Morning bottle at 5am - and going back to sleep

[snowylion]

Hi, not sure if this a sleep or feeding issue but some advice would be appreciated please.

My DS (one week away from 10 months) has always been an early waker and riser but in the last two weeks he has woken around 5am as usual but instead of wanting to get up, wants his breakfast milk and then to go back to sleep. I've let him do this as around 8 1/2 months he suddenly started waking in the night again for a full feed. I've managed to eradicate that over the last three weeks and he doesn't have a dream feed either. He's down to three bottles starting with this first one at 5am, a post lunch/pre nap one and then a bedtime bottle. He is also eating three meals a day although his appetite isn't consistent.

I wake him at 7am and we start our day then and he generally has 3 1/2 hours of A time before his naps which tend to last between 1hr 15 and 1hr 30mins. He wakes naturally from his naps. But, he is now pushing his bedtime to around 8pm as he doesn't wake from his last nap until between 4.30 and 5pm. Ideally I would like him in bed for 7/7.30 but don't want him waking any earlier or wanting to actually get up again at 5am.

I would like him to have his breakfast bottle when he is actually ready to get up but I am a bit scarred by his unexpected night feeding and am reluctant to potentially open that can of worms again! If I shorten his morning nap, do you think it would encourage him to bridge that 5am gap eventually? And should I start reducing the lunchtime bottle to encourage a better bottle at bedtime? At the moment he tends to drink around 200ml in all three bottles but occasionally either the lunch or bedtime bottle will be much shorter. I also feel he might not be eating enough - breakfast is okay, he's ravenous at lunchtime because he feeds up to an hour after he wakes but then is not really bothered about dinner, probably because he has had a bottle only two/ two and half hours before.

I hope this isn't too confusing for you to read! Our EASY may help.....

5AM - breakfast bottle usually around 200ml - Back to sleep

7AM Wake up

8.30AM Breakfast (cereal and fruit)

10.30 Nap (usually 1hr 30)

Midday - Awake

12.45PM Lunch (spoonfed main meal and yoghurt)

3PM Bottle (anthing between 180ml - 200ml)

3.30PM Nap (usually 1hr 30)

5PM Awake

5.50PM Dinner (spoonfed usually but also BLW - only takes an ounce or two and never pudding)

7PM - anytime from 7PM he will start shouting for his bottle and sometimes have it in two stages before and after bath/wash etc. Again, up to 200ml but not consistently.

8PM Bed

He has never been a consistent milk drinker though and I had to teach him to sleep when he was younger so everything - feeding, sleeping, eating feels like a hard won victory with him  He self settles at nap and bedtime but if I misread his cues and put him down too early, he will get frustrated and cross if he stays awake in his cot for too long.

Thank you!

[Lolly]

Your milk/ solids routine looks pretty typical for his age, you could try giving the afternoon bottle a bit earlier to see if that makes a difference.

 think the biggest issue is the 5am waking, you are probably in the 2-1 transition stage and I would think that starting to cap the morning nap and bring the afternoon nap earlier should help the EW. My DD began with EWs when she was about 10 months and we went straight to one nap when she turned 1 which solved the issue for us.

Have a look at this link, it should help!
From 2 to 1 nap transition (10-12m and older)

What do you think?

Laura

[snowylion]

Thanks for your reply Laura, and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I am single parenting four children under five while OH works away and it is just crazy at times.

I think you're right about the transition so I pushed his morning nap and cut it back in duration so he now has 3 1/2 A time in the morning and a 1 hour nap with a one and half hour afternoon nap. That has worked like a dream over the last ten days or so and now he isn't waking until 6am for his breakfast feed, although he is still going back to sleep afterwards and I wake him at 7am.

Yesterday though he refused his afternoon nap completely and was cranky going down for his morning nap and today, although he has gone down for both naps, it wasn't without a whinge on his part and a lot of breath-holding on mine! If his times are spot on, he normally just rolls straight over once his sleeping bag is on, so I think now that his night sleep is much better, I need to start pushing that morning nap again.

I've read the 2-1 link that you added but just to be clear, if I extend his morning A time by 15 minutes, taking him to 3h45, do I let him sleep for an extra 15 minutes in the morning to make it up (I have to wake him at an hour at the moment) and then pull that back off the afternoon nap? So I eventually let the morning nap get longer and start capping the afternoon one?

He is only 10 months so I think it may take him a couple of months to even want to go down to one nap so I don't want to rush him, particularly as he makes life so easy IF i get it right for him!

Thank you again so much for your help. Even though I'm doing this for the fourth time it is so invaluable to know you guys are there, especially when I'm on my own most of the time.