Could the 5am wakings be due to teething?

[tammy29]

Hi all.As some of u might remember i was having an issue with my ds waking between 5:00 and 5:30 every morning.He has always been a fantastic 7-7am sleeper.After 2 weeks of early wakings,he started sleeping longer,till almost 7am again.Then it started again 3 mornings ago.

Whilst we were playing and laughing,i noticed one of his second year molars had come through.(He had 16 teeth by 13 months).I then noticed the other side was on its way.

Even though he doesn't act like he is in any pain,could this cause the early waking.

[Layla]

EW can be from teething imo. My dd has always generally taken well to teething but I do recall when she was getting her molars, we did have some 5am starts as well. How do you respond to him in the morning? Is he ok to stay in cot until you come and get him? I would say as long as you don't respond to him with milk or other means of AP, it would pass.

How does his day look like in general?

Layla

[yaya]

i agree, DS does that too and I think its teething

[tammy29]

Hi.when he wakes i never go in to him.He is happy to play in his cot till i go in and get him around 6:30 when his little sister wakes up.
Generally his day looks like this.Wake at 6:45(on a good day).breakfast at 7am,nap at 1pm for 1.5hrs and bath at 6:30,in bed by 7-7:15.
He has always slept completely independently and has never woken so early.Hope its a faze that will pass.

[yaya]

thats pretty similar to us except DS goes down for nap about 12,30 and sleeps about 2hrs (sometimes more)

[tammy29]

i would really like to get him back to a later wake time as i am up at 3am doing a night feed and i hate getting up again 2hrs later

[Gippie]

I am going to step out and say I think the 5am wakes are developmental - SOOOOOOOO many people on the toddler boards seems plauged by the wakes that come about an hour before normal wake and I personally think they are the toddler truly waking and not being able to resettle themselves easily......I have a huge post about my whole 60 days of dealing with THAT EXACT WAKE AT THAT EXACT TIME.......its called "My Success (so far) with those PESKY 5am toddler wakes" - - it is long, but helpful.   There is a lot in there about wiwo and pupd as well as the AP that I know I did and finally had to admit was part of the problem and THEREFORE had to be a part of the solution.   

Join us

[Layla]

Tammy27 - I would bring the nap forward to 12.30pm (or if poss even 12pm) for the moment, especially if he is waking so early and is probably overtired by naptime. If he wakes in the morning, I would do wi/wo and say something like "Its still night time, go to sleep" and leave. If he starts to cry then do wi/wo but if he happily plays in the cot until you come and get him then let him be.

Thanks Gippie for sharing your success with us, we all love to hear success stories and they are an inspiration . I have to disagree thou and say that teething (and other things as well as developmental) can cause EW. Tammy doesn't do any AP so really the EW are not related to that.

Let me know how it goes
Layla

[tammy29]

I have tried to put him down for his nap earlier but he just chats in his cot until 1pm anyway.I have been so lucky with him that i have never done any AP as he has always been a good sleeper and napper.Just suddenly out of the blue he went from sleeping till 7 or even 8am sometimes to a drastic 5am waking.I have though long and hard and cant think of anything that could have caused this except he is having these molars.

[mari]

Tammy, emeind me, how long has this been going on for now, the 5am waking?

[tammy29]

Hello again Mari.It started a few weeks ago for almost 2 weeks then he started sleeping longer till about 6:45.Then it started again 3 mornings ago.I only noticed the new tooth and another emerging one 2 days ago.

[mari]

but he goes off to sleep at night ok and sleeps through until morning?

[tammy29]

yep,he goes down great and never wakes during the night.Appart from the odd little moaning and biting,the teeth dont seem to be bothering him during the day.

[mari]

Do you know, I wonder if he could be a little overtired as he is such a good sleeper maybe he needs more sleep.  Have you tried a slightly earlier bedtime?  Does he crash at bedtime, if so that is a sign of overtired with Alex.  I know that I'm in for a good night if she gives us a few songs before dropping off!

[tammy29]

He does fall asleep within minutes most of the time.If he wakes early again in the morning i will put him to bed by 6pm tomorrow.i will let you know.