4mo waking 4-5am...all gone wonky!

[Purplecattypants]

Well, I have searched the relevant boards for answers and tbh my eyes hurt so i'm just gonna give in and post!

Josh has started waking between 4 & 5am the past 4 mornings. I am classing this as a nw as he goes back to sleep after I feed him. But then of course he wakes at his normal time (7-7:30am) and isnt hungry, so I have to wait to feed him then the whole day is just totally messed up!

Ok, before this started our routine was basically 4 hourly, start at around 7am. Tends to get OT very easily so I usually do a long wind-down, and is usually in bed at the 1.5 - 1.75 hour mark and asleep within 10mins. So the E was at 7,11,3, 1830, df 2200. Naps usually 30-45mins, wakes, chats to himself for 15-30 mins then back to sleep on his own. Two 1.5 - 2hr naps (as I said he wakes in the middle, but gets a total of 1.5 to 2 hrs each time), plus one catnap of 30mins to 1hr (sometimes I wake him from this, sometimes he wakes on his won). Bath at 1800, in bed asleep by 7pm, 7:30pm at the latest. I would then df him between 2200-2300, and he would sleep until around 2-3am, have a feed, then back to sleep until 7am ish. Brilliant.

NOW however, its all out of the window because of this early morning wakeup. Same routine, although started to wake up for the df at 2200. The only way to calm him when he wakes at 4/5am is to feed him (he seems hungry enough), then he will go back down, chat to himself for a while then go back to sleep. The first two mornings he's woken at his normal time around 7:15am and we've got up, tried to feed, had a few mins then refused anymore, so waited another hour or so and fed again, then to bed early because he'd been up a long time. Last two mornings he's woken at his normal time but then gone back to sleep until around 8:15, which has been 4 hours after his last feed so we get up and feed/start the day from there. Starting that late however means there's no time for the catnap in the afternoon, so he goes to bed early instead to make sure the last A of the day isnt too long.

When he wakes at 4/5am he is crying, not just chatting or fussing, but crying. I have started putting him in a grobag as well as swaddling his arms so he doesnt get cold. Tbh he always gets out of the swaddle so is pretty pointless now anyway, and he sucks his thumb/fingers.

Should I...
1) try to drop the DF, feed him when he wakes in the hope that it will be around 2/3am again and therefore stop the 4/5am waking. This might no work as he's started waking for his df (although didnt last night as I got to him just before 10 so didnt have a chance to wake)...
2) set my clock and feed him around 2/3am and keep my fingers crossed he'll then sleep until 7am
3) stick with it, and just start our day at 8:15 am and not bother with the afternoon catnap and continue with early bedtime instead?

His naps the past few days have also been attrocious...today, so far:

E 04:30
wake around 7:15, back to sleep
wake 08:10
E 08:20
S 09:50-10:30
cried, unable to get to go back to sleep therfore feed early
E 1145
S 1225-present (its 13:40)

All a bit messy! Anyone know where i'm going wrong? Any advice would be greatly appreciated x

[Purplecattypants]

bump

[brenda2]

i have a couple of suggestions:
1) if he wakes up at 8:15 for the day you would be aiming for bedtime to be 12 hours after that which would be 8:15 so you would have time for a catnap.  i wouldn't put him down early beacuse then you're not doing a 12 hour day and 12 hour night.
2) you could do a half feed when he wakes in the night so that he would be hungry and take a full feed at 7:15 which is his regular time and then just keep him up for the day after this.
3) try a night without the dreamfeed and see how it goes.  if he wakes at df time just shhh him back down.

if he's 4 m.o you should be trying to very gradually stretch his A time to 2 hours.  my lo was 4 1/2 mo before she could do this, but it does happen fast.
also, there's a big growth spurt at 4 months so it might be related to that too.  our schedule got all messed up around 4 mo with similar problems and we've just gotten back on track after 1 1/2 mo of trying to figure it out!

good luck 

[Bryony]

Hi there

Brenda has given you some good advice!

We had a phase of that - I ended up feeding from one breast only, for about 5 mins, so that Katie would still take some milk at 7am (our start time)

If naps have been bad do you think he might be OT?

Bryony

[Purplecattypants]

Hi girls, thanks so much for the replies!

We have been struggling with the OT monster on and off....i'm very careful to do a long wind-down and am very wary of stretching awake times because it happens so easily, and once ot he just WONT sleep  His A time usually ends up being close to the 2hr mark as most of the time it takes him quite a while to drop off, thinking about it its usually the first morning nap thats early which I know is normal.

I think maybe this morning he had a bad nap because he was tired from waking at his normal 7:15am, then going back to sleep for a short time perhaps? His afternoon nap was brilliant, I dont usually let him sleep past 2 hrs, but let him have 2.5 this afternoon to make up for the rubbish am nap. Also that bought us closer to feeding time so almost got back on track.

I do try limiting his early morn feeds but he just gets angry! I only do single sided feeding anyway. Actually this morning he only had 10mins, whereas the other mornings its been 20-30mins, so I was prepared to feed him at 0715 but as I said he just chatted a bit then fell back to sleep.

I dont think hes having a gs tbh...last time he had one at 14 weeks and it was VERY noticeable....he was my baby-shaped limpet for 3 days solid! Really looking forward to the next one...not!

He managed a catnap 1645 - 1715 this avo then bath and bed so was in bed by 1900...not sure if thats going to mean he;ll wake early again tomorrow? Will see what the night brings I guess! Might try doing the df earlier tonight, say 2130, see if that helps.

Will let you know! Thankyou x