EW's suddenly started?

[Mum to F&A]

Hey I hope someone can help me. My ds who is 12months has recently started waking up at 5am starving! He will take a bottle and go back to sleep but I don't want this to become a habit and we're now on day 3!

His EASY is currently:

7am - Wake (bottle if he didn't wake a 5)
7:30 - breakfast.
12 - 12:30 - lunch
1pm - sleep (2 - 2half hours)
4pm - snack
7-7:30pm Bottle and bed.

Sometimes he will have a catnap in the morning but max. 20mins. I did wonder if this is developmental as he has just begun standing also I think we've got teeth coming through. Should I just be riding this out do you think?

 

[*Becky*]

Hi there,
tbh I doubt he is starving if he is eating well in the day. He is probably coming into a light sleep and is waking up through possibly teeth or the like. I actually would not give the bottle if you have only done it for 3 days...imo it is better to just ride it out as it could become something he gets used to. My DS went through a similar stage with molars and because he was not eating great he wanted milk upon waking (at 5am) but we knew he was waking through pain and so held off and it was tough but we got through it.
Two things - are you medicating for the teeth? Ibuprofen lasts longer and so is good for nights but needs to be given on a full stomach. Weirdly we find DS always sleeps longer when he has it even though it says it only lasts 8 hours. I would imagine that pain may be the cause of the waking but because he has had quite a bit of sleep he probably will not go back to sleep although he might, it is worth giving some meds at 5am just to see. At this time I would give calpol. You may need to stay whilst it kicks in.
The other thing is - do you think 1 nap is enough for him? I know there are lo's who go to one nap at 12 months but it is quite young especially if teeth are an issue as they usually drop their A time. He could be a little OT when he wakes in the am and that is preventing him from falling back asleep till 7ish. 6 hours is a long A time in the am for a 12 month old.
I think I would go back to the 20 min am and longer pm while these teeth are an issue.
What do you think?
Becky x

[*Becky*]

what I also meant to say was that the afternoon looks quite short - if he is sleeping 1-3.30pm and then sleeping again at 7/7.30pm this may be causing some issues. If you do just want to do one nap how about more like 12ish - 2/2.30pm and then bedtime around 7/7.30pm?

[Mom to M&M]

Totally agree - I think 1pm is way too late for a nap at his age - I'd try 12-2:30 and then 7pm bedtime...

[Mum to F&A]

Thanks for replying.

He will sometimes take two naps at the childminder but that's only if he's in a buggy or the car. We've been fighting to keep naps since he was 9 months and it was a struggle. I will still give him one if he's shattered but I've found his sleeping is worse if I have to fight to get an am one.

I was giving him a nap at 12pm but I found he was waking up after an hour and he was shattered. It was only through making the nap later that we consistently got a 2-2 1/2 hr nap.

I am medicating with Ibruprofen at nights if I think he needs it but I haven't noticed any difference in the waking up.

He was at the CM today and woke from his nap at 2:45pm so will see if that helps and as I've finished work for the week we'l stop the bottles at 5am as well. Should I just be holding out until 6am, or wait until his normal wakeup of 7am?

[Mom to M&M]

What if you split the difference and make the nap at 12:30? Or if a later nap is the only way to get at least 1.5-2 hours out of him, maybe he's very low sleep needs and would do better with 2 hour nap tops and then bedtime 4.5-5 hours later?

I would decide on an acceptable waking time and do bottle then (after opening his shades and getting him up for the day). With DD (who was an early waker) that time was anything after 6am. With DS I try to get till at least 6:30.

[Tweakster]

Hi there, I think my son and your son have been chatting :-)  We have a similar problem with Finn, ~14 mths.  He's low sleep needs and we just had to make a later bedtime with him to get past the EW.  We are in the process of doing it now so still have to see how it all pans out.

Finn's EW has been ongoing for about 10 mths so with your LO since it is new, I would be tempted to do what Karen suggests and cap the nap first before anything else.  Sometimes cutting back some day sleep is enough to get them sleeping better at night.

Agree with not feeding, we did that in desperation and then we were sure he started waking for the food rather than the other way around.  At 12 mths+ they really get enough in solids etc. that they don't need to get up at night and eat.  If he's going through a growth spurt encourage eating more in the day rather than at that EW.  Add in more snacks and even more bottles if need be.  At Finn's 12 mth spurt we added in a 'snack' bottle after his nap.  Then we just got rid of it when we knew the growth spurt was done.

[Mum to F&A]

I think I will try for a 6:30am wakeup, I suspect that he woke initially through teeth and is now waking because he got a bottle. He's reduced a little of his daytime feeding (solids) but not significantly.

Also I will see if a 12:30pm nap will make a difference. I did wonder if his 'A' time in the evenings was a bit short. He's got a longer one today so I'l let you know if it make a difference.

re: low sleep needs - Me and Daddy both survive on 6-7 hours sleep so I suspect he's following in our footsteps!   We've always had decent naps from him but dropped to 2naps early and now dropping to 1 nap early!

[Mum to F&A]

Thanx Wendy about the growth spurt bit! I did wonder but wasn't sure how to tell as we've only just switched him to bottles!

I'l add in an extra snack as he always wants to eat them. He's a bit hit and miss with daytime bottles and tends to refuse them more often than not.

[Tweakster]

Does he take a sippy?  I also used some of that growth spurt time to train him on a sippy, I would put his milk in there and help him with it so that it was killing two birds with one stone so to speak.  He was getting extra calories and learning something through repetition :-)

Yeah I would just throw some more snacks his way, more fruit, more veg, more bread.

[Mum to F&A]

He has all his drinks during the daytime in a cup. If he has milk he happily takes if from the cup as well. We've only recently started putting his morning and night feeds in a bottle and that's only because I can't find a cup that's big enough to hold 9oz of milk!

On a plus side - he slept until 6:30am today which is a great improvement on 5am! I suspect he may have been up playing for a little while tho. I increased his 'A' time to 5hrs last night so will reapeat today and see if that makes a difference.

Thanx for all the ideas!