9 month old waking at 5am

[Khd21]

My LO is waking at 5am.
I do try and treat it as a night wake, resettle - put dummy in & not engage too much and go in as little as I can, however he just will not go back to sleep. Sometimes lays down and I think he’s asleep but it lasts 10 minutes.

Originally he was waking at 6am which was fine - I don’t think I’m doing anything different I assume he’s just used to waking up early now.

His bedtime is around 7pm. I try to have him in his cot by 7 as depending on the day could take 20 mins or so to get to sleep.

When he was waking at 6, he had his first morning nap at 8:15, and slept 1.5-2 hours. I tend to wake him after 2.
So I try and keep to this as much as possible for the 5am wakes too. Although he is so so tired all morning.
After going down at 8:15 he then will wake around 10:15, and sleep again between 1:30-2pm. He usually sleeps for 45 mins ish, can be 1 hour sometimes it just depends.

any tips are very much appreciated we are both very tired ! 😭

My 5yo gets up at 5! Don’t think there’s much you can do. Bring him in bed with you and hope he resettles?

You can’t complain about 5am waking. We would think that was a good night.

That's totally normal for that age, sadly!
If you don't have blackout blinds, it might help. If you do already have blackout blinds, make sure no tiny shaft of sunlight can creep round the edges. Otherwise, bring him in with you, and try to doze.

People will come on here and say this is normal, you shouldn’t be complaining etc, but being woken at 5am every day is really debilitating so I understand that you want to sort it!

In my experience (3DC) fixing it is all to do with the daytime naps. I think his morning nap might be a bit long, so I’d try pushing it later over a few days and reduce it to max 1 hour. Then increase the lunchtime nap, as this should be his main nap. Do it gradually though, by ten minutes each day.

From my experience I’d probably try this:

9-10am nap

1-2.30pm nap

Bedtime at 7 as you are doing

Also make sure he’s not having too much milk so that he eats plenty of solids, so he’s not waking due to hunger.

i

Also yes yes yes to blackout blinds if you don’t already have them.

@Wantitalltogoaway thank you so much. I really appreciate all of this - I wouldn’t mind if he was ok with it! He just is so tired after about 15 minutes of getting up, rubbing his eyes etc!

@Sleepingonamansionroof i wouldn’t mind if he was happy and wasn’t tired, he is shattered by the time we get downstairs it’s a struggle to keep him awake until his next nap!

Is he sleeping through though from 7-5? If he is that's great for a 9 month old. You could try shifting his naps and moving his bedtime a little later but I might be tempted to just go to bed earlier myself and accept that we wake up at 5 for now.
Other suggestion is he might be ready to drop down to one nap a day, mine both did about this age. So would sleep after lunch about 12-2

I would say just get used to it, it is normal.

Your baby sleeps for 3hrs in the day and then 10 hours at night so you really really can't complain. My just turned 11 month old has a 1hr nap (sometimes less) in the morning and then might have a 30 min nap in the afternoon, but often fights this especially if we're not at home. She sleeps 7pm-6am but sometimes wakes at 5.30am.

@Babyhatesnaps I would not even think it was an issue if he was super happy to start his day- but he is so tired when he wakes up! About 30 mins after he wakes he is absolutely shattered and not happy. And would sleep 3 hours if I let him and have been told that means he needs a bit more

I don’t think you get the early bedtime and a late wake up!

Mine did midnight till noon.

@maw1681 he might wake up once just for a little pat and me to put his dummy in. But yeah I do know it’s good - I’m not bothered about starting the day at 5 if he is ready to do so, but he is SO tired literally by 5:30. Rubbinb his eyes and pulling his ears he just is shattered.
I don’t think he is ready to drop the second nap just yet. But thanks x

@Khd21 The other thing you could do (if you’re not already) is to give him a dream feed at 10pm. It works with breastfeeding or formula. Just pick him up (don’t wake him) and give him a quick feed then put him back down again. That might help him get through a bit later in the morning.

You’ve got a tricky couple of weeks ahead of you because he will be tired in the mornings, but you CAN sort this. I did with DD2. Once I got her into a routine of a shorter nap in the morning (9-10) and a longer one at lunchtime she started sleeping through until 6.30/7am again.

I don’t think he is ready to drop the second nap just yet. But thanks x

Yes, definitely do not drop the second nap!

@Wantitalltogoaway thank you I will try! Can I just ask, I hear people say a short nap of 10 minutes doesn’t impact sleep and helps bridge the gap for the next nap. Is this something I could go to try and keep him going in the morning, from 5am - 9am keeping him up is going to be so so hard 😅 I will try x

Yes, worth trying! If it will get him through to 9am ish then I’d try it.