Help with just under 6 month olds early wakings

[ZacsMumme]

Hi there,

I hope i am posting in the right place!
We are going crazy with our DS early wakings at either 4, 4.30 or 5am every morning! This has been going on for a few weeks now and nothing I do seems to help.
I have been trying really hard to get him out of catnapping (35/45min ones) and have spent time in his room 'helping' him get past that first sleep cycle.

Our day yesterday looked like this:
Up for day 7am
E 7.30
A 7-9.15 ( tried to keep him up but he is a touchy baby with a little sleep window!)
S 9.15 - 10.45 (with help)
E 11.00 (early as we had to go out)
A 10.45 - 1.10 (was borderline OT I think as were racing home to get him to bed on time)
S 1.10 - 2.40 (with help)
E 2.45
A 2.40 - 4.50
S 4.50 - 5.20 (catnap)
E 5.45 (1/2 bottle as my supply gets low in evening)
E 6.30
S 7.00 for night
We never did a dreamfeed as DS has reflux, tried it a few weeks ago and made EW worse! He wakes for food 1 in night (Though I question if he needs it as he never used too....)
Woke at 12 for feed (up for 1/2 hour)
Woke at 5am for a cot party! - Finally got him back to sleep after feed (I know I shouldn't have but he did have a BIG feed - Usually I only feed him 1ce in night)
S 6.15 for 45 mins
Up at 7am

I have trouble with the four hour feeds due to DS reflux - some days we do it wonderfully, others are a mess.

We are going through teething at the moment - but he wakes happy so I don't think pain is the issue. We tend to get the pain in the arvos. DS wakes at 7 really happy and energetic,by end of the day he is definitely ready for bed, sometimes he goes down a wee bit earlier ie 6.45.  

People keep telling me this all goes away at 6 months and they start to 'sleep' better.....I just don't see that magically happening for us! -  cant work out if he could be OT or UT or if there is something I just cant see!  

DS also sleeps with a Dummy (not always at night though) He can self settle in his cot if he is not OT or in pain - Last 3 nights all Self Settled - two without the dummy. He is side sleeping for most day sleeps and on his back at night. He is on solids.

 

[ZacsMumme]

I was thinking that may be the case....He is so hard to extend his A times, within about 10 mins he goes from being not tired to borderline cranky and fighting sleep. We managed to extend 5 mins today, may have to just keep extending a wee bit at a time as that was a struggle! It sounds terrible, but yesterday I got a good am nap (well 1hr 20) then two 40 min naps. He was grouchy at the end of the day, but actually slept better at night (probably because he was very tired - but overall day sleep was a bit lower?)

I think for him around 3 hrs of day sleep is enough, so what yo uare saying makes sense with the 3 hr A time. We will plod along and see how we go. Thank you so much for your advice.

[ZacsMumme]

Great, will do! Thank you so much for the help 

[ZacsMumme]

Well I have been trying to push out those A times but am really struggling. DS almost dives into me when he is ready for sleep. I have kept him up an extra 5 mins for the last two days for his first nap, and think I may just have to keep doing that until he gets to 3 hours. However today for his second nap he was falling asleep in the car after 2 hours of A time, then decided he didnt want to sleep, and chatted away till 2hrs 45mins of A time. It took me 15 more mins to settle him once he realised he was in fact tired! So we have a 2hr 25min first A time, 1 hr 15min nap, then a 3 hour A time 1hr 30min nap (yay)....but now we are in the dilemma of a LO not wanting his catnap as it is only 1hr 45 from his last nap! Hoping we can get him down for at least 20 mins or he will be OT at bedtime. Not sure how tonight will do - but expect an EW.

My question is in this kind of circumstance where we are trying to increase A time, when they do the above are we best to miss the CN and go for early BT or do a later BT and get the CN in? - Does either help towards the final goal of getting rid of the EW and getting good naps?

[ZacsMumme]

Okay thank you! Yesterday we got the CN, but he fought us..then possibly was UT at bedtime of 7pm. In saying that...we had our 4am wake up for feed but then DS went back to sleep till 6.30 (stirred at 5ish) so that is still an improvement on the cot parties we were having before!!!!!!!!

Still struggling with this first nap, again still at 2hr 25mins exactly, will try extending tomorrow another 5 mins. May see how second nap goes as he may cope better with thos A time longer...?

[ZacsMumme]

Okay so first nap only lasted 45 mins eeeek! Rest of the day is now a bit 'off' track.
Is there a possibility that set naps may be more effective for my LO - or just jumping to the 3hr awake time all at once...I know this is likely to cause OT (well it will!) But in saying that we forgot about gradually changing for DLS and it eemed to work in our favour just doing the jump all in 1 go. Our DS is touchy and suffers from Reflux (Though relatively controlled at the moment) so not sure if this is a terrible or good idea...jsut putting it out there as I can see it may take us forever to get to 3 hrs otherwise and I may be back to the 35 min nap monster soon.