Help! What exactly is my child doing???

[backintraining]

Hi,
DS is 10.5mo (9mo corrected as was prem). Up until about a week or so ago he was a great sleeper, went down at 7/7.30ish having had 8oz milk and then woke up 6.30/7ish. He has 3 meals a day/snacks and also milk during the day................however, he has started waking up A LOT earlier. It started with 5.45am and is now gradually heading to 5am (with a 4.30am thrown in for comedy value!) The bizarre thing is he wakes, drains his bottle and then goes back to sleep until 7ish. This is all well and good but as DH and I both work (me p/t) and get up at 6.15ish anyway to get ready for work, there's no point going back to sleep so it is slowly killing us!
Is this a growth spurt of some kind? A couple of people have suggested introducing a supper (rusk/cereal) just before bath time. He clearly is only waking because he is hungry, as he certainly doesn't have plans to start his day at 5am as the little tinker nods back off!! We stopped the 10.30pm dreamfeed months ago and I don't really want to re-introduce it because he had started refusing morning bottle/breakfast. What should I do? I don't want him to get used to a 5am bottle either!!

Any advice, sorry for rambling.

Anyone????????

No idea, my baby is 4 months. But am bumping for you.

Bumpety bump!

Helloooooooooo?

Sounds like he's getting either hungry and/or cold. Both can wake them. BTW, you are extraordinarily lucky to have a child that sleeps so well - some mums would give their eye teeth for undisturbed sleep like that!! (Even, dare I say, the 4:30am wake up). If you've started weaning him onto rice etc in addition to the milk at bedtime, he may last longer. Checking the room temperature isn't dropping in early hours may help. Or it could just be he's not feeling well or teeth are on the move?

NB: My DS never slept for longer than 4 hours ever - however much we tried all sorts of things. He's 4 now and is still an early riser. We both work full time - so yes, understand the exhaustion. We had to power nap and bed early to cope.

Good luck!

my 18 mnth ds started doing this at 12 mnths so we introduced porridge before he has a bath and it does work. he still wakes up at 5 about once a week but we just give him water which he is not keen on so he just goes back to sleep without it.

DS did the same at around 10 months and after initially feeding him at 5 am and then him falling back to sleep we decided to see what would happen if we left him. The first morning he cried for about 20 minutes which was horrible, but I think he was more angry than anything that we weren't coming to get him. After only 3 mornings of early waking, he started to sleep through again till 6.30/7.

I've since found out that it's around this time of the morning that babies go from deep to light sleep so anything can wake them up. It isn't necessarily hunger although my ds would eat at any time of the day or night given half a chance!

Have you tried to leave him for a few minutes to see what happens? It's not great in the short term, but he may learn to fall back to sleep again until a more reasonable hour.

DS2 started doing this at around that time as well - I started giving him a weetabix as well as his bottle before bed and he rarely wakes until his big brother jumps in his cot well after 6.

Definitely worth a shot - if it doesn't work, you haven't lost anything have you?

i agree with eastendmmmy both my boys went through the early waking but i left them to it and they learnt to settle themselves. the 4-5am time is the time when babies go through light sleep.

also give him the heavier dinner. my boys cluster feed between 5pm and 8pm.

Thanks for your replies. Time2 I know we are lucky, don't get me wrong I'm not bragging that he sleeps well or in despair that he wakes early, I was just asking that's all because he has suddenly started doing it.

We have been introducing porridge for supper. We've had a couple of "later" mornings, but I think teething is a problem at the mo so he isn't just waking and griping, this morning he was in clear agony bless him. If it carries on (after this pesky tooth is through) I might try leaving him to see if he'll settle himself..... if not 5am it is then!!

my DS still wakes at night for a bottle. He is 18 months now.

I simply hand him the bottle and leave his nursery. He drinks it and settles himself again.

Not sure he would have done that at 9mo though. Sorry.