7 Month Old started waking early mornings. please help

[lewismummy]

Hi, my ds 7 1/2 months old has decided to start waking at around 5.30am, he used to wake 6.30-7.00am which was fine. No matter what I try he wont go back off and its pushing his routine back but he seems ok by this. He is getting quite cranky leading up to his 1st nap but other than that he's great. We have had no illness's and although his 1st tooth is trying to come through its definately not that. Any help will be greatly appreciated as im the one losing sleep and patience.

P.s he is a highly spirited baby with a touch of touchy in him.

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[*Natasha*]

Could you please post your routine?

[lewismummy]

Sure its something like this,

5.30-5.45am wakes (but dont get him out til 6.15am)
6.30am 7oz bottle
7.30am breakfast
9.00am nap 1/2 hour to hour depending on him!
11.30-11.45 lunch and 6oz bottle
1.30-2.00pm nap for 1.5hr - 2hr (if lucky)
3.30-4.00 dinner of solids with juice
6.30 bath bottle (7-8oz) bed routine, inc massage.
falls sleep anything between 7.15pm and 7.45pm, becoming quite restless some nights.

He is a very active baby and needs a lot of stimulation, I always wind him down before naps/bed but he just gets in his cot and starts playing around til he is so tired he falls sleep. Also dummy dropping a lot lately or wanting it when he stirs!

Sorry this is long winded but thought id better give the overall picture.

Any advice greatly appreciated

Vikki

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[elmarie]

To deal withEW you need to shift the day forward slowly and bit by bit

Ideally he needs to be taking 2 naps of 1.5hr naps with a 40ish catnap & his day would be something like this:

7am - wake
9.30-11am - morning nap
1.30-3pm - afternoon nap
5ish - catnap
7.30ish - bedtime

The very 1st thing I would be doing is to try and extend the am nap with pu/pd. The catnap will probably be around 3pm or so initially, let it end no later than 4pm so that he can go to bed no later than 6pm. What you want to do is shift some of the daytime sleep to night. He might still wake up around 5.30am but at least he would have slept longer at night & so he will wake better rested. You want his morning nap to start around 9am as an early morning nap only reinforces an early wake up. The morning nap is like continuation of night sleep so he's waking up early but he's making up for his nightsleep with his morning nap.  He is getting less than 10h per night which is not enough so maybe bring bedtime forward to. 6ish (with current wake up).

Aim for 2.45-3h A between naps. Start by putting him to sleep at 7.45am in the morning and then 8.00am for a few days & then 8:15, 8:30, 8:45 until you finally have him taking the morning nap at 9am. Take him out of the house if you can, expose him to lots of light & stimulation.... try to make him stretch that 10-15mins if you can & then as you get closer to nap time do a longer windown routine... so that extra 15mins spend as a part of windown. Then repeat the same for the afternoon nap. Try stretching it 10-15mins along with the morning nap... same with the catnap.

Eventually his body will get used to the new routine  & hopefully he'll be waking up at a reasonable time again 

It can take some time but perservere

Elmarie 

[lewismummy]

Hi will give it a try and let you know how we get on, thanks very much x

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[lewismummy]

Hi here is my update, ds is still waking around 5.30am ish, and my day goes like this

5.30 wake
6.15-6.30 out of cot
6.30 - 6.45 7oz bottle (sometimes will only have 6oz!!)
8.00 breakfast
8.15-8.30 nap for 1hr - 1.5hr
12 solid lunch
1.30 nap for 1.5-2hrs
3-3.30 wake and snacks i.e fruit
4.30-5 solids dinner
6.30 start bedtime routine
7 7-8oz bottle and bed.

he generally seems happier but he is yawning like crazy by 7am but not ready for 1st nap, I think he needs more solids in the day as although he is 8 months old he weighs 24lb and is long and broad. He is also now crawling, pulling himself up, can sit brilliantly on his own and trying to stand up properly (he is a very forward LO).Tonight I used some of his last bottle to give him some baby weetabix before his bottle so will post how it goes tomorrow. Thanks for all support and advice given x p.s 1st tooth now through and other 3 all trying at once OMG!!!!

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[elmarie]

i will bring bedtime a bit forward to about 6ish if he woke at 5.30am.  His A time from last nap to bedtime is a bit long.  Once he is settled in a new routine you can start moving the time out again.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

E x