The 5 am wake-up...what do you do?

[Mom-of-boys]

So my son just turned 9mo and he can't seem to sleep well past 4:30-5:00 in the morning.  I have tried everything I can think of to help him - changing diaper, darkening room, giving paci, adjusting temperature, medicating in case of teething, etc.  We recently have been trying to not let his sleep past 3:30 pm for his nap, and I think this has helped with his NW, but not for the EW.  I haven't given a bottle at night for months and part of me is wondering whether hunger is the issue, but I don't want to create a bad habit if it's not needed.  Is it normal for babies this age to have a bottle at 5 am?  I get the impression that waking this time is pretty common so what do you do when your baby wakes up this early? Is this EW just a phase I need to wait out? DH says I can't break something that's not fixed, but I'm afraid of moving backwards.  Any ideas would be great! 

Currently our EASY looks like this.:
Wake up 4:30-5:00 diaper change, darken room, keep giving paci until 6:30

E 6:30 bottle
A
E 8:00 solids
A
S 8:30 (1 1/2 - 2 hr)
E 11:00 bottle
A
E 12:30 solids
A
S 1:45 (1 1/2-2 hr)
E 3:30 ish
A
E 5:00 solids
A
E 6:45 bottle
Bedtime routine
S 7:30

[ZacsMumme]

I think he may need less day sleep hun...his A time between naps is too short for a 9 month old really, as is his first A ( when not EW )
I would first try to push that AM nap closer to 9 if you can as he could be tacking on his lost night sleep to that first nap. Then, if he is consistently napping close to 2hrs for one nap, I would cap the other at 1-1.5 hours (gently over a week or 2) THis will give him more A time during the day to be tired to sleep at night.

ie
WU....keep doing what you are doing, start the day at 6.30 or 6 whatever your set time is
Nap 9-10
Nap 1.30-3.30
BT 7.30

or
Nap 9-11 (though if you go this way you really need to work on pushing this nap out closer to 10 over the next few weeks)
Nap 2.30-3.30
BT 7.30

What do you think hun?

[Mom-of-boys]

What a difference it has made to shorten his naps! Although we're still a little way off.  I used to be dealing with anywhere from 3-5 wakeups a night and now for the past few days he's been sleeping from 7:30-5:00/5:30.  I have been putting him down for his first nap at 9:00 and trying to gradually shorten it down to an hour (right now we're at 1hr 15min).  Hopefully when that first nap is shorter, he might even sleep straight through until 6:00 am.

Thanks for the great advice!

[ZacsMumme]

Your welcome! Lovely success good work you! I would also try to push the nap out a touch later as well once you get it closer to 1 hr to combat the EW, and you can always bring the next (PM) nap forward a touch to prevent OT