Habitual waking at 430 am? advice please

[amom526]

My almost 7 month old, has always had one EW in the early mornings, and it is very rare that he sleeps all the way through to his 7 am wake up time. Lately I have noticed that his EW is basically at the same time every day around 440. He usually goes back to sleep, but I have just started a full time internship, and the 430 wake up is killing me.

I know about wake to sleep, but have never tried it, and I'm really scared of it disrupting his sleep and making the problems worse. FI I do nothing, will he eventually grow out of this habitual waking, or do I need to do something to stop it? Any advice or BTDT?
Thanks!

[mmom]

Ugh, I hate this time of morning.  Unfortunately, I know it all too well.   When I did W2S, I went in at 3:30 am and stirred my LO a bit.  This worked after a few nights.

What is your routine like during the day?  Can you post it in EAS format?

[amom526]

Oh man, waking up at 330 is so unnapealing. I'm just so scared of making things worse than they already are.

current EASY-this was yesterday:

WU 7
E 7
Sleep 930-11
E 1130
S 145-350
E 4
E6
S 630

After that he was up at 430, and then slept a little, but was up for the day very early. He had A LOT of daytime sleep yesterday, usually it is closer to 3 hours of daytime sleep. His bedtime is anywhere between 530 and 630 depending on how his naps turned out.
I think I put him in too early last night, and that might have contributed to the early wakings. But he has that 430 wake-up almost every night regardless of how he napped the day before or what time he went to bed. 

[mmom]

Do you think you could push the A time a bit?  I would think after an almost 2 hour nap, your LO can handle 3 hours?  So yes, that would contribute to the EW.

Having said that, if your LO is waking like clock work, it might be worth giving W2S a shot.  I understand the worry of waking them accidentally, but 4:30 am really stinks doesn't it?  I also hated setting an alarm for 3:30, since I have difficulty falling back asleep after.  But it did work after a few nights.

[amom526]

I'm not even sure if it's me that is habitually waking up or him. This morning I woke up at 440, but did not hear him until 512. I am not sure if I woke up from a noise he made around 440, or what. I guess I will observe for a few more days. I will definitely try to push out that last A time on days where he has 2 solid naps.

Yesterday he basically missed his second nap, so he went to sleep at 545, woke at 512, but went back to sleep, and is still sleeping now at 640. He is generally an early riser, so I guess i will wait a few more days to see if I want to try w2s.

[mmom]

Sounds like a good night at least!