hand holding for early wake ups needed!

[tiredybear]

4.30am. again.
feed and cuddle in bed. used to be able to put him back in his cot and he'd go back to sleep for an hour or two. Just lately, he's up for the day instead. ugh.
He's just turning 15 months, never been a great sleeper. had dropped to one night feed, now back up to 2/3. Just discovered the joy of tantrums too (thought that wasn't until 2yrs!!?!)
Yes, it's summer and the birds are singing and it's daylight, so I suppose I can't blame him. but it's just SO early! I know it's a phase but...ugh.

anyone else?

[tiredybear]

5.45am. yes! NEVER thought that would feel like a lie in!!

hmmmum only let him have a short afternoon nap and it seems to have helped a bit. He's sleeping now, but am going to only let him have 30mins for his morning nap...thinking of gradually bringing it down.

Also discovered he's in 'leap 9' which is why he's off food, tantrumming at everything, and only going max 4 hours at night.

Anyone else have a better night?

[FifiFerusha]

Yes right there with you.

Long days are just adding to the routine of. EW, someone told me, so I am going with this routine and an early BT.
WU 5.30
MN 9.30 until 10, I am capping it under someone's advice to ensure a long afternoon nap.
AN 1/1.30 until 3.
BT 6.30

I did this yesterday and he woke at 6 am this morning, so there is some improvement. Will probably last, oh, a day :) good luck.

[splendide]

Oh yes I sort of did that accidentally. For a while he had 30 mins in the morning in his cot at about 8.30/9 then for a while he would nod off in his buggy when we were out in the morning but because he is and has always been shit at sleeping anywhere except in his cot or with me it would end up being 10-20 mins or something.

[tiredybear]

hmmmum thanks so much for your reply. Think i might try the 15 min cat nap - so obvious but had never thought of it before!

[hmmmum]

For anyone who's trying to move their child's nap from morning to the afternoon, the morning cat-nap REALLY helps. Just that little 15 minutes keeps them going. Just want to emphasise that, because we were trying to move my DS's nap and it was really hard, he was just too exhausted. but the little nap keeps him going.
good luck to everyone - the early rises are brutal.

[hmmmum]

I haven't read all the replies but our DS (nearly 2) has always been an early riser. It was 5am and for the last few weeks it's been 4am. We paid for a sleep consultant (over the phone one) and she's really helped us out with a detailed plan as to how to re-set his body clock, as he was just so used to waking early.
He used to have one long nap in the morning, but now we have moved his nap to 1pm instead (we let him have a cat-nap for 15minutes in the morning if he's really tired, then wake him up). He sleeps for about an hour. So his only nap is one hour each day (plus the 15 minute one sometimes).
This has massively helped - he still wakes at 4am but he settles back to sleep and sleeps until 6am. It's still early days so I'm hoping as time goes on he'll adjust more and more and not wake up at 4 anymore, just sleep through.
I think a lot of early waking is about naps - either letting them nap too much, or at the wrong time.
BUT every baby is totally different - I'm not saying this works for everyone. Just wanted to say in case it helps anyone, that sometimes changing their naps can help them to sleep later.

[tiredybear]

love my sleep, hate night waking/feeding but my LO has other ideas. tried to drop nightfeeds at the start of the year, managed to drop all but one. Now he's not eating much again, he's gone back to 2.
I long ago had to accept that my LO would take longer than others to sleep/drop feeds.

Thanks TheEagle for your advice/support.

[tiredybear]

Splendide - the shushing/hand through the bars used to work but now he just screams with rage. He is SO loud now, and SO wilful - have no idea where he gets his stubborn streak from (ahem!)
Need to brace myself to try and drop the morning nap maybe....

polka 4.20 - ouch! sending coffee your way!

[TheEagle]

Horses for courses I suppose diddly, we are coming at this from 2 very different viewpoints.

Sorry to derail your thread OP

[Diddlydokey]

My children all got their first tooth at 21 weeks. I was certainly not going to stop breastfeeding them during the night at that age.

I would have... put that down to different parenting styles I suppose. I like my sleep too much to be feeding at night for too long.

[TheEagle]

The study that you linked diddly, did not research children who had their teeth brushed after solids before bedtime.

As I mentioned above, brushing teeth after the last ingestion of solids will help protect against decay.

My children all got their first tooth at 21 weeks. I was certainly not going to stop breastfeeding them during the night at that age.

[TheEagle]

kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/tooth-decay/

[Diddlydokey]

Once there are teeth on the scene, I would only do a bedtime routine of pjs, milk, teeth, book and bed and no milk until morning.

[Diddlydokey]

www.reuters.com/article/us-breastfeeding-past-two-years-idUSBREA2D1Q820140314

There are links to on demand feeding beyond infancy and tooth decay

[MoonlightMedicine]

TheEagle that's really interesting, I didn't know that and have been worrying about both my children as they have both been big night feeders. Both have really good teeth (eldest is 6).

[TheEagle]

diddly, once the child's teeth are brushed after solids then breastmilk at night doesn't damage teeth.

Breastmilk contains a property called lactoferrin which actually protects teeth.

Nighttime breastfeeding is often not about calorie intake but about comfort.

If the OP felt like night weaning she could look into it but I think she just wants some support and the knowledge that she's not alone in waking in the wee small hours.

[TheEagle]

They have dinner after their sleep so usually around 1.30 these days.

Breakfast: 7ish
Snack: 10ish
Dinner: 1.30ish
Snack: 3.30
Tea: 5ish

Good luck!

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

The Eagle I could do that. I'll try it tomorrow! So do they have an early or late lunch?

[Diddlydokey]

Stop BFing at night, he doesn't need it and it isn't helping the solids or his teeth. I would feed after breakfast and before bed, but not feeding to sleep.. teeth should be brushed and going to bed clean.

Gro anywhere blackout blind.

[TheEagle]

bendy, could you even try keeping him up until 10.30/11 and see now that goes?

DTs can't last longer than 11 for their nap, I've tried stringing it out until 12 but it's miserable for everyone.

They sleep 11ish-1ish and then are ready for sleep by 6.45pm.

It seems to work well for them.

[TheEagle]

splendide, so true! I drove myself daft trying to "fix" DS1 and his sleep but I just try to follow DTs lead and see what happens.

They don't sleep all night tiredy! Come morning there's always 1 or both in bed with me too

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Sorry to jump on your thread tiredy. But what do people think about just powering through the morning and keeping him up until about 12 even though he really is super tired by about 8? Do you think that would kind of reset everything?
I'm reluctant because today he slept 8:30-10 and is still knackered now, making his tired noises, whingey etc etc, so skipping morning nap will be that x100. But short term pain for long term gain? Last night he slept 7-3, DH got up to feed him as he was starving, then slept 3:30-5:30. We had a glorious period of sleeping through the night (but waking at 4:30-5). I do much better without night wakings!

[splendide]

The problem is that by the time you figure anything out they've moved on! M

[tiredybear]

glad we're not alone but sorry you guys are suffering too.
Bendydick - yeah we're same here with naps. last week he looked like he wanted to drop to one, but now back to 2 x 80mins naps (to the minute!). I think he's a bit ahead in a lot of ways so may be having the development leap now, but has always been behind with sleeping - only started reliably having naps ofmore than 30mins during the day from around a year!

Don't want to wish the time away, but can't wait til i can get down to one nap - feel a bit trapped! If he doesn't sleep he's SO grumpy - and having regular tantrums even when he's NOT tired.

TheEagle - so jealous! can't imagine my LO EVER sleeping that well at night! I think the extra night wake ups are due to hunger as he's stopped eating very much during the day. Really upped his feeds from me, byt mainly just plays with his food now, he always used to eat so well, so not sure what's going on.

[polkadotdelight]

DS is a 5am waker, he treated me to 4.20am today. He is 21 months and always been that way. I am haggard.