Waking up at 4.30 and not going back to sleep

[knackered]

Hi folks

My DS is 9.5 months and over the last month I've been working to get rid of NW. We've been relatively successful, going from 3 or 4 a night to just one during which I feed and he settles back easily. However the EWs have now got much worse. This morning he woke at 4.30am and just wouldn't go back to sleep no matter what I do.  Yesterday was 5.15 and the day before was 4.30 again. I don't understand what's going on cos I don't think he's OT, but maybe someone else can spot something. This was our day yesterday:

E: small breast feeds at 5.15 - not that keen as had eaten at 3ish
A: breakfast at 6.30
S: 8.30
E: 10 - bf when he woke
A: lunch 11.30
S: 1.20
E: 3.15 - bf after waking
A: Tea at 4.30
S: Asleep for the night at 6.15
E: Woke at 2 - I gave him pain meds in case of teething pain, he had a big feed and settled easily.

Then woke at 4.30 - I tried for 2 hours to get him back to sleep - it nearly worked a couple of times but he'd rouse himself again.

He doesn't have a soother, he has a lovey, and puts himself to sleep for naps and bedtime with minimal fuss.

Am I missing something really obvious?

TIA
Anna x

[lisi's mum]

lurking 

[yaya]

IS he having 1.5 hrs as first nap?
I would reduce it tbh, whenever we had ew it was due to am nap me4ssing with nights. First nap is an extension of night sleep so if their body knows it's goning to rest 1.5 hrs at that time it might take away from nightsleep, it might be worth trying to cut it to 1 hr for a few days and see if any diff...

[knackered]

Thanks Michelle - I'll definitely try that - though should i still do that if he's woken so early? Do I need to wait til I get a decent(ish) wake up time to cut nap?

Funnily enough, he wouldn't sleep til just after 8 this morning - then he woke just after 9 - so he got an hour there. He then went down at 12 and probably would have slept a good couple of hours - except we had to wake him up after an hour and a quarter cos we're in the middle of trying to sell our house and needed to vacate the premises for a viewing - GRRRR!!

So I'll have to try for another nap at 4ish. Do you think I should stick to a 6ish bed time - or try and push that a bit later?

LOL at you lurking Katie - don't tell me Norah's been up at stupid o'clock (to quote the Woopster!) too? They're definitely twins separated at birth - evil twins!!

Anna x

[yaya]

It's difficult coz when you have EWs you are tempted to let them sleep longer for that first nap to make up for it but essentially that reinforces the need to 'make up for it' at that time so realistically there will always be some amount of OT when trying to sort out the EW by reducing the first nap

[lisi's mum]

Anna - if we get a decent night it almost inevitably ends at stupid o'clock. She only sleeps til 7 if she's been up god knows how many times in the night.

FWIW I've started shortening her am nap - it stopped her being all jolly for a couple hours in the night.

[yaya]

good luck! let us know how you get on X

[*Nicola*]

Anna,

Totally agree with Michelle.  Callie had tonnes of EW around 8 months and we solved them by keeping first nap to about an hour and by not letting her nap too soon after the EW.  Otherwise she just made up that 'night sleep' then.

Good luck x

[knackered]

Ok - so today wasn't great. He woke at 5.15 - which is an improvement on 4.30 I know - but still not great! I was late putting him down for his morning nap and he was OT so it took him a while to go off. He finally went off just before 9. He slept til just before 10 - I didn't have to wake him up. I was unsure when to put him down for 2nd nap - he went off to sleep at 12.40 - though he was OT again and was difficult to get him off (which never happens usually). He woke just after 2 - which was a bit short for him.

I put him to bed at 6 and he was exhausted - and again made a fuss about falling asleep. He finally fell asleep at 6.15. So fingers crossed for the night and the morning.

Any tips on timing of the first and second naps if I'm trying this?

Thanks
Anna x

[yaya]

Hey look on the bright side 5.15 is better than 4.30 :-D

I would keep A times at the same for LO's age. Sort of ignore the EW and decide what your wakeup time is so say 6.30-7 and calculate A times from there. I kno0w they will be OT to start with BUT if you can stick it out for a few days it should hekp to sort out the EWs.

[knackered]

Thanks for your reply Michelle - that's interesting about ignoring EWs. Today he woke at 5.20 and he was asleep for 1st nap by 8.30 - so woke him at 9.30. Going by what you're saying, I should held off the first nap to later then - 9.30 ish perhaps? That would certainly help with the rest of the day cos otherwise we have a really long stretch til bedtime.

Thanks
Anna x

[yaya]

I say give it a go!

[knackered]

Not a good morning - awake at 4.40. So I'm keeping him up til at least 9. Seems mean but fingers crossed!

xx

[yaya]

crossing fingers for you here too X

[knackered]

OK - we had a really unsettled night last night with multiple nws and an ew. He woke at 11.30 - which is the earliest he's woken for a long time - I tried to settle him for an hour and a half but then figured he must be hungry and fed him at 1. He took a full feed and settled pretty much straight away. He then woke at 3.30 - my DH settled him quite quickly and he was asleep at 4. He then woke for the day at 4.50!! I figure he must be really OT - from the late am nap and not a great pm nap.

I feel we've taken a real step backwards - he's not woken twice in the night since I worked so hard to get rid of his nws. What to do? How long does it take usually for this plan to work?

Anna xxx