Early wakings really effecting family!

[SnowWhite26]

Hi
So i no this is about the millionth post abput a 7 month old waking at 5 or 5.30. My issue is that its different everyday and its really effecting me which effecting my family. Basically he can go through without food but in a way if he wakes at 12 or 1 for a small feed he will prob sleep till 5.30,6 or 6.30.I ignore him or give him a small feed at this time but if he wakes up we take it in turns to get up.last night he went 7 till 5 with no wake ups but milk and leaving him wouldn't work and i eventually angryly gave in at 5.45. I think i get so cross coz i no he will be ready to bk to sleep by 7 or 730 so makes breakfast etc all over the place. My 3 year old used to wake early and eventually stopped so i no it does. I just get so cross. As i have quite a few friends who say all i do is give them.milk then they go back to sleep on them for a bit or they go back in there cot. Why does my baby not do this! Yesterday he slept till 6.30 with a little feed at 12 the night before he woke for a small feed at 11 but woke at 5.30 for the day. Its just so all over the place. I no he does ok with sleep but im so tired with my 3 year old as well. Is anyone else in this boat? Why do all my friends babies go bk to sleep at 5 or 5.30? I feel like my husband is going to send me to an asylum if i keep going on like this. I was so unreasonably angry this morning after all my calm effort to get him back to sleep.I no my husband is finding it hard with work and 2 kids and a crazy wife! Anyone else? Thankyou x

So your saying he wakes at 5 but dint give him a nap till 12? He would fall asleep some where in that time? Surely. Or is 12 the last nap ur suggesting?

Stuck for the last time- i dunno im just fed up. Iys so hard when he's so tired and with a 3 year old I just want answers thats my problem. :(

Yep. It’ll be utterly shit but it’s the best way you have of trying to enforce a consistent pattern of sleep and waking.

The “perfect” routine is

• awake at 7
• lunch at 11:30ish
• nap 12-2
• micro nap 3:15 to 4
• teatime 5:30
• bedtime 7

I know that is easy to write and not easy to live but when I was having what you’re having I had to be up and out the house 6:30 latest to stop bouncing off the walls and to get DD looking around - a change of scene can be stimulating enough.

Then back home around 8am and it would be dealing with her cranky yelling by playing with her/doing chores around her until Rhyme Time at 9:30 and then back 11ish.

Again would plonk her on the floor with annoying flashing toys, make lunch, then get her down for midday.

The mornings with an early waker are a fucking marathon but I think if you put your back into trying to get a nap free routine down for the first 6hrs of the day it could change the 5am wakings.

I honestly wish you the best, it is hard but again and again it’s consistency of routine that seems to pay the greatest dividends, even if they are small.

Just wanting an answer is not your problem. Getting angry at your baby is the problem.

I do sympathise, as I have a 2 year old and a baby that doesn't sleep (and also a 5 year old and a 7 year old, to keep things busy), it's is exhausting. It's just that getting angry is concerning, especially when your baby is actually sleeping very well.

There are plenty of good sleep suggestions here and I hope they help. Please do also consider more generally if your mood is ok, having a second is a stressful time and anger can be a symptom of something more, that's all.

I think you are letting this affect you too much, there are plenty of babies who don't have an exact routine and don't do the exact same thing every day. If you want him to have an exact routine and you're willing to stay in every day to ensure it always happens, and the baby will stick to it, then fine. But if you want to get out and about, or if you have a baby who just refuses to do the same routine, you might just have to accept that it's going to be a bit unpredictable.

The PP above is talking about a routine for older babies I think - he will definitely struggle to get to 12 without a nap - at 7 months I tried to get two decent-ish naps in, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Sometimes it worked and sometimes he just would not play ball or we were out and about and he ended up having lots of little ones. I know it's hard but just try not to stress about it. If I was you I'd just keep trying to push bedtime back and try and get him to have a couple of half decent naps during the day. Anything else is a bonus!

I disagree that PaulHollywoodsSexGut’s routine is the ‘perfect’ routine.
I’m on my third baby and none could get to 12 without a nap until over a year old, and if they’d had a late afternoon nap they certainly wouldn’t have gone to bed at 7.
We always fell into a routine like this...

7am awake.
9.30am- 10am nap
12pm lunch
12.30-2.30pm nap
7pm bedtime.

At 7 months they would occasionally have another quick doze in the afternoon, probably stopped doing this completely at around 8 months.

No way could mine last till 12 with no nap at 7 months .

My 13 month old wakes 6.10/7.15a

Nap 9.30-10.30am

And then either 1pm-2pm or 3.30-4pm depending on afterschool activities

Bed between 7pm/7.30pm

My first went through a phase of waking at 5am, lasted about 4 weeks.

I used to let her chat to herself and play with her musical toy till about 5.30 and then I’d bring her in to our bed until 6am.
6am felt like a more reasonable time to go downstairs!

She went back to sleeping until 6.30/7am without me changing anything

Guys you’ll see I put “perfect” in air quotes as there is no such thing but it looks like my babies needed the second nap more in the PM than the others, different strokes.

I am in no way making myself to be expert, just going from (painful) personal experience

I follow a few baby sleep groups on facebook and many favour the 2, 3, 4 routine (so a 2 hour gap between wake up and nap 1, a 3 hour gap until nap 2, a 4 hour gap before bed). Lots find it more flexible than specific timings especially if your baby wakes at different times each day. I didn't follow it exactly as it didn't completely suit my son (he didn't need a nap 2 hours after waking, just wasn't tired) but what I did implement was that 4 hour gap before bed. I found this made bed time a lot easier and he slept much better although I will say now he has always been an early riser so it didn't stop that!

Katniss-That sounds like something that I might try. Sounds like it might be ok. Did u still have to feed at night and what kinda early was it? X