5:30am wake up

[TGLucie]

Hello! First time mum to a 10 week old.

He goes to bed at around 7:30pm but always wakes at 5/5:30am.

Any suggestions on how to extend/delay this wake time? Should I try keeping him awake a bit longer so he goes down later?

I normally give him a bottle and hope he goes back to sleep but often he is still awake an hour after waking.

I know I've 'got it good' but I don't want him to get into the habit of waking this early.

Thanks in advance!

Congratulations on your baby!
I'm afraid an early wake up is very common and my best advice is to adjust your own bed times to make sure you are getting all the rest you need. The problem with young babies (in my limited experience, 2 sons) is you think they've settled into a routine, but as the grow and develop those routines can rapidly change.
You may find he sleeps a bit longer as the nights draw in.

You could try moving bedtime back a bit but if it’s the light mornings he will still wake. They do tend to wake later when the mornings are dark. You could try black out blinds. My one year old keeps waking me up at 5am ( she also still wakes in the night) and I wish she would sleep linger.

I’d just push bedtime back a bit. 10h is an incredible stint at that age. Mine wasn’t having a 19:30 bedtime until more like 6 months if I remember correctly.

Oh my word does he sleep at long at 10 weeks old? My three year old still won’t sleep so I’d be so happy with that if I were you! At 10w mine woke every two hours and was up at 530!

Do you change his nappy immediately after he wakes up, before you give him a bottle?
If not, might be worth a try as if the nappy is too full it might make him uncomfortable and wake up again.

Absolutely nothing you can do IMO at that age. Sounds like a great night and many would bite your hand off for that

@Eilatan2018

Oh my word does he sleep at long at 10 weeks old? My three year old still won’t sleep so I’d be so happy with that if I were you! At 10w mine woke every two hours and was up at 530!

Hello! Yes :) he is asleep at 7:30 or at least I put him down and he is then asleep within 10 mins and then wakes at 5:30ish without waking. I do normally give him a 10pm dream feed though but he drinks it all whilst staying asleep xx

@LaBellina

Do you change his nappy immediately after he wakes up, before you give him a bottle? If not, might be worth a try as if the nappy is too full it might make him uncomfortable and wake up again.

I change him straight away and then give a bottle but to be honest, he doesn't scream so might not be super hungry. Might try just putting him back down after changing his nappy because taking him to make a bottle only seems to wake him more

Sorry but I’m a bit shocked you’re on here asking for advice to improve that - it’s astoundingly good for that age!! Mess around too much and you may end up with more disturbed nights. I wouldn’t change a thing if I had a baby that age sleeping that long - just go to bed earlier myself! Congratulations on your lovely baby

I don't think you can change his wake up time. I think you might have to go to bed earlier! DS2 used to go to bed at 11, so I envy you!

That's a fantastic stretch for a newborn. I have four DC and they all woke every few hours for a feed at this stage! I didn't get full night's sleep until they all reached toddler years.

Hopefully the darker nights drawing in will help your baby sleep longer but to be honest you have it really good already! Honestly.

@itsme1978

Absolutely nothing you can do IMO at that age. Sounds like a great night and many would bite your hand off for that

I agree

This is really wonderful for a 10 week old! My only advice now will be to go to bed a little earlier. My day starts at 6am with my 10 month old and 25 month old and they go to sleep at 6.30pm. But personally, l prefer that as I have a bit of an evening, go to bed at 9/10 so still get 7/8 hour sleep. If I were you, I'd keep it as it is for another couple of months and then if still the same, think about shifting bedtime slightly later which could work.

Honestly I would not change anything and appreciate his current sleep pattern. At 3 to 4 months he will probably hit the 3 month sleep regression and start waking more. Once he is out of this at around 6 months you could then work on improving his sleep.

I think that’s a huge amount of sleep and the only way to delay morning wake would be a later bedtime

At that age we took Ds up around 9-10pm, he still woke to be fed around 4 times overnight, then up by 7am

Seriously, don't mess with such a good schedule. My second slept really well too. I would just go to bed earlier. I found that a later bedtime just meant the same wake up time but a grumpy tired baby.

Oh my god.
Tell me your secrets.

Congratulations on your baby OP. As others say, seriously the sleep sounds amazing. What time do you go to bed? Even if you go at 10pm you get a stretch of 7.5 hours yourself which is amazing with a newborn and still get a few hours in the evening to unwind/eat dinner/spend time with partner etc, or you could go to bed at 8pm and get an even longer sleep! What’s the problem with waking at 5.30am? It isn’t wildly early- I’m on maternity leave at the moment but when at work I get up for work at 6.20am (I’m a teacher) so baby waking at 5.30 would be fine, I’d get a bit of time to play/spend time before having to get a shower and get ready then leave the house, dropping the kids at Nursery/wraparound care). If they slept until eg. 8am I’d be stressing as would need to wake them up to take to nursery before work. What time does he have his first nap? My baby wakes around 6am (after multiple night wakings!) and is then ready for a nap in the pram at 8.25am when I leave for the morning school run with my older daughter so that works out well.

Id be a bit worried about such a small baby sleeping for so long- have a word with you hV.

Some babies this age do "sleep through the night" but that is more likely to be say10pm-4am, and this is far longer.

It might just be a temporary fluke- but even so, Id be concerned.

Is this a wind up post?!
730-530 is incredible for a newborn! Even for a toddler! Be happy 😃
As above, what's the big problem with waking up at 530, it's not that early really.