how many people have success medicating in the early morning hours?

[mmom]

I am pretty sure my LO is teething.  He has always been inconsistent with sleep, but over the past week, he has been waking from naps crying and sporadically waking in the 5 am hour and has been very unsettled.  When I say unsettled, I mean that he tries to go back to sleep, but will yelp out occasionally or toss and turn until we get him around 6/6:30.  It is not like he is ready to get up - he is not standing or waiting for us.  He has his head down in his sheet and he is trying to sleep.  I want to go in and put teething gel on him, but I am afraid that him seeing me will result in him thinking it is time to get up.

I will add just in case anyone asks that we have not tweaked his routine.  His nap has been around noon and bedtime around 7 regardless of how his day went.  Some days he sleeps 1.5 hours and then 11 hours at night.  Some days he wakes screaming from naps, only sleeps 1 hour, and then has a 10 hour night. There is no rhyme or reason and because he has been so inconsistent with sleep, we have kind of stuck to it.  There are days though where I have him in bed at 6:15, with the intention of him sleeping by maybe 6:45 if the nap has been bad.  We will also do the same with naps - if it was a real EW like this morning, we will have him down at 11:45.  But before we were doing early naps and bedtimes and the same things were happening, so now we are just being consistent.

[Mashi]

Kara, we do get these moans still in his head, head down trying to sleep as you say, and hes clearly not ready to get up, and they are very much when he is teething!  I find that if I go in and rub his back for a while he will calm down and sleep well. I have put gel on, but only when it was incisors causing the problems, now that it is upper canines I can't get my finger in there easily enough to not disturb him.  Can you try a syringe with meds?

[londonmama]

I've never had luck with the "dream feed" of meds, but sometimes if he happens to be awake at 2 am and I give Calpol then we can avoid the 5 am starts.  But I usually try to rub his back instead because the risk of medicating at 2 or 3 AM is that I wake him up even more by lifting him up and then he is harder to settle! 

If I went in and gave meds at 5 am and tried to walk out again, he would probably go mental.

But you can only try!

[anna*]

I haven't been able to do teething gel in the wee small hours but when we're going through a phase of bad sleep from teeth I will sneak into his bedroom at 3am and give him meds from a syringe. Giving it in a syringe means I don't have to sit him up or really wake him at all (unless he is face down in the pillow)

[*Becky*]

we are going through this too. Last night DS was on and off awake from 4am but not screaming, just moaning...so basically I am awake too
I was also wondering how to manage it xxx

[*Becky*]

londonmama - that is what I am worried about - disturbing him even more. If he was really crying then I would def be in and medicating but it is in and out of sleep. Maybe I will try the syringe tonight. mmom - is this canines for your lo? I am wondering how long we are to expect???

[mmom]

I *think* it is the canines.  I had my hand in his mouth yesterday and I couldn't believe how many teeth he has gotten lately.  Plus the remainder of his gums are swollen and there are bumps everywhere.  He has been so clingy and needy lately, that I have just attributed all of that to these teeth coming.

My fear of going into his room is that he will think it is time to get up. But I know when he wakes early, that he is not ready to get up either.  I could try doing the medicine route in the middle of the night, but he sometimes sleeps with his face right into the mattress.

It is interesting to see many of us going through this and how everyone handles it.   I guess I won't know how it will work out until I try.

[anna*]

When Stan sleeps face down I can usually get him to stir without waking. Even lying on his tummy, if he has his face to one side I can get the syringe into his mouth.

[*Becky*]

 uggh I have really had enough. Not sure where to post but his behaviour is so awful...I am thinking it must be the teeth and I guess he is in pain but jeez it is too much. Hope you get a good night tonight x

[mmom]

uggh I have really had enough. Not sure where to post but his behaviour is so awful...I am thinking it must be the teeth and I guess he is in pain but jeez it is too much. Hope you get a good night tonight x

We are having similar days.  Last week was really bad.  We had a lot of temper trantrums and crying.  I know he is exhausted too.  He wakes crying from most naps and is never really rested.  I actually gave him Motrin during the day one day, which I never do, and it was the one day he took a good nap.

[hrk]

We use motrin for teething, and he would always go back to sleep easily.  I think you may just have to give it a try to see what happens with the gel?

I think if the motrin took care of the behavior, I would suspect there is some discomfort behind the behavior.  I hope they are through soon! 

[mmom]

I can't say that Motrin took care of the behavior, but he did take a great nap.

I didn't medicate in the middle of the night.     I should have.  He is sleeping less and less.....

[hrk]

HUGS for less sleep.  Hopefully you get a bunch at once, so it explains the sleep and it doesn't drag out.  You can always give it a try today and see how it goes.  More hugs!!!