Help me - 8 month old early rising

[singingpinkmonkey]

I am so tired and about to start back at work next week.

For the past few days by baby has been waking for the day at silly o'clock. Friday morning it was 3:30am, Saturday 5:15am and this morning 4:00am. He used to wake between 6:00am - 6:30am.

I just don't know what a going on.

He has always been a crap napper during the day but his overall sleep is just terrible at the moment.

I'll put out day yesterday down below. Perhaps someone with a lot more knowledge can tell me where I'm going wrong or offer reassurance that this is a phase.

5:15am - wake

6:00am - 7oz bottle

7:00am - breakfast of porridge

8:30am - took baby upstairs to settle him for a nap. Nappy change, into sleeping bag, story read to him, Ewan the sheep playing.
Took 45 minutes to settle him.

9:15am - napped for 1 hour

10:15am - awake, dressed and out with me to run errands

11:00am- lunch

12:30pm- fell asleep in the car but woke up after 10 mins

1:30pm - 7oz bottle

2:00pm - nap downstairs on the sofa on me. Took 5 minutes of screaming in my arms to nod off.

2:30pm - woke up

5:50pm - getting tired so took upstairs to play in his cot while we started to get his bath ready

6:05pm - 6:15pm - bath time

6:20pm - Pj's, cuddles and a bit of crying and fussing when put in his sleeping bag

6:30pm - bottle and then cuddle. Put in cot very drowsy but awake and had to settle to sleep with a hand o the chest. Was asleep for 6:50pm

4:30am - woke up screaming and crying. Would not settle.

Being honest he has never been a great sleeper and I feel that I've never really got it right. I would really appreciate some advice. I think both me and the baby aren't very happy at the moment.

My partner does help out when he can but he works 6 days a week so isn't here a lot of the time.

As a final note, it does look like we have a tooth popping through but this is his seventh and with previous teeth it doesn't seem to have been too bad.

Thanks for reading this rather large post. Any help or empathy is very welcome.

Update-

So it's been a testing week!

DS started nursery on Monday, ate plenty of food and had a total of 24oz milk across the day.
Only napped for 30 mins during the entire day so I put him to bed early :6pm) and he woke at 5:15 on Tuesday.

Tuesday was exactly the same and he woke at 5:30am on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday is his day with me and he napped loads.

1st nap: 8am - 8:50am
2nd nap: 11:00am - 11:30am
3rd nap: 1:45pm - 3:50pm (I woke him as didn't want it eating onto his night sleep)

Put him to bed at 7pm but he didn't settle until 7:20pm.

He bloody woke up at 3:30am and up for the day at 5am!!!

What is going on?? I can't seem to get it right. Offering more food, increasing his bottles to 8oz and more naps still haven't helped.

I do appreciate everyone's advice though. It looks like I just have an early riser. I'm hoping it's a phase.

One day of good naps will not fix the overtiredness.
On the night you put him to bed at 6 and he woke at 5.15, that was a decent night's sleep. Lots of babies are 11 hour night sleepers and will never ever make it to 12. I assume the nursery will work hard on his naps, what's their plan?

I don't think they will work on his naps and they don't have a plan?

I didn't think I could expect them to work on his naps as they have the other babies to look after. There is one key person for 3 babies so don't know it would work of they had to spend more time trying to get my little one to nap.

I will speak to them when he's next there on Monday but I'm not sure what they will be able to do.

What is going on?? I can't seem to get it right

You need consistancy. Consistant naps and meal times every day for at least 7 consecutive days, preferable 3 weeks. The situation where every day is different forms the main part of the problem here.

I didn't think I could expect them to work on his naps as they have the other babies to look after.

You absolutely can and should expect your nursery to work on naps.

Naps may take a lower priority for staff in the pre-school (ages 3 plus) room at nursery. But for an 8 month old, napping and sleep is an essential part of the baby's day.

Just as you should expect a nursery to ensure baby has a healthy diet and eats/drinks well, you can have the same expectation with sleep. The main aspects of the well-being of an under 12 month olds life is: feeding, sleeping, engaging play. All three of these are as important to child development.

You need to raise your expectations of what nursery should be doing. It is absolutely reasonable and to be expected that at 8 months nursery staff should be ensuring your child has at least 45 minutes morning nap and at least 45 minutes afternoon nap. They should be working with you on how that can be established so that you can offer some consistancy when you are are home.

To be honest it sounds a lot like 8 month regression. I have similar with my 8 month old currently - she just wants to crawl and be busy all day and night! Exhausting

I had no idea there was an 8 month regression @crazycatlady5 as that would make sense.

Today has been really hard. He has caught conjunctivitis as well as cold from nursery. We are all over the place.

We were meant to be going out for lunch with a friend but have rearranged.

I honestly feel these two weeks have been even harder than the new born stage. The possibility of a regression would make sense as he is fighting sleep more than ever before.

I will chat to the ladies at the nursery on Monday about a sleep strategy. I just need to get through the rest of this week.

@singingpinkmonkey this is a useful read - www.google.co.uk/amp/s/sarahockwell-smith.com/2015/11/18/what-the-heck-goes-wrong-sleep-wise-at-8-10-months/amp/

Every time we’re through a growth period Or similar something else happens!!

Wow thank you so much @crazycatlady5 I actually feel like I'm totally crazy now.

Nurseries have a duty of care to ensure that babies' sleep and nutrition needs are met. So they should absolutely have a plan for his naps that they formulate together with you

@singingpinkmonkey I certainly didn’t mean to make you feel crazy! less so if anything x

Could he be cold?

Ha #crazycatlady5 that was a typo - I actually meant to say I don't feel crazy now! Thank you for sharing it with me. I have actually just bought Sarah Ockwell Smith's book to see if I can understand it all a bit more!

Hi * SnugglySnerd I don't think he is cold. We keep his room at between 20 and 22 degrees. I think he is just Over tired and a bit under the weather.

I need to speak to the Nursery about helping him nap.

You are right @LapinROse and I will have a kind word with them on Monday. We will get there I'm sure. That's what I'm telling myself anyway!