/30 mins and then give him his milk at 7 at the earliest. It may have made the difference but who knows!

I sympathise and I know I find 6 more palatable than 5.30...

OP you have my sympathies - my ds was an early waker from 6ish months onwards & I remember how exhausting it can feel, even if you do go to bed early.

Do you wake him from his morning nap after 30mins or does he wake naturally? If the latter, does he wake happy or grumpy? May sound a silly question but your answer will affect the advice I give.

Hi ladies, thanks for all the replies. I wanted to write sooner but it's been another hectic day - baby woke up at 4:50am (!) and I've been feeling like a zombie all day :(

Appreciate all the advice/kind words/opinions - even if some of you think I haven't got much to complain about :)

mrshope - 6am sounds fantastic! I haven't tried delaying his milk so I'll definitely give it a go. Thanks for the tip :)

Omama - he wakes from his morning nap naturally most of the time, and he's usually happy and refreshed. Any advice you can give me,,I'd very much appreciate it!

We're going away for 5 days starting tomorrow and I'm already dreading it as we'll all have to sleep in the same room! But I have a tiny hope that being on holiday and his routine going out of the window might reset his body clock somehow?!? With my eldest, his EMW stopped the day after we arrived in France for our holiday!

Fingers crossed for you flowercat- sometimes a change can help! You and them!

I also dropped his last nap but looks like you have done this already.

Try moving his bottle (the rationale all being to do with circadian rhythms and whatnot I believe!)