10 month old's become a clockwork 5:40 waking monster help!

[Scotlian]

Oh how I used to look at early waking thread titles and think "hah, my wee boy won't do that!"... so now I pay for my smugness AND for never reading the threads as have no idea what to do. Ds is 10 1/2 months, eats like a heffalump, no colds or jabs, and has for the past week woken at 5:40 on the dot. Ready to start the day, but also still tired and grumpy. He's normally really cheery and still has 2 naps (1 or 1 1/2 hours each) in the day. We have tried earlier/later bedtime (he's normally asleep by 7:30/8 pm), going in to soothe him with cuddles, sleepytime music star, offering water, telling him it's night time.. none of it has worked. Am about to consider cc for early waking, if there is such a thing - basically ignoring any noise until 6:30.

Not sure if: he's having too many naps? Teething (but he's already got 6 teeth and this never happened before)? 5:40 is "normal" for this age and we should be resigned?

Things are complicated by the fact that I'm 5 wks preg and SO TIRED all the time. Any and all advice really appreciated.

No advice really. We had similar prob with 5am starts so cut down naps to max 3h in day and he now lasts till 6ish which is bearable. I love days when he doesn't wake till 6.40!!!
Will be watching!

Congratulations on your pregnancy

There is a technique called 'wake to sleep' (by the Baby Whisperer I think) which I used and it really does work. It is a bit of a killer on you but it does work if you persevere.

Basically, you have to set your alarm for an hour before he normally wakes up, go into his room and disturb him (not wake him up fully but just rouse him a little). You have to do this for 3 nights and it should solve it - if not, do it for another 3.

It really is hard - particularly when your alarm goes off but it worked with my DS2.

The other thing I have found to work at around 10 months old was to start giving him a weetabix with his bottle of milk for his supper as he was starting to wake up earlier and becoming restless for his morning milk.

No time to explain it but we used wake to sleep from the baby whisperer when this happened in our house and it completely fixed it in 4 days. Google it or search on here.

My DS was exactly the same at 10 months. By 12 months I had to wake him up to take him to nursery at 8am. No advice really - it was summer so we used to go and play in the garden in our PJs. But just to let you know that it is "normal" for us.

We had this with ds when he was about a year old. At that point he was having 2 hour naps in the morning and about 90 mins in the afternoon.

I experimented with naps and found what stopped the early morning waking was just having one sleep in the day. So he has about 2 - 2.30 minutes over lunchtime.

It was painful trying to stop him falling asleep mid-morning, but it got easier and he has a nice long sleep over lunchtime and he sleeps until 7 most mornings.

Oh thank you so many replies already! Bogeyblamer ( ) and CB74 I have to say I'm not sure I understand your method: so I should put my alarm on for 4:40? ..but...but...what if he then just wakes and stays awake? Amazed! Would never have thought of that! I will try it, maybe after understanding it better, if other things fail... I salute two very brave people.

Bike run ski yours is the zen approach. It has sustained me this far and your story is an added ray of hope (pregnant melodramatic hormonal emoticon)

Iliketomoveit - I reckon nap tweaking might be the way forward. I have no idea (ds is first child) when they're "supposed" to go from 2 naps to 1 but maybe now is it. Tricky thing is: how do you get a baby who's been awake since 5:40 to stay awake til after lunch? Even if lunch is 11am? Ds is always shattered 3/4 hours after waking up so maybe he does still need two naps?

Brain meltdown. Will stagger off to bed now and update you tomorrow. You are all fab for answering

I have no idea when they are "supposed" to go from 2 naps to 1 either, but it was the only thing I could think of to change the situation.

The first few days it was really hard to keep ds awake at mid-morning, but I started to do all of our activities in the morning instead of the afternoon, so that helped keep him awake.

I won't lie, it was really hard seeing his tired little face mid-morning as all he wanted to do was go to sleep. And for a few days he'd still wake up early, so it's doubley hard on everyone. But within about a week it did change and ds was sleeping in longer in the morning.

He quite quickly got used to not napping in the morning and then the need for a nap lessens as they sleep in longer in the morning.

Maybe if you don't want to get rid of a nap limit the amount of time he sleeps for on the first nap? I tried that first with ds, cut his first nap from 2 hours to 1 hour. It worked for a while but then the early wakings start again. But I think it's worth a try and then if you do decide to cut the nap out completely it won't be such a hard transition for him.

Good luck

That sounds sensible. I'll start doing that. Today still early waking but 5:45 instead of 5:40 so maybe the beginning of a slow creeping improvement .

He's napping again now so will go and sleep meself while I can...

Scotlian yes, you do have to set your alarm for 4.40 but you don't actually wake him up - I went into DS2's room and moved him round his cot and took out and replaced his dummy which was just enough to stir him but not actually wake up. On the 3 mornings I did this, he slept until 7 (and I actually had to wake him up ) as it disturbs their natural sleep cycle. From then on, he rarely wakes before 6.30 and I usually do have to wake him up at 7 when he needs to be up during the week.

Seriously - it really is tough when your alarm goes but it does work!

Wow. I am always so pleased when I discover things I'd never even remotely imagine considering were possible. Thank you Ceebee74
Plan so far is to try shifting naps lengths/times and see what happens, and then if that doesn't work the wake to sleep tactic. Although I am still terrified ds will just wake up and stay awake at 4:40!
But we shall see what tomorrow morning brings.

Isn't it great when you start to know that phases will pass? So much better than the first crazy sleepdeprived months. Phew.

We've had this too although I was only giving our now 12 month old DD a short nap in the morning and a big nap at lunchtime. I've droppped her morning nap and now she just has 2 hours...I've found as we've established dropping that first nap and now have a good 2 hours only she is sleeping better (although we now have teething and colds so that's put a spanner in the works). I tend to find that unless they're ill or teething the waking early usually comes down to too big a nap in the day (although too little sleeping can do the same)

The waking at 5am recently went on for about 3 weeks and I'd go in and feed her and pop her back. She might sleep she might not. I got fed up of doing it and found that regardless of whether I fed her she'd either sleep or not so decided not to and left her to cry a bit on and off - after a couple of mornings she stopped waking....She wasn't ready for the day she was grumpy and tired and really needed that extra sleep....

I haven't done the wake sleep thing as I've managed to nip it in the bud before I had to but I've always thought it sounds like a good idea. I also find that taking them somewhere else for a night (granny maybe !?) can often kick a habit...
I found with DS (now 3.5) we went through phases of waking early and if I just ignored it (rather than get him up I mean) eventually it sorted itself out one way or another. As he got older and could understand more we had to do the reward stuff for staying in bed - he's a 6.30 sort of man now !

just go with it. my ds was the same 5am on the dot my eyes were sticking together. i didnt try to change anything i just put up with it and he grew out of it. sympathies to you

5:20 today. tried to ignore it but he could hear us awake and got hysterical so got him up after a while... not such a good way to start the day. I hope he does grow out of this soon.

Will try the 1 longer nap thing asap. Tues mornings he goes to childminder so tricky to ask her to stop him napping!

Sorry don't want to be moany just have that pg feeling of walking through cement with tiredness plus early rises ain't helpin'.

Thanks again for sympathies and advice

poor you i can remember them days well. i used to be out walking on the beachfront about 6.30am seen as my day started at 5. it was the summer though so not so bad. i did notice when he started cruising/walking he started sleeping in. good luck

Oh I feel your pain - those early days of pregnancy are a killer aren't they?

Could you nap when your DS naps or are you at work?

Oh meant to add that my DS2 is 14.5 months old now and still has 2 naps most days - and he sleeps well at night.....so it may not be the naps.

Go on, take a leap of faith and do the wake-to-sleep thing!

Hello kind ladies
Just had a wee nap so feel better. Looks like ds definitely still needs 2 naps - tried to skip this morning's one and it was all horribly painful and in the end he slept 1 1/2 hours poor boy. Like you say Ceebee74 it might not be the naps. WHO KNOWS!!! I think I do feel a leap of faith coming on, but I am a reluctant believer, so will ask you more about the Weetabix In Milk thing: how much weetabix per how much milk? Doesn't it go sludgy and impossible to drink? Ds doesn't ever seem that desperate for his milk in the morning and eats embarrassingly large amounts of food in the day but maybe worth trying...

Scotlian sorry didn't mean to mislead you. Ds2 has a bottle of milk and then his weetabix with milk seperately (I didn't mean put his weetabix in his bottle ). I give him both his bottle and his weetabix at the same time and he usually has a small drink of milk, then some weetabix (spoonfed) and then back to his bottle and so on until he decides he has finished. He is quite a big eater but it is all new to me aswell as DS1 has always seemed to exist on fresh air

Ah! That makes more sense sorry that was me being porridgebrain rather than you misleading me . We put him to bed a bit later tonight (has just gone to sleep) hoping it'll mean later waking. I know there's a bloke who claims that's not how it works but with ds earlier bed just does seem to mean earlier rise...

...off to pour self pregnancy-sized glass of wine

We had this around the same age. We had to start cutting the morning nap shorter gradually, keeping a longer nap in the afternoon. We cut to 45 mins for a bit, until the early AMs started again. Then to 30 mins. Now we're mostly at 20 mins in the AM and a longer sleep after lunch.

Have had some early starts since, but mostly seem related to teeth over here.

Wake to sleep is worth a try too!

Right. 5:45 again... after reducing morning sleep, trying earlier and later bedtimes, giving extra food before bedtime...

So, I am now officially ready to be converted to wake-to-sleep. Checking I've got this right: I put alarm on for 4:45 , go into ds' room and gently move him a bit to make him stir in his sleep. Retreat before he wakes up fully and keep fingers crossed. Keep doing this for 3 days? Or a week? And what if ds wakes up properly? How much should I "disturb" his sleep cycle?

I might start a wake to sleep query thread

This will pass this will pass.

Morning Scotlian

Yes, set your alarm for 4.45, go in and stir him as much as you can without waking him up, then leave him. You must do it for 3 consecutive days - and then on the 4th morning, don't do it and it should have sorted it.

Please come and update me as to how it is going! Good luck!

This is a slight aside but I always love the clock change in Spring, as it works wonders for my little ones wake up time

I do find this winter clock nonsense doesn't work for mine well at all. They're on Summer time 24-7.

scotlain good luck with your wake to sleep technique i believe it works well

Thanks for the good luck! I am beginning to believe it does work: this morning I set my alarm for 4:45 but ds beat me to it! He woke at 4:40, grunted and cried and crawled about for a few minutes (we were next door listening with baited breath) then went back to sleep until 7:15!!!!!

So I am now tempted to leave him be with no alarm tonight and see what he does. Methinks that would be tempting fate though

Ceebe74 I offer you a bunch of flowers (invent that emoticon), thanks and apologies for being such a doubting Scotlian.