Early and frequent wakes, help!!

[Smellz714]

I'm after some help or advice re my 13 month's old ds. He wakes once or twice between bedtime and midnight then again at 2am or 4am sometimes waking for the day as early as 4:45am. I'll try and give as much info as possible.

• Bf to sleep until 11 months, eats solids well, has bedtime milk, will have water when he wakes through the night.

• Initially falls asleep quickly and with little help from us.

• Has white noise, dark room, correct tog sleep suit.

• He's only got his two bottom teeth and has been showing symptoms of teething for about 5 months - one of the top teeth is just about to break the surface.

• OH will settle him with absolutely no fuss most wakes (still gets up at 5am-ish) but can't do every night cos of work shifts.

This is an example of a daily routine:

4:30am wake, try and get him back down, bring him downstairs and try and sleep with him on the settee

5:30am up fully

8:40am nap for 15-20 mins in sling during school run/dog walk

12:30pm - 1pm sleep for 2 hours

6:15pm start bedtime routine with dd3

7pm sleep

9pm wake

2am wake

I think some wakes are habit, some are teeth, some are wanting cuddles, some water, some are wanting me - he wails in despair when it's his father walking in to his room 😂

I'm thinking about a blow up mattress for his room so I can sleep on the floor with him from 4am - is that a bad idea? Will I be perpetuating the regular wakes? Co-sleeping in our bed isn't an option. To be fair, when I've tried getting him to sleep on the floor with me before it's been a nightmare, can take up to an hour of rolling around and crawling all over me before he settles. I work until 12am 3x a week and so am getting very minimal sleep on those nights (2 nights clash with OH's shifts so he can't help) it's really starting to get me down. Thank you!

Will add - to get him back to sleep we both lie him back down on his cot mattress and leave the room then repeat until he's asleep - it can take 30-40 goes for me, 1 or 2 for the oh. Letting him cry for a bit to self settle isn't really an option because of DD and neighbours.

My DS was a little bit older more like 18 months when we were trying to tackle an early wake up.
(Although 5:30 not 6:30) . I think if you can get them back to sleep, although it's effort it's manageable in terms of getting enough sleep. After some advice we decided morning did not start before a set time (say 6:30) so no leaving room, downstairs etc. I did set up a little camp bed by his cot. When he woke up we'd go in, tell him to go back to sleep and basically just lie on the floor next time and periodically tell him to sleep, sometimes shush him bit or stroke his hands face. The aim was to get him to sleep, and even if it took an hour, it was a win! However if he didn't go to sleep the second aim was that at least I was lying down and sort of dozing and he was quiet in his cot. At some point and I can't say quite when or whether it was just luck, he started walking up later.

I think though it's also seriously worth considering...is he too cold? Often coldest just before dawn. Is he getting too much daytime sleep or going to bed too early. If he's possibly teething is it worth giving Calpol?

And then if it doesn't improve soon (it will eventually), how can you maximise the sleep you are getting by sharing with DP, early nights, dropping anything you can etc. I did find just lying on the floor and dozing better than being up and down and fully awake.

Thanks for replying, last couple of nights have been terrible. I came home from work early last night because I couldn't cope on such little sleep. I tried lying next to him, holding his hand, no good.

We've been giving him calpol on off for months now, the one tooth that had started to come has retreated, skins grown back over - I didn't even know that was a thing lol.

I've put him in a warmer sleep sack tonight and fed him a bit later than normal. It's so bloody hard.