11wo turns into half-awake 'zombie baby' in early am - ideas to help him out of it?!

[PopsicleToes]

My 11wo DS goes down fairly predictably between 10-11pm (dummy, rocking to sleep, then into swaddle & a bit more rocking if necessary) He sleeps for about 4 hours, then after a feed maybe another 1-2 hours max, but then instead of waking up goes into a kind of half-way state where it's equally difficult to wake him up or get him back to sleep.

After next feeding he seems to drift off again but doesn't last, if put down he thrashes head from side to side and eventually whines/cries; if i hold him he might sleep quietly for a short time but then thrashes/head butts me. This continues from early hours (4-5am) until 9-10am.

Anyone else had a similar experience or ideas what is going on? I'm just about getting by on that first stretch of sleep of the night but it's not great and also don't think it is very good quality sleep for him. He naps ok during the day, 3-4 naps of anywhere between 40mins-2 hours (the longer ones tend to only happen in buggy/sling). In the longer run would like to bring bedtime forward and work on getting him to sleep with less help from me/DP, but right now this is the thing that's really doing my nut in!

So far hypotheses are 1) just immature nervous system that makes him move head/limbs and wake himself up - in which case do i just lump it until he grows out of it?

2. Digestive issues/silent reflux that make him uncomfortable at night - not convinced by reflux as he's a pretty happy baby during the day, naps well lying down & doesn't explain why he goes down ok the first part of the night.

Have yet to ask doc or health visitor about it due to holidays, in the meantime any ideas much appreciated...

My DD was doing similar at around that stage. The only thing i could do to get some sleep in the early hours was bring her into bed to co-sleep. She's now 17 weeks and is doing a bit better at sleeping more soundly in the latter part of the night between the wake ups, which are still quite frequent. I've been playing white noise through the night for quite a few weeks now so maybe that has helped - worth a go anyway!

My 10'week old does the same. The only way I've coped is to cosleep after the 4/5am feed as he seems to settle easier if I feed on my side and don't attempt to transfer him back into the cosleeper. How light is the room? Blackout blinds might help.

Mine did the same the only way I could sleep was to have her on me and doze sitting up.

She grew out of it though and goes back to sleep in her cot now at 4 months

Thanks all, glad to hear it may just pass of its own accord and not the only one! Doing first feed of the night and wondering what's in store for me the next few hours 😐

Seasick, its prob a little on the light side, will consider blackout blind although i really hate waking up in complete darkness!

serial might give white noise a try.

I guess co-sleeping sounds like the most sure-fire way to deal with it.

Thanks again 😊