Getting up at 5 am in the morning.....AGAIN

[aga01]

My son is 10 months old and since 5 months is getting up at 5 - 5:30 am. He is waking up few times at night as he needs to burp. He was diagnosed with acid reflux around 4 months old. Thus, I cannot double feed him before bed time.
When he wakes up at 5 - 5:30 am I feed him but he dosen't go back to sleep and starts his day.

 I'm really not happy about it. My 3 year old was waking up at 5:30 am since he was 8 months old and just two months ago started sleeping till 6:30 am. I did everyting for over 2 years and nothing worked and now my yonger son is having the same issue.

He goes to bed around 7-7:30 pm. Falls asleep independently. He naps twice: 9 - 10:15 am and 2 - 3:30 pm. He wakes up few times a night. I just have to pick him up, he burps and falls asleep. What am I doing wrong again!!

[Ma27]

Hi. The bedtime is ok, the problem is with his day time naps. His morning nap should be no longer then half an hour. Try to move his morning nap toward 9.30am, slowly every 3 days by 5, 10 min. If you dont do that he will be waking up earlier and earlier. And do not allow him to nap for more then 30 min. His lunch time nap should be at around 12.30pm and of max 2 hours. he should be awake at 2.30 pm. He should not sleep past 2.30pm. It works miracles, trust me. Mum of 7,5 months old.

[scucci1979]

having the same issues here. My lo is 8months and nights are 10hrs long. Sigh. 

[clairebear79]

Can I follow along too?

DS is 8 months & has been early waking since 5 months & has been terribly OT as a result of my trying to push A times to get a later wake up.  We've been working on that & now we are not technically EW anymore as DS gets 11hrs sleep/night, BUT we are still in an early sleep cycle - with early wake at around 5am and as a result early BT at 6pm.  We have the same amount of day sleep as you aga01 - a 1hr 15min am nap & around 1hr 30min pm nap. 

[aga01]

Thank you. That makes sense. I will try it in 3 weeks and will get back to you. We are going to Europe for 3 weeks so when I come back I will try it right away. So the activity time between first nap should be 4 hr and between the first and the second 3 hours?

[stanley's mummy]

ooooh, I'm following too. My DS is just 9 months and wakes 5.45ish most mornings would love just an extra 45 mins!

Our naps are 1.5hr am and 45 min pm. Should I change this around? and do longer PM?

[clairebear79]

I really want to aim for this kind of routine - but we had a 4.20am wakeup today  so there's no way I could keep DS up until 9.30am & only let him sleep 30mins!  He'd be an absolute wreck!!!!!  He was in bed at 7.20am this morning.  Its going to be a looooong day 

[Ma27]

Hi. My baby girl sometimes wakes up early,  4.30, 5.00am but I never pick her up and she goes back to sleep within few minutes. Usually I have to wake her up at 7am.
7.00 a
7.15 breastfed
8.00tish breakfast
9.30am-10.00am nap
10.00 a
11.30/11.45 lunch with proteins (meat, chicken, fish)
12.30-2.30 nap
2.30 a
2.40 breastfed
5.00pm vegeterian dinner or light supper as meats could be hit heavy for this time of the day
6.00pm bath
6.30 breastfed and story
7.00pm night sleep

Of course sometimes goes all wrong, she wouldn't nap properly so we have to have plan b ready. If she is awake lets say at about 6.30 am we dont pick her up from her cot until 7ish but we have to put her for her nap at 9.00 and let her sleep for about 40 min. For us it works 2.30 h active time beteewn naps. Just make sure that day naps are no longer  than 3hours. I never pick my baby straight away once I wake her up or she wakes up. During the day I go to her room, open the curtains and talk to her and than perhaps do some tidings in her room for about 5, 10 min and than pick her up. This way she learned when she wakes up early in the morning she goes back to sleep because mummy is not there and the room is still dark- we use blackout blinds.

I think the best way with dealing with early wakers is whatever you deceive to do, try to let them know it's still a night time. So minimum talking, no lights, if you decide to feed-I never did-do it as a dream feed.

Lastly I believe doing the bath after dinner gives them energy to last till 7.00pm so they don't go sleep at 6.00pm

Let me know how you getting on

Xxxooo

[clairebear79]

Hi Ma27

Thanks for showing us your routine - it looks to me like its based on Gina Ford's suggested routine is that right?

I never pick my DS up when he wakes early either - room is blacked out & he is left in his cot.  I will change his nappy if he has done a poo but that is it.  He's not fed during the night either.  He will lay reasonably happy until around 6am which we have agreed is the earliest we will get him up out of bed.

At the moment he is usually sleeping around 11hrs at night and 2hrs 30-45mins in the day so we have no issues with too much daytime sleep either.  I sure wish we had a 12hr night sleeper!  I am more or less at a loss with my little one. Sigh!!!

[Ma27]

Hi,

GF - that's right lol, it's a love or hate thing lol I never however followed it to the letter but used suggestions and sleep times as they are just great

I don't really know what to say... My friend feeds her 8 months baby at 5.00am, she says that once babies are awake from the deep sleep is very hard for them to get back to sleep but milk feed helps them. Well it works for her but I never wanted my Emma to depend on feeds when going to sleep (of course when she was newbornn we fed her at  nights). I read once that it might be the cold waking them up at nights once the temperature slightly drops in the early hours. So it was suggested to use sleeping bags. Or it could be that he just had his rest and is ready to be awake, then I suppose you would have to do your best for him to go to bed at 7.00pm.

11hrs at night is very very good, just would need to move it around a bit. Imagine we are moving clocks forward and try to change the bedtime.

Our problem is teething, she has got 4 teeth cut. But when she is teething omg my downstairs neighbor puts his earplugs for the nights. Lol

Tc

Ooo

[clairebear79]

LOL we tried feeding in desperation but he stayed awake afterwards!!!!  We are just stuck in an early wake, early bedtime cycle now - just need to get some consistent naps going (they are all over the place atm) & then move the day forward.  I can see what needs to be done, its just doing it thats the hard bit!

I can totally sympathise on the teething front - DS cut his first 2 teeth at 5months & has just recently cut 5 teeth in the space of a week & 1 more the week after.  He has been seriously unhappy!!!  I hope she is feeling better soon.

[aga01]

Hi Ma 27,
Thank you for showing your routine. I put my son for first nap around 9:15 am and he slept for 30-40 min. Afternon nap around 1 pm for 1.5 hr. It's only two days that I'm doing it but he is still waking up after 5 am and dosen't go back to sleep. I hope this will change in few days. I feed him when he wakes up as I don't do a lot of feeding before bed time (he has a reflux). But do you think I should keep him till 6 am and extand it evey day?

[Ma27]

Hi Aga,

Sorry to hear your son has got reflux, my Emma had silent reflux from 2-4mths. I really admire you are trying to do routine because when she had reflux not routine was possible.

It is really difficult one because he might be geniuly hungry at 5am and when you feed him you cannot really put him down flat coz of his reflux... If you feel he needs to eat, he is hungry than feed him and maybe try to put him in the reclined position back to sleep, maybe a car seat, not sure... If you feel he is happy to wait till 6am for his food, then that's fine, your day will have to start at 6.00am. Make sure he will have proper solid dinner, maybe rather than 5pm, try doing it closer to 6.00pm with a bit of milk feed before bed time, but I'm not sure, I'm not a specialist, just try to see if it works. At the moment it is hard to tell if he is waking up because he is hungry or because he is in a habit of doing 
so. Poor thing, I hate reflux. So sorry your one still have it. My Emma would have it now only when  she is teething, strange. I'm sure you must be tired... Try do keep up with the day time naps and will
see maybe in few days he will sleep bit longer in the mornings.   

Just one question, you mentioned you cannot feed him to much at bed time, does this include solid  foods as well or only milk? I wouldnt know as my baby had reflux when she was exc breastfed. i think  if you cannot give him too much solids Id believe he might be hungry in the mornings.

Tc xxxxx