8month old waking at 5am! Tried everything!!

[Mummy23boys]

Hi all,

Hope you can help me!

My 8 month old DS wakes every morning at 5am or 5.30am. Can you help me change this time to 6.30/7am? Is it even posible? I have tried everything! His BT was normally 7pm and I knew sleeping till 5 was perfectly acceptable as he would have had 10 hours sleep. So I tried a later bedtime but he still woke at the same time. I tried more naps suing the day, I tried less naps during the day. I tried W2S that didn't work. His room is quite dark and quiet so no disruptions there. I tried feeding him at 5.30am but hunger wasn't the problem. He gets a lot of activity too so I don't think that is it. Should I bring back the DF? I am 7 weeks pregnant an I am already exhausted!

Every day is different but here is a typical day:
5am - wake and chatting away
6.30 - up after trying to settle a few times/ 8oz FFB/ solids
8.15ish - 9.45 nap (usually for 1.5 hrs)
11/11.30 - lunch and water
12.30ish - 2pm nap ( usually 1.5 hrs)
2.30pm - 8oz FFB
5pm - sometimes has a little CN for 20 mins or so
5.30pm - dinner
6.45pm - 8oz FFB and bed and asleep by 7pm

This is a rough copy of our day. Sometimes his naps are later and he doesn't have a CN. He is a spirited baby and sometimes nap times can be difficult but moUure often than not they are fine. It's only at night time when he seems really tired. I obviously put him to bed then. I just know that at 5am he is still tired but won't go back to sleep. Is there anything I can do?? Have I given enough info? Do you think 5am is just his time? I have read other posts but I have tried everything they suggest. Does my easy look ok?

Thanks so much,

[Bex09]

Hi there, ((HUGS)) for the early mornings! some LOs will just be early risers but there are things that you can try first to see.

So from your EASY I would think that your best bet would be to try to push naps a little later and drop the CN, I know you said you do this sometimes, how are your mornings then? Still the same? At 8 mo most LOs are on around 3 hrs of A time so I would stick to the 3h 15 morning A time but then slowly try to stretch that 2nd A time to nearer 3 hrs or more too. Then there shouldn't be time for a CN and you can do an early BT if needed. I know EBT is a scary thought and yes some LOs will wake even earlier, but often you find that they will actually sleep for longer. So worth a try, if you haven't already.

Also remember that you are really aiming for a 12 hr day and (fingers xd!) a 12 hr night. Often the length of your day can make LO OT and cause the EW. So a later BT will still get you an EW because of OT. So, for a while it might be that you try a BT of 5.30pm but if you can get longer nights then you can start pushing your day later and later to a reasonable wu time.

For now how does something like this look?...

wu - 5.30
A time - 3h 15
Nap 1 - 8.45-10.15 (1.5 hrs)
A time - 3 hrs
Nap 2 - 1.15- 2.45 (1.5 hrs)
A time - 3 hrs
BT - 5.45