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Original poster

5.30am wake ups after night weaning

14 replies

BananaHammock34 · 27/12/2023 06:29

I successfully night weaned my 17 mo 2 months ago but wake up times went from 6.30-7am to now 5-5.30am. When we dropped to 1 nap and also when poorly wake ups briefly went back to 7ish but now back to 5.30m.

Schedule is:
5.30 - wake up
12.30-2/2.30 - nap
7/7.30 - bed

He doesn’t seem to wake any later when he goes to bed 7.30 vs 7, he just gets less sleep. I normally breastfeed upon wake up once downstairs. Is he waking for the breastfeed?

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mikado1 · 27/12/2023 06:33

Yes probably I remember ds did, but the day started at 4.30... oh god it was hellish. That was at 15m but he was sleeping till 7 by 18m , fairly consistently. So allow for some adjustment time. Hang in there, it's exhausting. Definitely go with the earlier bedtime!

Askforwisdom · 27/12/2023 06:33

This is probably zero help but I night weaned in July and my baby mostly sleeps through but wakes between 5 and 6. We have experimented with different timings but nothing had worked. I just go to bed early and enjoy not being woken every 30 minutes àll night. I completely stopped breastfeeding in September and the early wakeup persisted.

Sandpitnotmoshpit · 27/12/2023 06:37

I think sadly this is just a phase where they often wake up very early.... My DS is 3 and he doesn't do it anymore (back go sleeping roughly 7-7). He dropped his nap at 2.5 which is what stopped it. Your son is having 12 hours of sleep - have you tried shortening the nap and seeing what happens? We also gave lots of cows milk before bed and if you have an early dinner, something calorific like peanut butter toast. But mostly I think this is just their natural sleep pattern at that age when they still need the nap. We just went to bed early and my husband lay down for a bit at the weekend during his nap (I'm not a daytime sleeper). It was ok when we only had one child. We also got really good blackout blind/blackout curtains in front of it so it was pitch black in there (although that's a summer issue so I guess not what's affecting you now).

Sandpitnotmoshpit · 27/12/2023 06:39

And yeah sorry, during that phase we used to put him to bed really early as he still woke at 5 whatever you did. So we'd do bath at 5.45, stories then bedtime at 6.30.... and then at least we had an evening before we went to bed at 9pm!! I've always been an early riser though and I get that my friends who are night owls found this stage horrific.

PurBal · 27/12/2023 06:45

You may just have an early riser. My 2.5yo wakes at 530am. I’ve tried capping naps, getting him to sleep earlier/later. Giving him milk before bed so he’s not hungry (no longer bf). Nothing works. Currently EBF my 6mo and he’s started sleeping for longer stretches but is always awake between 6 and 7.
ETA I think he might be ready to drop his nap but every time we skip it he can’t cope and we endure 45+ minutes of tantrums.

crostini · 27/12/2023 07:23

If they're waking that early, are they not needing and earlier nap? If my 16 month old woke at that time, they'd be napping at 10! I know they're all different though.

Original poster
BananaHammock34 · 27/12/2023 08:15

@Sandpitnotmoshpit On days where he naturally has a shorter nap (sometimes only an hour), it makes no difference to the wake up time. Unfortunately he’s also a really picky eater so it’s hard to extra calories in him if he’s being stubborn about not eating anything. He’s currently cutting molars (which I did wonder if it could be contributing to early rising) but his appetite has completely gone so hardly eating. So could also be hungry but you can only lead a horse to water?

@PurBal I’m not sure he’s a brat ital early riser or at least he never has been until now! Although he’s doing more consolidated blocker of sleep now so maybe!

@crostini Yes sometimes it’s a struggle getting him to 12.30pm for nap but if I put him down too early, he’s awake too early and then it’s hard getting him to bedtime and he ends up overtired and wakes more overnight as last wake window ends up being too long. So a long morning wake window and shorter wake window before bed seems to work best. Sometimes I will put him down at 12pm if he’s really struggling but no earlier.

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Original poster
BananaHammock34 · 27/12/2023 08:16

*natural early riser

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Sandpitnotmoshpit · 27/12/2023 11:32

I think the suggestions others have made so far are the only ones I have
... You could also try a gro clock if you want him to stay in bed/in his room but I guess he's quite little for this yet... Nap dropping is probably far off for you and actually I think for us this was because he was really fighting bedtime rather than the wake up times. I've read a few of these threads because we had so long with 5am wake ups and I think the consensus is just that they grow out of it/cap naps.

I also have a fussy eater who will still now at 3 wake up hungry sometimes because he has refused meaningful nourishment before bedtime...
Solidarity.

crostini · 27/12/2023 17:24

crostini Yes sometimes it’s a struggle getting him to 12.30pm for nap but if I put him down too early, he’s awake too early and then it’s hard getting him to bedtime and he ends up overtired and wakes more overnight as last wake window ends up being too long. So a long morning wake window and shorter wake window before bed seems to work best. Sometimes I will put him down at 12pm if he’s really struggling but no earlier.

Maybe in that case two naps would work.

If my 16 month old falls asleep in the morning, say around 10 ish then she might also have a short nap around 2 or 3, I find that doesn't effect night time sleep. It does sound quite normal though, and should last too much longer for you!

GinnyBee · 27/12/2023 20:42

Mine has been waking early since the summer and I've just had to accept it. I night weaned in June, and fully weaned in July. I thought it was the lighter mornings but as autumn arrived nothing changed! I think it's just the fact that he's waking a lot less that he doesn't need to sleep any later. We went from wake ups every 2-3 hours to sleeping through (unless he's ill or teething, and then all rules are out).

I'm used to it now, sometimes we get to sleep in until 6.30 and that feels like luxury! I just go to bed early and count my blessings that I'm not woken up 5 times a night anymore. 😂

Original poster
BananaHammock34 · 28/12/2023 06:43

@Sandpitnotmoshpit Thanks, I appreciate the solidarity 😆 having a fussy eater is hard!

@crostini Before we dropped to one nap, we were struggling to fit in two as he was fighting being put down too early. I think it also contributed to some of his frequent night wakes as he was sleeping too late in the day. On days where he’s really tired before midday/half 12, I normally just get outside or do water play and he perks up!

@GinnyBee That’s interesting to know fully weaning didn’t change anything as I do worry he’s waking early to breastfeed but it doesn’t sound like it for your little one. Perhaps I just need to accept it too! Do you get up at 5.30 or do you try and get him back to sleep until 6 or anything? I normally try and get him back to sleep and keep him in his room until 6 as I read that can help.. but I’m not sure if it’s a load of rubbish 😆

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GinnyBee · 28/12/2023 07:07

@BananaHammock34 he absolutely refuses to stay in his room so there’s no point even trying, so we get up. It’s thankfully now usually closer to 6am than 5am, today we were up 5.50!

Olika · 28/12/2023 07:28

My DD was like this for months and then started sleeping a bit later naturally just recently.

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