Early waking, but still knackered at 14 months

[Hopefully]

DS was a horrific sleeper as a little baby, but at around 9 months suddenly started magically sleeping. I nearly died with relief.

However, for the past month or so, he's been waking early more and more often. The odd night he'll sleep till 6:30, but increasingly often he wakes any time from 4:30-6:15. Thing is, he's still absolutely knackered.

The only thing that seems to work is giving him a bottle and sticking him in the pram and jiggling it. If he's got up earlier than 6:00-ish, he'll usually go back off till at least 7am. If it's after 6am he'll have a chill out and occasionally a bit of a doze.

Sometimes DP can resettle him in his cot, but I can't at all - he just sits up and cries if I'm in there until I pick him up, and I can't send DP in every 15 mins from 4:30-6:30!

He has all his naps in the pram, as I have never really mastered getting him to nap in his cot. He usually has two naps a day, max 45 mins each. I think if he was sleeping till later in the morning, he'd be ready to stay up and have one longer nap, but there's no chance of getting there while he's waking up so knackered after an interrupted night's sleep.

I don't think he's getting cold (growbag, vest, sleepsuit and occasionally a sweater if it's chilly), he goes down at around 7pm at night.

Any ideas for helping him sleep longer? I'm turning into a bit of a zombie, which I could possibly cope with if I felt that DS was actually getting the sleep he needed, but I really don't think he is!

Have you tried putting him in bed with you? DS sometimes will go back to sleep if we do that with him.

DS started doing this around the same age, it does seem to have crept to slightly later (5.30 onwards now) but I'm afraid my solutions were firstly, the bed with me, as above, and secondly, bring downstairs and both cuddle up on sofa in front of telly with milk.

DS is/was another pram-napper, although he magically gained the art of the cot nap at around 12 months, and now seems to have lost it again, unless on the bed with me. So you have much sympathy from me.

It hadn't actually occurred to me to try bringing him into bed with us - he's never shared a bed with us, and I'm not sure whether it would make things better or worse. Maybe I'll chuck DP out and give it a shot tomorrow...

I think when he's a bit more transfixed by TV I'll happily go for that route - it's not quite gripping enough to keep him happy yet, but the interest in CBeebies is growing

I keep thinking about attempting to get him back in the cot for naps, but can't face the inevitable crying hysterics, and really don't mind it, it's the early wakings that are driving me mildly bonkers.

Your poor thing Leonie, but thanks for putting my whinging into perspective!

Hopefully - we had months and months of early morning waking and still do - we tried bringing him into bed with us - it worked at first and he went back to sleep but he soon cottoned on to what was happening and just would sit there bashing us wanting to play until we got up - no sleep for anyone that way - also he would wake up in the night and that could be anytime and expect to be picked up and brought to bed as he obviously could not tell the time and it took us weeks to sort that out after my husband just said no more. I know co-sleeping works for some but ours was such a wriggler and determined to start everyday at some ridiculous hour it wasn't worth it in the end.

I have tried everything to get ds to sleep longer - some of them are just early risers- but its taken me a long time to accept it as its such a killer. Hope something works for you soon.

Hello - I posted a thread in behaviour the other day about my early waking soon to be 15 month old... 4.45am this morning! Argh! Plus ds called out briefly at 4am, so I've been awake since then. The advice I received was to try shifting his nap to 12pm, as he had been passing out at 10.30amish. I've been doing that today and yesterday, and will keep on with it for a good couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference...

By the way hopefully, my ds naps in his buggy too, and once we went down to one nap he finally started going for longer - he did 2.5 hours yesterday! - after being a 45 minute boy for months and monts. But I'd far prefer less sleep in the day and a longer night... The other thing I keep being told is to put him to bed later. Have you tried that broms? I'm sure you have - I'm scared that if I do that he'll just go to bed later AND still wake up at 5am!!

ps - I completely agree hopefully, when ds WAS waking at 6ish he was so much happier all day... he really needs 11 hours at night I think.

My 15 mo DD has started waking earlier. We pushed her bedtime back by an hour and it seems to be doing the trick. Hard to do though, when they're knackered.

I started a thread about this a couple of weeks ago as DS is 21 months and was waking early. I was given some great advice namely put him to bed earlier and limit his nap to two hours in the day. Within a couple of days he was sleeping to 6.30 (which is a lay in to me).

It's all gone a bit Pete Tong this week as he's been ill but it does work when they're well.

You have my sympathy. I've been awake since 4.20am and am knackered.

You had to limit his nap to two hours

How much earlier is earlier addicted? Bedtime is 7ish at the moment. And, by the way, what time do you do dinner? I find ds is actually ready to have breakfast at 5.30 or something crazy at the moment, so am thinking maybe I need to make dinner later... Sorry you're having such a rough time leonie, sorry to hijack hopefully...

I feel your early morning pain! We are getting earlier and earlier and I am starting to look back longingly on the days when he used to wake as late at 5.30am. Today I was going to try the "wake to sleep" technique - ie where you wake your baby very slighly approx 1 hr before they usually wake - idea is to disrupt the bad sleep cycle they have got into and stir them out of deep sleep before they do it themselves. So I set my alarm for 3.30am and the little monkey went and woke himself at 3.10am! He must have had a sixth sense that I was planning this and counterattacked. Even when he wakes at 4am he still only has max of 2 45 min naps for the whole day. In my experience later bed times just make the situation worse and is better to put to bed early (sometimes as early as 6pm here) so that they dont go down overtirred.

By earlier I mean, in bed and lights off by 7 at the latest (rather than before when it was going past 7.30).

He would sleep for 3.5hrs in the day if I let him - loves his bed in the day just not at night. He's a bugger to wake up after two hours too.

I'm hopeful we're back on the staright and narrow a bit now as he did wake last night at 2.30, but took 9oz of milk and went straight back down until 6.20. I don't want to get him in the habit of waking for milk so am going to water it down if it continues.

DAN - I agree with the overtired thing. Apparently they sleep better if they go down earlier.

PLUMCAKE - on a nursery day, I drop him at 8 and he has breakfast soon after. Lunch at 11.45 and tea at 3.30. I pick him up around 5.30 and then he has tea #2 . Non-nursery day he has breakfast around 8, lunch around 12.30 and tea at 5 with various sbacks along the way.

We start bathtime etc after Waybuloo so about 6.25?

hi, first time i've been on here, and am so relieved that im not the only one having this problem! my 14 month old has been a perfect sleeper since 7weeks. ive been so lucky, i shouldnt complain now, but im so tired!!! she goes to bed and 7.30 and until a few weeks ago she didnt wake until 7.30-8am. problems started when i went back to work...i presume this is the cause, but dont know how to fix it! she has settled well into nursery, and is v. happy. but she has started waking every morning at 5.15-5.45. sometimes she is just lying in her cot whining as opposed to even crying. she stops as soon as you go in and rub her back, but starts as soon as you leave again! both myself and dh are exhausted! let her cry the other morning, and she lasted over an hour (crying without tears too, she's good!). by that stage it was time to get up for work, so eventually had to lift her anyway. im slowing loosing the will! im determined not to bring her into bed with me, as thats not a road i want to go down. phew, that was a long 1st mail to the site, but at least i got it off my chest! thinking of all you other mummies at 5.30!!!

Sorry to hear that so many of us are suffering this!

Just a brief update - have been trying the bad parent option of leaving him unless he's absolutely bawling, and it seems to be making a difference. The first night it was only a couple of mins before he was properly yelling (and then I have to go rushing, I'm no good at listening to him cry!), then it stretched to 15-20 mins of whining before the crying started, then FINALLY the whinging started later and later, and we're quite often getting beyond 6am now before the whinging starts.

Still a PITA, as he's usually down for a nap by 7:30-8am, but it's still a huge improvement on where we were a few weeks ago. Have also restarted going to bed stupidly early instead of pretending I'm a normal adult who is allowed to stay up till 11pm. Have been making sure I'm in bed by 10pm and feel much better for it.