wake up call always between 4-5am!

[Chlandy]

Hi,

I'm getting desperate but feel I have tried everything! My son's wake up call is ALWAYS between 4-5am and pretty much always has been so this isn't new and I'm now convinced it's how his body clock has trained! He has been weaning the last couple of weeks (he's 5.5 months old advised to start at 5 months due to amount of milk taking and reflux) and he will usually have a bottle around 4:30 then have his tea (a veg purée) around 5:30, bathtime around 6:30, bottle (8oz) around 7 and straight to sleep. He'll usually wake between 10-11:30 for another bottle takes around 4-5oz and go back to sleep and then he wakes for the day from 4am! He isn't even waking up hungry as if i feed him straight away he'll only take 2-3oz he wakes up screeching with excitement and talking! We have tried ignoring him and he gets frustrated and starts screaming, we have tried getting him in bed with us for cuddles and he just wants to play, we have tried earlier bedtime, later bedtime, tried bottle and cuddle then put back down... Tried everything we can think of even by the Heath visitors account! I'm just so tired! I wouldn't mind even 5:30/6am wake up call... But 4am it's still the middle of the night :(! Any tips?

Thank you

How long have you tried the later bedtimes for?
How long does he nap for?
In my opinion anytime before 5:30-6am is still considered nighttime, but he's still getting 5 hours solid sleep so he's considered to be sleeping through.
Iv always put my children to bed around 7:30-8 when they were babies and sometimes later at the weekend, and they've never fully woke earlier then 7am, they were usually asleep by 8:30 and napped about 1.5 hours during the day at 5 months.

We tried for around a week maybe longer and we didn't sleep for as long as, as he would get overtired then it would be a battle to get him to sleep, he'd scream the entire bath time and wouldn't take his bottle well, resorted back to usual times and went down a dream again. He only cat naps in the day probably around 3 half hour naps and maybe one half decent nap of an hour to an hour and a half! Daytime naps have ALWAYS been a battle I've been in despair with daytime naps as even now he will only sleep on me! The minute I put him down he wakes, doesn't even sleep in pram or car X

And now by 6:15 he's fast asleep again! Arrrggghhhh

It's still morning op, he's obviously not finished with sleep yet.
Sorry if I didn't catch it, but does he have a bottle when wakes at 4:30?

I know and I don't mind him napping just frustrating that he has to get up and play for an hour and a half before he'll go back to sleep at this time! I give him one but he hardly takes anything, he had 1.5oz this morning X

When he wakes up he will most likely have 7-8oz and a bowl of porridge so he doesn't appear to be waking up due to hunger, he was up at 4am this morning wouldn't entertain his bottle till 4:40 and only took a tiny bit and pushed it away X

It must be frustrating.
My youngest is 4 and still a terrible sleeper.

If mine woke I'd usually (without talking or smiling) bring them into my bed and cuddle them in really tight and stroke their head and we'd usually drift off, and they'd be fully awake as I said earlier, at 7am.

I think it's all about the knack of getting them settled as quietly and quickly as possible.

Does he sleep In a sleeping bag?

I also found that if mine napped after 3pm, my sleep would be screwed the entire night.

We do that at mo we bring him into our bed and cuddle him ssh him, stroke his head all usual things that usually get him off, we don't speak or look at him but he just giggles and wriggles out of our arms if we try hold him tight in a snuggle etc. He usually wakes from his last nap around 3:30 but that's not set in stone as we've always struggled with day naps too so there isn't a set routine as such. He has been a terrible sleeper since birth I do hope he grows out of it! Thank you, it's reassuring to know there are other terrible sleepers out there, it's just so exhausting!

Sorry yes he does sleep in a sleeping bag too xx

If it's any consolation, my 1st and 3rd child were both terrible, when I say they went to bed and woke at 7am, I didn't mention the screaming and crying fits every 20-30mins throughout the night.
I actually think that your boy is a pretty good sleeper, getting 5 hours solid sleep is great for a 5 month old. The only issue you have is the early rising, and I'm sure with a bit of patience he'll grow out of this phase.

I found that my babies sleep routines changed all the time. You could find that in a months time you have a different sleep challenge to face, like resisting to go to sleep at 7 and taking 2 hours to nod off.
Babies can be so confusing
I just think you have to ride it out. Sorry I can't offer any miracle solutions!.

Thank you ilovechoc1987, you're right that's a bit of perspective actually, at least he goes down well and we do get a good few hours solid sleep, I suppose that's a lot more than a lot of new parents! Think it's a shock to the system still, but I will ride it out was nice to rant and get it off my chest all the same! they sure are, it's a good job they're so cute haha! Thank you for reading and replying :) hope you have a good day xx

He only needs about 2 to 2 and a half hours of napping during the day. So try to stop him cat napping and aim for one longer nap. He is getting enough during the day which is why he only needs 7 hours at night.

Really? As I got told he should be having up to 5 hours sleep in the day as sleep breeds sleep and was sent this that for his age he should only be awake for 2-2.5 hours at a time. My son usually goes 3-3.5 hours then he's absolutely exhausted and has a nap, how would I keep him awake longer so he just has one long nap please? What you're saying makes more sense to me but not sure how to implement it! Thank you

One long nap at six months is wrong advice .
Sorry but I've never heard of a six month on one long nap

Op 0430 is too early to be up you must be exhausted! Have you tried calling his bluff, get him up at 0430 and keep him awake till say 0930. Both of mine tried the same party trick at around that age, we did the above making sure they didn't nap shortly after waking. They then went on to more humane wake up times, but as is the norm with babies I'm unsure whether it was what we did or whether they would have changed their pattern anyway.

The image says 2 to 2.5 hrs though?? Probably one short nap in the morning and a lunch nap of two hours. Then keep them awake rest of time. That's what I used to do and they slept all night.

The post is wake time length if you open it up to full size, as in they should only be awake 2-2.5 hours before taking a nap... Yesterday we actually tried out the cut of cat naps and long nap by accident due to a busy day, so he had a 40 min nap at 6am (he'd been up since 4) then he had a 20 min nap at 9:45, then he didn't nap till 1:30 and slept for 2 hours then didn't sleep again till bedtime which was also accidentally later due to a house viewing, so was asleep for 7:45... Still woke up at 4:20 tho X

Oh no no tips then really. We always did 7 to bed get up 6.30/7 nap about 9.30 for about 30-45 mins then lunch nap 1-3. I think some kids are early risers compared to others. We used to give no eye contact and go in briefly to check all was ok and go back out if it was before 6 and they always used to go back to sleep. I don't think if they sleep five hours in day they will need more than about 8 or 9 hrs at night though. Mine used to sleep about 14 and a half to 15 hrs in 24.

My son tends to have around 12-13 hours a day which according to my health visitor isn't enough, but I can't get him to sleep anymore! Yeah we don't look at him or talk to him, or even put a night light on we will try ssh him or cuddle him but he just gets frustrated after like 10 mins and screams the place down ha! He's never able to self soothe either. Here's to hoping he grows out of it... Can't wait to get him back when he's a teenager... Guess who's getting their carpet vacced and bed sheets changed at 6am on a Sunday morning x

My baby used to do this and at my wits end if went to see my GP who was v sympathetic but said I needed to be a bit firmer, and just to let her be and ignore the morning shouting - a bit like controlled crying. It was awful to do and still exhausting but after a week she just stopped shouting for us and either played quietly or fell back to sleep. Good luck

chlandy of yes so much revenge to have :) :)
12-13 hours doesn't sound enough at all. Is he in his own room with blackout blinds? Maybe he is being disturbed by something.

He's in our room still as want to wait till 6 months so will be in his own in a few weeks, altho I will confess I am particularly scared to do it as he was in intensive care and very poorly when he was 12 weeks old which has made me a very anxious mummy! We have a black out blind though and neither me or my partner move or make a peep when we're asleep so he's definitely not being disturbed at night. As for daytime naps, well they've been a struggle since the day he was born, were fortunate in the sense he has always known the difference between night and day so grateful in that sense, but he's just not a big day sleeper apart from cat naps! Even when he was days old he would stay awake for up to 2 hours, have half an hour then be awake again! This week I have started new baby groups and been swimming and as a result he has had longer naps in the day so has been having closer to 14 hours sleep, but just hasn't made a difference to his early morning time ha! He's like his dad who only needs little sleep and nothing like his mama who needs lots

loveday222 thank you for the tip that does sound difficult but I am willing to try! Can I ask what you did to be firmer and to get it to work ha? I really couldn't let him cry too much at 4am at the moment as we live in a terraced back to back house and can often hear our neighbours go to the loo so they will most certainly hear him crying! (We're hoping to move soon as our landlady is selling our house, maybe a blessing in disguise ha!)

I'm afraid it was just sitting out the crying. My daughter would wake up at about 5am and happily shout 'mama mama mama' and then get more and more distressed and start crying. Woke us up woke up her sister, it was awful. We were exhausted, all of us. The GP said to me that at this age babies want their own way and are quite manipulative (I know - awful description) he had some statistic on the amount of times they will cry to get you to come to them and once they know it works they will persist and persist. If you don't come they learn that it doesn't work and they go back to sleep. A bit like the game of throwing something on the floor so you can pick it up against and again for them. We were semi detached and our baby slept on detached bit thankfully. It did happen quite quickly that she gave up and went back to sleep. It was awful to do because it goes against every instinct you have as a mother. I was desperate though. She is now a teenager and I can't get her out of bed in the morning!!! good luck. Whatever you do it will pass, your baby will sleep and so will you. You may have to pose the neighbours off for a few days...or go on holiday to a remote island . But honestly best of luck and hang in there