7 month old night waking at 4-5 am

[Victorine]

My 7 month old wakes up almost consistantly at 4-5am.  When I put him down for naps & bedtime, he is able to fall asleep on his his own.  At night, he sometimes falls back to sleep on his own.  Other times, I give him a soother and he goes back to sleep.  But most of the time, he persistantly cries and I usually end up nursing him, but for approx 1 min max.  After this, he usually sleeps until morning.  I don't know what else to try.  I don't understand why he is able to sleep on his own during naps & when I put him for bed.  any suggestions??

[Layla]

Hi there. Could you please post your schedule. Timing of naps, length, etc....

Layla 

[Victorine]

7:00-7:30 am.  Wake up and drink milk
8:00- breakfast (cereal and fruit)
9:15 nap until 11:00 (approx 1.5 hrs)
11:45-12:00 is lunch (milk, fruits and veg)
1:15-1:30 is nap time (1.5-2hrs)
4:30 is supper ( milk, cereal, veggies)

7:30 bath time
7:45 last feeding
8:00 pm bedtime.

Wakes up between 4-6am, then goes back to sleep if I give him a quick feed (until morning).  This has been going on for a while.  I've diminshed the minutes of the feeding.. and now he eats very little when he does eat, so I don't understand why this pattern is continuing.

I breastfeed and bottlefeed as well.  I have done this for a while now, so I don't suspect this is the issue.  He takes both very well.  Last week, I've substituted the bf at lunch for bottle.  LO is very very active (crawls) and when I bf him, I get frustrated because he seems to want to jump out of my arms or roll around and crawl... there's another issue I suppose.

[momofclaire]

You may try putting him to bed just a little earlier, like a half an hour. His A time between that second nap and bedtime is a little long and could cause him to be overtired.  Did you recently drop the cat nap? When did he start crawling?

[Victorine]

dropped the night nap & started crawling approx. 1 month ago.

[momofclaire]

Do you think the waking is habitual and could be changed?  It is possible that he woke during that time for a reason (milestone, teeth, pain, hunger) but now outof habit.  Have you thought about wake to sleep?

[Victorine]

I suspect that you may be right about habitual waking now.  Lately, he gets up at 5:30 and does not want to go back to sleep...this is so hard!  The thought crossed my mind re. wake to sleep.. but I have not tried it.  I'm afraid to try anything that this would make it worst.

[momofclaire]

You may find that w2s really works for you.  The only thing you can do is try.  Early waking can also be a sign of overtired. Try putting him to be a bit earlier and maybe try w2s.  Keep me posted.
Myia