Help! Waking at 5am to start the day!

[aidansmum]

Our lo is 6 months old today (where did the time go?) Anyway, he had a spell last week where he woke early for 3 days in a row, at around 5:15 a.m. The first two days I gave him a half bottle and the third I just settled him back to sleep. I think the reason for this in our case was that he was a little hungry. He wasn't crying, just very loud chatter and squeals in his crib and didn't settle himself to sleep until I intervened about an hour later. We've been gradually upping his food intake and for the past several days he has been sleeping until 6:30 and even 7:00 again! Have you tried increasing his daytime calories?

Alana

[Karima]

i too thought that it might be that sam wasn't getting enough calories during the day and that is when i switched to more "serious solids", i.e. pasta, chicken and yoghurt, etc.  and it worked for a couple of days, but then he started waking up early again.  now, as luck would have it, sam seems to have lost he appetite (i think he really is teething this time), so that could also be one reason for his early wakings.  still, i will see how he gets on with the shorter naps again today.  who knows?  perhaps we will have a repeat of this morning's 7.15+ wake up?  fingers crossed and thanks for the advice!

[mommytomackenzie]

Hi Ladies,

I thought I was making progress, but the last couple days she went back to waking at 5:30.  Does anyone think I should try and move her bedtime later.  My routine is posted at the top of this thread.

I feel like a detective trying to figure this one out! Perhaps it's just time to spend a week trying out each thing until I find something that works?

Appreciate your continued help,

Nicole

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

Hi there. I dont think I would move her bedtime later as she may get overtired and cause her to wake earlier. I am not sure about all the details, but if they are overtired at bedtime they can terminate their sleep cylcle early, thus causing early wake ups. I would try shortening up the first nap a bit... say a total of 1 hr for a week or so and see if that helps. She is probably getting to much day sleep. I know we all count on those nap times as a much needed mommy time, but sometimes you have to choose the lesser evil. Also, I might also think about putting her to be a little earlier especially if she is up at 5am. I know it seems counterproductive to do this but it helps to avoid the "being overtired at bedtime scenerio." Anyway, try both of those things separate or together and see what happens. Be sure to give a week or so because your lo's internal clock takes time to reset.
HTH
Alice

[AmyT]

Hello, Ive done the same this week, she naps in morning and afternoon but Ive got rid of the evening nap and just try and keep her active and awake then I put her down at 8pm and she has slept to 6.30-7 all week so looks like that the key.

Also she has gone from eating small little mouthfuls of food to a full jar and other nibbles every day this week so that might have helped, but I think it definitely cutting out the evening nap that has helped. As in total she was sleeping like 14 hours, but 4-5 of them were in the day, now she down to a 1.5 hour morning nap and a 1.5 hour afternoon nap and she awake from 4pm until bed at 8pm when she now seems to be sleeping 10-11 hours at night.

[jm]

My LO is waking at 5am too.  He is 9 weeks old.  ITs his only wake up at night.  He takes 4oz and wont be pacified.  He struggles to eat 5 oz bottles through the day and i know he wont take 6 oz ones.  HOw can I et past this??  He goes to bed at 7 and DF at 10.45.

[Layla]

Hello everyone!

Isabella went through a stage when she would wake up at 5 am. We live next to a family which has a small farm in their backyard, full of chickens and other animals, including a rooster. As her bedroom was the closest to their backyard, this rooster would wake her up every morning and so eventually her body got adjusted to 5am wake ups and believe me it was very very very frustrating. I remember cursing at this rooster every morning and just praying that the rooster would "sleep in" and let my daughter sleep as well.... 

Anyways, as she was not getting enough sleep,she too would be very tired by 8am and so her am nap was moved forward by about 1 hour. I ended up trying to put her to bed earlier (about 6.30 the latest), giving her more sleep time. That way she woke up (although very early) better rested and not as cranky. Her naps were always 1 hour in am and 1.5 hrs max in pm. I heard that if your LO is sleeping more that 2 hrs per nap then they are not getting enough rest at night (not sure if its true???). She still woke up at 5ish but then eventually it increased to 6ish over a few weeks. I did try to put her to bed later so that she would sleep in later but unfortunately that backfired and she would wake up around 4.30 and unable to put herself back to sleep. Earlier bedtimes have always worked for us but I know it can backfire and as a result cause an earlier wake up....

She hardly ever cried at wake up, she would just play/talk in the cot. I would just "switch off" and sleep another hour through it. She didn't seem to mind so I would just leave her there (also in the hope that she would go back to sleep  ).

Eventually her 6ish wake ups stayed and I have no idea what hapend to this rooster cause I certainly don't hear it anymore . To be honest, there are still times when she wakes up supa early or in the middle of the night and not going back to sleep. Last night she woke up at 11.40 and for 40 mins just chatted to herself. But I have noticed that those are the times when she misses naps or has short naps or has a late night (which I try to keep to a minimum). It takes her about 2-3 days to catch up on sleep and then she goes back to normal schedule.

Hope this helps...

[AZMOM]

Hi I just wanted to chime in and say the same is happening to me. In fact I posted a similar thread.  My ds is 6.5 months old and has been waking anywhere inbetween 5-5:45am.  He doesn't cry just plays and talks.  He sounds ready for the day.  We let him go like that for about 45 minutes or so.  A few times he has gone back to sleep and the other times he is up.  I'll get him out around 6 and then he will have a bottle at 6:15.  THis wasn't a big deal before because he would have to get ready for the sitter's house and be out the door by 7;10am.  I am a teacher and now I'm on summer vacation and I will be staying home with my two little ones next school year (I'm taking a leave of absence).  DH and I have tried everything and he seems to like the early mornings.  Here is a look at our days(most days):

5:15/5:30 - Up, playing in the crib
6:15 - Bottle
7:15- Breakfast - cereal
8:00/8:15(depending on how tired he is,I've been trying to stretch this) nap until 9:30/9:45
10 - bottle
11:30-lunch
12:30/12:45-nap until 2:20/2:30
2:30- Bottle
*THis is the area that has been changing since things were different when I was working and has been a little different with the bedtime usually between 7-7:30
5:00- SOmetimes a catnap until 5:30and/or 3 ounces of his evening bottle
5:30or later(usually eats with us)
Get ready for bed
6:45/7:00- Bottle and then bed

**The dinnertime has thrown me off with this little one.  I am thinking I'll try dinner at 4:30 and then the catnap.  He then can jsut sit with us while we are eating.

I may try keeping the naps to 1 1/2 hours as sometimes they go longer.  I was also hoping to eliminate the catnap down the road.  Also someone suggested to me in my other post to stir ds an hour before.  Can someone explain this?  I only have Tracy's first 2 books and I'm not on this site much anymore.

Thaks
Lisa

[mommytomackenzie]

Just wanted to keep you all updated...

I've definitely seen progress again!  I started limiting both naps to no more than 1 hr 15 min each.  I've also moved her evening wind down routine earlier -- so she's asleep by 7:00pm.  She's been waking up at 6:45/7:00am!   

I do think she was getting too much sleep during the day.  And trying to keep her up until 8:00pm made her overtired anyway.  I miss those longer naps in the day, but it's worth it to get the extra sleep in the morning.   

Thanks again for the advice -- it seems like this is a common problem at this age.

-nicole

[Gippie]

Hey there!

One more to add to the list. Our DD is 6.5 mo old and sleeps well.   She usually wakes at 6am which is great for me - I teach and I spend an hour with her before work - I DO like it - BUT lately it has creeped up to 5 am.   On the weekends I can feed her and she'll sleep till 7 and with the summer 4 days away I wnat to adjust things for all parties involved.

On the birth club thread for Nov/De (you ladies should be over there!!!) there was this EXACT discussion.   Al the moms were extending A time and keeping naps to 2.5 -3.   same info abbout 14 hours total sleep.    I am also finding that DD can't settle as easy - she is doing all her physical stuff in her crib.  she gets PLENTY of time to play and be active, but I think the crib is a fun and SOFT place to get into her new tricks.   

Anyway - will monitor the nap time today.   questions for you

1.  Do you wake them after 1.5 hours?
2.   Do you move up the bedtime.   Ours is 8pm and it works for us.Thanks
Stacey

[mommytomackenzie]

Hi Stacey,

First of all, where's the thread for the Nov/Dec moms?  I had no idea that exists and I'd love to join!

1. The first day I did wake her from her naps -- just to keep them a bit shorter.  But after the first night of longer sleep, she regulated her naps on her own and is now sleeping only about 75 min each (give or take 10-15 min).  It's been a bit tough to try and figure out the time to start the naps.  She's gone down like a champ for nap #1, but nap #2 has been harder.  I'm thinking I may have waited too late (1:45pm today after a 9:15-10:30am nap). 

2. I did move her bedtime forward from 7:45 to 7:00.  That'll be hard on DH, given what time he gets home from work -- but we agree this is the right thing for our LO.

-nicole

[Gippie]

Nicole -

Thanks for the answers.   I guess I can move her bedtime up with the summer coming - I just like to get in as much time as possible .  Her naps today were 2.5 and I am interested to see what the AM brings.   I am also phasing out the catnap.     Her Df was lame in the past week or so - so I am testing the waters.  I hope she does not wake hungry - I hope she wakes as usual and is really hungry.  I had also noticed her AM feed was less than normal - now that solids are going well which makes me think she does not need the DF.   

Here is the birth club link - lots of active moms with great advice - pop on over!!!

Stacey

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=48558.0;topicseen

If this link is wrong - go to Activity, EASY, Birth Clubs and Nov/Dec 05 is there.

See you there!

Stacey