Smiling awake baby at 5 am!

[babyboyjoy]

Hi Everyone, I have a 5 month old baby boy who was sleeping between 9 and 10 and a half hours for some weeks, then he started to wake in the night for a feed, which I know is not unusual at his age. However he is now weaned (which went like a dream) and on 3 meals a day as well as breastmilk, although I didn't wean him early for this reason I thought it may help but he is still waking in the night and at 5am (if not earlier) every morning. He has never been a baby that sleeps much during the day, since he was born, his naps are few and random, but I do find he sleeps better at night when he sleeps more during the day, but if I put him down for routine naps it's a no go. His evening routine is bathtime, food then breastfeed around 6 o clock, I keep the lights and TV down low and stop stimulating with play keeping things calm, readin to him etc. but he rarely goes down before 9pm. I don't want him to need to be nursed to sleep and I'm very aware of that! so I started to try the 'cry it out' method but I feel he is a bit too young at the moment and also my Husband found it too difficult (don't we all!) When I put him in his cot earlier he is playing, turning around, rolling over etc! having a lovely time, but not sleeping and then he cries. He still sleeps in with us in his crib at night, but I put him down in his nursery beforehand and transfer him when we got to bed, so he has been used to his nursery from the start. The only thing I can think of is that it may be the Summer mornings that are waking him, and I'm going to buy a black out blind for his nursery for when I transfer him there permanently in 3 weeks when he is 6 months old. I think I've covered everything, so please are there Mum's out there who have had similar experiences? I know he is still young to be in a 12 hour routine and I'm not expecting miracles but the lack of/broken sleep is starting to affect my mood and really wear me down and I don't want Sam picking up on that. A 6am rise would be a wonderful lie in !!! Please help.x.

going to try this with ds2, 9months, who has been getting up at 5:

black out

make sure baby is not getting to cold, sometimes it gets chilly around 4-5am.

My one-year old had been getting into the habit of waking at 4-5. She has always had black-out blinds AND curtains. Recently I've been making sure that on top of the blind/curtain combo I hang thick towels so that absolutely no light can escape, and that the bathroom door ~(next to her room) has the door closed so no light is coming from there either. She still sometimes wakes early but the usual time for the past week or so has moved to about 6.30. So, definitely try blacking out as a first port of call.
I think Devil might be onto something, she is often quite cold at that time.
One other thing that I've tried and didn't really work for us, but might be worth a go, is quiet music set on an alarm for just before when she'd wake. My DD was waking (I think) when all the birds started singing. I found that making sure the window was firmly closed worked better than music.
Good luck!

Thank you! I love the way you're up this early too, even that makes me feel better lol! I'm typing one handed whilst breastfeeding, half asleep.x.

Ugh in that case it can't be that bad, we'reat the post-breastfeed, post-breakfast crawling around hitting mummy with random objects time of day!

That blackout blind looks great - I'll be buying it today! 4.20 for me this morning with my 8 month old, and the little darling was back asleep by 7.00. I can't go back to bed though because my elder daughter who's nearly 4 gets up. She woke around 5am for the first 18 months, summer and winter. We tried everything and in the end just had to wait for her to grow out of it. Hasn't stopped me looking for solutions this time too though!
I'm thinking to try an earlier bedtime as like you, babyboyjoy, I agree that babies do sleep better when they're well rested. And if that and the blackout don't work I'm going to try wakening him up before in the hope he'll go back to sleep. Feels like a dangerous tactic though - don't want to inadvertently bring on a 3.30 wake up call!

i have tried EVERYTHING..and now just accept its between 5 and 6 every morning....5 is tough, 5.45 not so bad. ( oh how my life has changed!!) so schmostin i am like you, waiting for her to grow out of it!!! and very pleased to hear your LO did! hurrah.

we are lucky that LO doesn't cry, so leave to 'chat' until after 6, then get up for the day. if she cried and had to be dealt with at that time..that would be a different story!

Am sure each baby is different, so if its a new thing, then defo the cold,light mornings, black out. But my LO is just an early riser i think... and those people whose babies sleep until 7, i weep over...

Tsk, 6am is virtually the afternoon in my book. You're a lucky woman tinks;)

my 15 month DS wakes at 4 am and that's morning as far as he's concerned. We have the blackout blinds et all.

Thank you ladies for all of your advice and 'in the same boat' replies, they all made me feel better. Thanks especially to Devilsadvocat for the 'cold' tip. I have always put DS in a grow bag but with the warm weather of late I have stuck to a blanket which he can kick off, but I was worried he might overheat otherwise. So, last night I put him back in his grow bag. He slept from 8.30 until 5.15 when he woke momentarily, I gave him his Dummy and he went back over til 6.40! WOOHOO! I have had 7 hours sleep and I feel so much better. So maybe he was cold, maybe it's because it's a darker morning, or maybe it's a fluke! I'll keep you updated. Anyway my boobs are suprised, I woke up looking like 'Lolo Ferrari!' x.

I have been getting up between 4.30 and 5.30 with my 13month old ds for the last 8 months and I am really at the end of my tether.

At first he would usually go back to sleep within the hour and even if I didnt get back to sleep at least he started the day fully rested and having had enough sleep.

For te last month we have been getting up for the day at 5...he is exhausted and grumpy by 7, usually in bed by 9 at the latest....but nothing seems to make him sleep later or go back to bed at a reasonable time. He is now in nursery for 2 days and is knackered before he has even started the day there. All my other friends and other babies at nursery are getting up at 7ish and their babies are cutting down daytime naps.

I have tried black out blinds and curtains, sleeping bags, earlier and later bedtimes, less sleep during the day (usually has 2 one hour naps so not excessive anyway but will sleep even less at nursery). I even tried not getting up with him but trying to leave him togo back to sleep on his own with me popping into his room to lay him back down every five mins. After an hour and a half of screaming I cracked and got up with him.

The problem is that he is wide awake at 5 but still needs more sleep.

Has anyone managed to crack this or do you just have to wait til they grow out of it? (sorry for hijacking the thread....just came on to sympathise and ended up doing a long winded rant !!).

Is there some technique where you wake them up early and then resettle to reset their clock?

I have a gro anywhere blind, it is brilliant. Both my DCs had begun to wake at 5.30am, now with the blind they wake at 7am or even 7.30am

Have you tried to the wake to sleep method to get them to stretch out longer in the morning? It works amazingly.

I sleep trained both of mine at about this stage with the PUPD method which is a lot kinder and gentler than cry it out. Worked a treat. I agree too that the more they sleep the better they sleep. At this stage mine still napped at about 9am, 12 ish and 3pm ish and then it moved to 10.30am and 3pm when slightly older. Always bed by 7.30pm.

Both of mine still woke from time to time at night until 9 months I'm afraid to say. The 3am feed did disappear after weaning but they often woke for the 11pm feed until about 9 months old.

It does get better

Myneaux it maybe well worth you trying wake to sleep, if all other methods have failed? It is originally from Tracey Hogg's Baby Whisperer book. I've just cut and pasted this from elsewhere on mumsnet:

How to deal with persistent early-morning wakers

One technique some Mumsnetters recommend trying is called 'wake-to-sleep'.

The theory is that if you rouse your toddler slightly from their deep sleep an hour before their usual waking-up time and then leave them to resettle, you might disrupt their sleep pattern so they won't wake at the usual time.

So if they normally wake at 5am, you'll need to set your alarm for 4am (yes, we know it's horrific) and then go in and rouse them ? just enough so they're nearly awake but will settle back to sleep again.

After three days you can let them sleep through and see if they will naturally wake at a more respectable hour.

I've lurked and posted on the sleep topic for a while now and this method has worked surprisingly well for a lot of mumsnetters.

thanks....am terrifed of trying it because knowing my luck I will just have a very awake baby at 4am instead of 5am.

might wait til weekend so at least dh can share in the misery !

Well it depends on your baby, I know one mumsnetter who could lift a leg to partially wake them and leave again and everything was fine.

I'd probably just stroke their face gently and leave again quietly if it was me.

Myneaux did you try it?? how did it go???

Useful article on early waking here

Blackout blinds worked for me for a while, then we had early waking again and I moved the first nap of the day a bit later and that worked too. x

Our 17 month has his alarm set for 5am regardless of anything! So I am hoping it may get later in the winter.... It used to be for 6am and after.... It has been 4.30 a few times and that really is unbearable! 5am better...

Good luck all.

Havent yet had the nerve to try the waking up technique. During the last few weeks things actually got worse with lots of waking up earlier on in the night....as such DS was so tired he was managing to sleep til 6.

We have made some progress tho...the night wakings were proving very traumatic with lots of rocking, singing, an overtired baby and exhausted stressed parents. We decided we had to make a real attempt to start putting him down awake for naps and at bedtime in the hope that he will learn to self settle.

We had a hard couple of days but now he falls asleep within 5 mins with only a little bit of a grump. So now the night wakings are getting better and although we are still up at 5ish I think we will just have to cope with it for a while. I havent really got the energy to start anything new yet.

Myneaux to hear how tough things have been for you. However it does sound like you are making progress, even if he is still waking at 5am.

This too shall pass, things will get better x