Why is my 9 month old waking at 3/4 thinking it’s time to get up?

[harmione]

Even when tired: chuckling and babbling and won’t go back to sleep. We are up for hours and then by the time he’s back to sleep it’s nearly time to go to work meaning we are effectively starting the day at 4, and it’s horrible. Any advice?

I had one like this. It’s hideous and I never did find a way to stop it. Sometimes it’s just a temporary phase.

Which probably isn’t what you want to hear.

What's the daytime routine like? For us, the solution was a combo of being rigid with daytime naps for a while to ensure not overtired, moving everything earlier - including bedtime! They sleep cycle and if a cycle finishes at 4am it's close enough to morning to wake up properly but if that cycle finishes at 2am it's easier to slip back to sleep.

The other thing we did was gradual retreat at that wake up so she knew that no matter how much she protested, I was in the room and calm but wasn't going to get her up.

Took about 2 weeks I think.

This was the advice / plan given to us a by a sleep consultant BTW

Could it be a growth spurt? Sometimes when it is their sleep changes and they become more hungry, I remember 6 months and 9 months were exhausting. I use to give an extra feed or more before bed. They'd be lying there full of beans ready for the day. I also found voice activated music boxes that projected a light into the celing helped entertain them for a small bit when they woke.

Unfortunately gradual retreat isn’t the answer - wide awake. And lights wake him even more. It’s as if he can’t go back to sleep. I don’t know if it might be teeth?

How long has it been going on for? Agree with @Malteser71. If you are happy that you have a pretty good day time routine with enough (but not too much) napping and plenty of calories, chances are you just need to ride it out. DS is nearly 16 months and we’ve had spells of starting the day at 4:30 and spells when he can quite easily sleep until 6:30 or 7. We just ride it out now - by the time you’ve messed around trying to change things, the problem has generally fixed it’s self. 6-9 months was the peak of hideous sleep for us, FWIW. There was a blip at 12 months but it’s got exponentially better since 9 months and, generally, 4am starts aren’t as much of a thing anymore.