Ok my 9 month old lo changes what he does on a weekly basis, with the exception of this one thing. I'm at my wits ends, as he is almost always grumpy and sleepy between the wake up and the next nap a couple of hours later. And I'm grumpy because my day is starting before the birds!!
He is very "good" in many respects. He sleeps in his own cot, he goes down at the same time every night (7pm), now he's settling himself to sleep completely in less than 5 mins, no crying.... as he's usually quite awake when I put him down.
He'll then stay asleep until 1ish though maybe once a week it's all the way through til 3/4. No rhyme or reason
I feed him (bf) both times; if he happens to wake up more than this I'll successfully get him to sleep by shushing.
The 430-5 wake up happens whether he's woken up once or twice in the night, and even if I feed him at say 4, he'll be awake at 5.
Things we have tried:
- changing bedtime.,. No point, putting him down later means he just gets less sleep
- holding off on first morning nap (very difficult. Once he was happy as anything until his lunchtime nap, I thought he might be fine the next morning but no, 5am start!)
- leaving him to cry for a bit (or chat if he's woken up happy)- doesn't seem to work, he just gets worse and worse and then becomes a bit sensitive to being left that day. Plus I feel it's unfair, as we go to him every other time he cries (as so infrequent), so how can he possibly distinguish between the morning wake up and all others?
- bringing him into our bed for a cosleep feed. Potentially bad habit but a nice one for bonding. Worked early on but now he'll feed then moan/groan/chat/kick us in the face
- reading him his bedtime book and feeding in room before putting him back down- a mini version of bedtime routine
I just don't know what to do. I'm tired, but I could always go to bed earlier and be happy he's so good in every other respect. But HE is clearly tired at 5 and I worry he isn't getting enough sleep, as he's a difficult baby to nap consistently during the day (some days he'll do 2h stints and others 20 mins. I try to be consistent so as far as I'm concerned, that just how he is)
One last thing- his bedroom is dark (though I nap him in daylight too when out and about) and he is weaning well
Sorry for massive post, just hoping against hope that someone had a similar experience and could advise.