18mo EW @ 5am - every morning help please x

[ConorsMum2009]

Hi everyone,

Whenever i have a problem or something needs a tweak with my 18mo's routine i ask here! 

DS is now 18mo and a great fella, in creche full time and is a spirited little man 

However he is an early riser, a 5 am early riser  and i need your help please or advise !

He has generally one nap in the day at creche which lasts approx 2 hours, he goes to bed every night at 7 am (routine in place since 7 weeks old) and he goes down really well.  However he stirs throughout the night and we give him a soother to go back to sleep etc, he is teething too which doesnt help.  anyway....

Frequent night wakings are a constant - i can count on one hand the amount of nights we all slept through, one of us is usually up at least 1-2 a night.
Then at 5 am Hello World! i have tried everything i can think of to settle him back.  He sleeps in a dark room with black out blinds (though the birds have been chirping lately at 4.30am so don't know if they are disturbing him!), is not too warm, too cold, not hungry (if i offered a bottle at 5 he would think its really awake time!) soother, shhusshing and patting saying sleepy time etc and nope nothing works!

Help! - any suggestions and i know im probably asking the impossible

Thanks in advance

Claire xx

[sianie]

Hi there...

What time is his nap?

Teething can play havoc with sleep & cause EW's....which teeth does he have coming through? Are you giving him meds for this? Have you tried doing a meds dream feed in the early hours?

You could try white noise in his room to eliminate the possibility of birds etc waking him up (even a fan pointed against a far wall in his room would help).

Has he always been an early riser or is this a new issue? There can be some sleep regression at around 18 mths (see below thread FYI)

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=176250.0

[ConorsMum2009]

Hi thanks so much for coming back to me!

He has typically always been an early riser, 6ish maybe 6.45-7 is we are lucky! Only then he sleeps because he is awake at some long stage during the night....however he has slightly regressed back to 5 am.......

We have given his meds but not every night, he is cutting back teeth and has to be fair cut probably 6-8 teeth including back in the last 8 weeks so that is probably part of it.  What is a meds dream feed? Sorry is that literally giving him meds while asleep???

His nap time is usually around 11 -1 ish in creche, but at home its more 9.30-10 am.

Many thanks again

Claire x

[sianie]

Yep, meds dream feed is when you give meds (ideally using a syringe) whilst they are asleep (around 1/2am). This does really help if teething are bothering your LO & disrupting their sleep.

His nap when you are at home is very early. You might find it better to do a 'set' nap time with him so that his nap is at more of a consistent time each day. I would probably keep it at around 11am-ish but aim to push it back a bit if he starts waking later in the AM.

[ConorsMum2009]

Thanks again for your help! Will try the meds tonight

Claire xx

[sianie]

Let me know hoe you get on!

[ConorsMum2009]

Morning!

Well not a bad night at all ;o).  He was fast asleep by 7 after bath, bottle etc.  I went to bed at 8.30 as i was shattered so i gave him a dream med then.  He stirred at 11 which was a quick fix with the soother and i went straight back to sleep, then 5am Wakey Wakey!

At least it was a 5-6 hour uninterrupted stretch, so i will def keep med up if he needs it.  I am going to borrow a fan today and put that in his room tonight to drown out the birds!

Thank you so much for your help ! I really appreciate it

Claire xx

[anna*]

If you're hoping for meds to fix the EW, you're going to need to give them at 2 or 3am so that they're still in his system at 5am. If you give meds at 8.30pm, they won't stop discomfort in the morning as they will have worn off by then.

[sianie]

Agree with Anna...I usually give meds at around 2am with my LO's to hopefully take them through to a reasonable WU.

Glad you had a better night 'tho! 

[ConorsMum2009]

True but last night, i could not bear the thought of setting my alarm for 2am!!

Also his EW isn't from pain, as he wakes happy but just wide awake at 5am.... we'll see

Thanks

Claire xx

[anna*]

I know from my own LO that they can be disturbed by teeth and still wake happy. It's not like they wake in pain, but more like they can't stay asleep when they've got this niggling feeling in their mouth.

Another thought with the soother is can you encourage him to replug himself at night? Does he have lots of soothers in his bed so he can find one, and is there maybe a dim nightlight so he can see to find one (or something to attach the soothers too). I'm just thinking that if he could replug hiself, that would be a bit more sleep for you too.

[ConorsMum2009]

Yeah i had the plan of stitching some onto a muslin cloth ! When he wakes like last night, he is usually in a funny position and loses the soother so i go rummaging and find it! Even when we had it attached to him on a clip he still wouldn't re-plug it...

But i will try the 1-2am meds and see how we go!
Thanks

Claire