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9 month 4am wakes - help!

3 replies

Jinglejanglegiraffe · 16/08/2024 08:46

Our DD has started waking earlier and earlier and I don't know what to do to help. She wakes in her cot between 4-4.30 and is chirpy for about 30mins then realises she's exhausted and can't go back to sleep. I've tried leaving her, rocking her (this used to work but doesn't anymore), feeding, putting in bed with us etc and I'm at a loss now of what to do

She has 2 naps and sleeps well in the day for around 3hrs (because she's exhausted!). We try to make sure the first nap isn't before 8.30 and normally end up waking her from both - in the morning so we can head out and do something and in the afternoon so she doesn't end up sleeping past 4pm. She falls asleep on her own (with me in the room), although the last few nights she's gotten really unhappy at bedtime and I've ended up hugging her to sleep. If we're lucky she'll sleep from 7.30 to 4.15 but a lot of the time will wake once in the night for a bottle

I've been down a Google rabbit hole that says it could be because she's sleeping too much / too little in the day and I don't know what to try next - capping naps when she's been awake since 4.15 just means we have a really tired baby all day! Any suggestions welcome please :)

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
NuffSaidSam · 17/08/2024 11:22

Don't feed her at 4am, she'll get used to eating at that time and wake for it and don't start the day at 4am or she'll get used to that. Go in and shush and resettle , it's a nightmare but she needs to be in the dark, quiet until it's an acceptable time to wake up.

I'd work on moving the last sleep forward/cutting it down a bit and see if that helps. Ideally you want her up by 3pm.

CoffeeNeededorWine · 19/08/2024 10:57

how much milk is she drinking in the day? She could be going through a growth spurt and need more milk which would cause her to wake early.

Some other factors than can cause early wakings include needing a bigger size nappy as it’s too wet, being to hot or too cold, teething or the room becoming lighter than it once was.

Jinglejanglegiraffe · 19/08/2024 14:35

Thanks both, we've cut her first nap and moved it to 9 and making sure she's awake at 3.30pm and it seems to be working - 5.20 and 5.40 the last 2 nights! Hoping it keeps moving in that direction

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