Early waking

[DrunkDori]

My baby is 9 months old and I seem to be finally cracking down on waking through the night and bed sharing.

Currently she goes roughly 10 hours in her cot - hooray. However it's from around 6:30 till between 4 and 4:30. Sometimes I can get her back to sleep by bringing her in with me, other times I can't.

I've tried putting her down later but she tends to wake all through the night if I do that.

Any suggestions?

I feel your pain, I have 6.5mth old twin boys and They seem to wake between 3.45 and 4,30 every morning. I can usually get one of them back to sleep but the youngest never seems to go back to sleep. This has been going on for over 2mths now. I'm physically and mentally exhausted. I've tried everything, putting them to bed later, dream feeds and even letting them try to chat/ cry them selfs back to sleep. The main problem with doing that is if I have got the other boy back to sleep I don't want the one that's still awake to wake him back up. I honestly am at my wits end, I don't know what to go to try and get them over this period.

Hi, just checking up to see if anyone had any changes at all?

Elaine - I wish I had some advice for you. Sleep at that age is very unpredictable. It all feels like a case of riding through it zombie style.

I am really beginning to wonder this end if mine is starting not to need her nap. She seems to be going down later (11.30am which is late for her) and then not needing to go to bed until 8/8.30 even with 45 min nap. I can't put her down at 11.30 anyway as I have to collect my son from pre-school at 12.15 so it gets pushed back even later.

Everything you read online says the average age for giving up a nap is 3/4 years but I am wondering if she is ready now, or maybe every other day. Might try that.

My son didn't nap at this age - not that he wouldn't have, but it was the only way to stop him waking at 1am for 2 hours every night. I just had to cut it out . Anyway, he sleeps fine now, except that dc2 is waking him up at 6am which is going to be a problem when he starts school in September.

Argh.

I was going to post a check-up today too :)

We seem to be settling into a 1-nap routine... I usually put DS in his cot about 8am, he usually doesn't go to sleep but is quite happy having quiet time in the dark for a bit while I get ready for the day/do chores. If he does fall asleep I wake him after half an hour/45 mins, which used to be unthinkable to me. It seem to refresh him so he can happily get through the morning.
He has then been taking a nap after an early lunch, around 12:30ish for as long as he wants.
And most excitingly of all......
This has coincided with him waking up at 6 not 5!!!!!! So I can only put the later waking down to less day sleep. YAY!

BUT we have gone back to night feeds... He is waking up between 3&4 absolutely screaming. I think it's hunger and his stomach just can't hold enough food to see him through til morning. He has a big dinner, then shortly after that a supper before bed of banana and bottle of milk, but still doesn't seem to be enough.

We are away this weekend from today and naps are already out of whack!

Glad you are starting the day at a slightly more reasonable hour!

Do you feel that the night feeds are hunger versus comfort? I used to give Dc1 supper before bed - weetabix or porridge or something substantial which seemed to see him through the night. He would have a bottle on top of that too. Could try porridge instead of a banana?

Hi. Checking in too.

My tweaks of routine aren't working. I also have a weekly throw up of routine two days a week at the cms as he will literally only nap for 30 mins on those days and will go to bed at 6, and still wakes at 5.30, I could set a clock on it now. He SS quicker within minutes on those days( as recently been taken over an hour at his 6.30 BT, 2 naps a day routine, this is really defeating the object of early BT ha, it isn't working, but 4 and a half hours awake time and then some before bed seems too much. I am too wondering whether I should take a gamble and start him getting used to One nap a day.

Bendy- I am thinking of trying out what you are doing, it is obviously working. How old is your DS? I like the idea of giving them the option of a morning nap if needed etc. . . How to transition to one nap? And how do i know he is ready? Ah

Have you night weaned yet? If so he should not need a feed at night. I just wonder if the screaming is something else and if you feed him you may be back to square one with NWs. Or is that a bit harsh? Maybe it is a growth spurt. For tea I make a fruit porridge for pudding and he guzzles up to 8 oz of milk at BT. .that helps I think, hope x x

Hi again Pop! I am almost certain it's hunger not comfort - we try all sorts of comfort before flinging him a bottle. Could definitely try porridge etc tonight. He has dinner about 5:30 then supper 6:30, in bed always by 7, so it feels like he's only just had dinner, but he probably will eat it!
Last night he slept 7-4:30, bottle, then didn't wake up again til QUARTER TO EIGHT!!!! Amazing as I was working til midnight!

Sorry, Fifi too, hi! I am almost sure it's hunger. We had about a week or 2 of no night feeds (he just didn't wake up, we didn't try to cut them down), so got my hopes up. So it's a bit of a bummer that didn't last, but we just keep a bottle of premade formula and a bottle upstairs and give that to him and he has it in his cot and we go back to bed
He has got 4 molars in the last fortnight and is cutting 2 canines now, and has grown an inch in height in the last couple of weeks too. He's also starting to talk and has been walking for 2 months so think it's just everything!! He's 13 months.

Also how to go down to one nap.... I have no idea, just winging it, but what I've done is:

Up 6
Down for nap around 8- he was always quite tired quite quickly after getting up in the morning, that's fading a bit now and I noticed he was just naturally stretching himself out a bit longer before getting sleepy. He also started resisting his morning nap and I'd persevere for up to 1.5 hrs and sometimes gave up.
When it got to the point that I would end up having to give up on the nap more often than not, we would go out before 1st nap in order to stretch him out/distract him a bit more until he was V tired and would nap when we got home, id wake him up after 30 mins. That was enough to refresh him so he could make it through he morning and then have a big nap after lunch.
This week we've managed to skip the morning nap altogether (he has been going into his cot awake - dark, white noise like naptime - when he's seemed tired and that time seems quite restful).

Sorry if that's garbled!