He wakes so early

[bennybean]

Someone please help me!!  My 5.5 month old has always been a really early riser.  I try to leave him in his crib until 6am, but it is so hard on most days.  He generally wakes between 5:15 and 5:45, and I'll go in pat him a little and repeat this process every 10 minutes or so.  Every once in a while he'll go back to sleep but its rare.  He seems to be wide awake, and if I give him any eye contact he will smile and talk to me.  I've tried getting him up and feeding him and putting him back in his crib but that usually doesn't work.  I've also tried just ignoring him and that doesn't work either.  This week I've started work again teaching part time in the mornings.  My LO has been waking even earlier every day.  THis morning he was up at 4:35-wide awake.  I am starting to go crazy because I just don't know what to do.  Is it possible that he's just done sleeping?  He goes to sleep early(7:00pm) but if I put him to bed any later he wakes at the same time.
He has a great sitter during the morning that is trying to follow my routine but my LO changes it daily.  We were waking at about 5:45, taking a nap from 8-9:30 and then eating, but since he is up so early he's completely off.  He naps at all different hours in the day now.  I know this isn't good for him, me or the sitter, but I don't know how to regulate his wake up time to stick with a consistent routine. 
I am exhausted!!

[bennybean]

I forgot to post our normal routine:
4:30-5:15am    Begin to cry- leave in crib- shh/pat
5:50am    Wake, 6oz bottle
6:30am     Cereal
8:15 am     Nap (1.5 hours)
9:45am      Wake, 6oz bottle
11:45am     Nap (we're trying for 1.5 hours, but usually only 45 minutes - I won't take him out of crib until 1pm)
1:30 pm      6oz bottle
3:30pm       nap (45 minutes)
4:15pm       wake
5:00pm       6oz bottle, he usually can't wait anymore
5:30pm      cereal
6:15pm       Begin routine, bath, massage, another 5oz bottle
7pm            Asleep (he always wakes exactly 45 minutes after falling asleep, but I just replace his paci and he goes right to sleep)

At the sitters this week he completely changed his routine.  He started taking a 45 minute catnap at 8am, and then a good 1.5 hour nap from 10-11:30.  When I get him home he will take another nap between 2-3:30, and then stay awake until 6:45 bed.  I really liked this schedule but he only followed it for 3 days and then fell apart.

[bennybean]

I'm sorry - I just read the post that tells what information to add. 
When he wakes at 4:30 am he talks to himself for about 15 minutes, then turns into a mantra cry for 5 minutes and then a full blown cry.  When I go to him he stops right away.  I give him his paci and lovie and leave and he is good for about 5 minutes.  Then it turns into a full blown cry and we do the same thing again.  I have taken him out and fed him before and he takes a full bottle, but he takes a bottle any time I offer it to him, and acts as if he hasn't eaten for days.  I've tried upping his ounces, he'll down it quickly, but then spit up.  I've also tried giving him more ounces during the day but nothing changes.  I've never tried a dream feed , but I'm considering it now, do you think that would work?

[Colin Macs Mom]

My goodness, that is awfully early!

First, you already know that you need a solid, consistent routine that is followed every day. Consistency is key - LOs really thrive on that. Don't let HIM change the routine, that's your job and the sitter's job. My suggestion is to leave him in the crib until the desired wake time, settling as needed of course. Then go about the day on the desired routine. It might make for a couple of really awful days with a lot of complaints, but he will get the idea that this is how things will be. Just make sure that the routine is something that will work for him, that he can do, so that you don't set him up to fail.

Also, I think your naps need some adjusting. You're right to want to extend that 2nd nap, keep on that one! But after the third one, that's a long A time for a 5.5 mo. at nearly 3 hours. He's probably overtired by bedtime.

[bennybean]

I know this early wake-up is why my schedule is falling apart, but I don't know what to do.  We have been working on this wake-up time for more than 3 months.  He is just wide awake.  He cries when I leave him alone but as soon as I go to him he smiles and laughs up to me.  I just pat him once and say "go to sleep" and leave.  As soon as I get out the door he starts screaming again.  If I stay with him for more than a few minutes he begins to get silly, he'll shake his head and kick up his legs and eventually start crying again.  If I leave him to cry alone he gets really upset (even if I tried he would never be able to cry himself to sleep)  What I have been doing the past two weeks is getting up right away, feeding him and putting him in his crib.  He usually will play for a while, and then eventually cry.  We repeat this about 3-4 times before I will get him up at 6am.  He's not even close to falling back to sleep.  When I do finally get him up he is the happiest baby in the world.  I just wonder if he is natually a really, really riser.  I think I'm doomed to be up at 4:45 forever!!

[Lana]

Is it really dark in his room?  I found with both my boys that I needed to tinfoil the windows so that is was dark.

[bennybean]

We have dark plantation shutters, but it doesn't matter because really the sun doesn't come up until after 6am!  When we get out of bed at 6am we still have to turn the lights on.

[Missy Lou]

something i noticed about his normal routine is that if he wakes between 4:30 and 5:15 and then naps at 8:15, he will have been up from 3-3.75 hours.  the same thing happens in the afternoon, he gets up about 11:45 and then naps at 3:30 - 3.75 hours later. 

when you go into his room at 4:30 or whenever, have you tried just sitting next to crib and not looking at him but just sitting?  when he starts to actually cry, shush him without looking at him (i have to do that at least because if i look at lo, she starts smiling and wiggling no matter how tired she is).  if he keeps crying and shushing in crib isn't helping, either pick him up until he calms or wrap your arms around him in the crib and shush.  as soon as he's calm, sit back down and look down again.  this is all probably stuff you've tried but since he's 5.5 months, pat/shhh probably doesn't work so great and pu/pd along with the soothing may be better.  have you looked at the FAQs on the pu/pd board yet?

have you tried wake to sleep yet to try and break this habit?
melissa

[bennybean]

I haven't tried wake-to-sleep with this early wake-up problem because I've been afraid that he would just wake up earlier.  Do you think I should try it?
I'll try and sit by his crib tomorrow morning and see if it works at all - Thanks for the suggestion.

[Missy Lou]

here's a link about using wake to sleep for night wakings.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64107.0

it may take a couple of times to work so in the mean time, if lo still wakes up, i'd try sitting in the chair next to him and shushing him when he starts to cry and picking up only when the shushing doesn't stop the crying and putting him back down as soon as he's calm again; otherwise, sit there quietly without looking at him until he falls asleep. 

here's a link about pu/pd techniques in general for different ages.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=69177.0

good luck tonight.  post back tomorrow or monday with updates.
melissa

[bennybean]

I've been trying the wake to sleep and so far I haven't gotten the results I wanted.  He actually woke up at 4:30 this morning and was wide awake.  He talked to himself for the first 15 minutes and then started to cry.  I went in after he had been crying for a few minutes to pat him and give him his paci and he screamed for his bottle.  I then fed him and put him back in his crib.  He played for another 10-15 minutes and then start crying.  I sat next to his crib and just gave him his paci again and patted him and he played for another 10 minutes.  We did this over about 3 times until 6am came and I just got him up.  I waited until he was playing and then I opened the blinds and got him up.  He was so happy to get up!  This has been our routine for the last few days.  It never got to the point where I had to pupd, but I couldn't leave and go back to sleep because I would be right back in there in 15 minutes.

[Missy Lou]

i hate this early rising mess.   why do babies like 4 or 5 a.m. so much?!!

how many days of wake to sleep?  he doesn't act tired at all - no closing eyes or anything?

have you adjusted his routine so that he's up for no more 2 hours at a time?  has wake to sleep helped to extend naps? 
melissa

[bennybean]

Ahhh!! Last night my little guy was up at 3:50am.  It's a little ironic because I had set my alarm for 4am for wake-to-sleep.  When he woke he talked loudly to himself for an hour.  He started to get a little whiny after about an hour so I went in, gave him his paci and patted him.  That was a mistake because he instantly became fussy.  10 minutes later I went in and just fed him because he was not wanting his paci anymore and he was really upset.  I was so exhausted by this time that I just brought him to bed with me.  I know that this is a bad habit to start but I had less than an hour before I had to get up and I needed a little sleep.  I don't know if he ever fell back asleep but I got about 20 minutes.  He was still laying next to me quietly at 6am when I had to get up so I put him back in his crib and he just layed awake quietly for about 20 minutes before I got him up.  He napped well today - a 2 hour am nap, and a 2 hour pm nap, and a late 1hour catnap.  He then went to bed easily at 7:40.  I'll see how tonight goes.  I m going to wake him up at 3am I think.  Wish me luck!

[Missy Lou]

i swear sometime they read our minds.  what a wild night.  sometimes there's nothing to do - life gets in the middle of sleep training as lo gets older.  i know it's hard to devote the time to doing what we're "supposed" to do because of work.  i've had that problem too.

i'm glad his naps went well and bedtime was good.  post tomorrow about tonight.
i'll be thinking about you guys.
melissa

[bennybean]

Last night my little guy was back to his 4:50 wake-up time.  He just layed and talked to himself for a while.  After he started crying I fed him and put him in his crib and he just layed and talked to himself until 6am.  Maybe he's beginning to accept that it isn't wake-up time even if he is up!  I'm not even as concerned about his wake-up time anymore.  I'm beginning to accept it, now I just want to get his schedule worked out at the babysitters house in the mornings.  The babysitter has a lot of trouble putting him down.  I even tried this morning at her house before I left for work and he didn't want to fall asleep.  I ended up staying by his pack-n-play for 15 minutes with my hand on his chest before he would let himself fall asleep.  Anyway, our daily routine follows his daily changing routine at her house.  I never know what I'm going to get for the afternoons.  I've been really stressing out, but I am just going to try and give it another week or two for his schedule to fall into place.   Hopefully we'll make it back to the EASY schedule.