we are getting earlier and earlier, today 4.30am start

[Avery3]

Im getting really freaking sick and tired of this. I am stressed out enough as it is with his ridiculous 40min naps all day long without this as well.

Thurs it was 5.30am, yesterday it was 5am, today its 4.30am... I gave him baby nurofen at 2.30am to rule out pain for teething so its not that. I tried patting him, didnt work, changed his nappy as i thought maybe he had pooed but nope, not even that full of urine either. fed him as a last resort, he took about 100mls so it obviously wasnt hunger either. he went back to sleep after the bottle at 5.15am, woke at 6.10am. im so tired, i need my sleep, cant go back to sleep because I have a toddler that gets up at around 6.30am as well.

His A times during the day after a full nap is 2 hours, his A time after a 40min nap is 1 hour 15mins sometimes he self soothes, other times he doesnt.

when he woke at 4.30am i just cried and cried. Ive had enough of this, weve had about a month of 5/5.30am wakeups. If i put him to bed at 5/5.30pm he still wakes up at around the same time. if i put him to bed at 6/6.3pm he STILL wakes at these early times. he was in bed at 6pm last night and awake at 4.30am

can someone help me please??

[Shiv52]

HOw many weeks is he now?

I would say that maybe you are cutting the A time too much after a short nap.  if his normal A time is 2 hours then I would only take 15-20 minutes off the next A time. 

Are you BFing or FFing?  How many NFs does LO have? 

With NWs...I always treated any waking before 11.5 hours of night sleep as a NW.  I would not start the day before then,   and treat it as you would as if they woke at 1am. 

What is your ideal bedtime and wake up?   EWs can sometimes be a sign that they are needing a routine tweak so fingers crossed thats it. 

[*Ali*]

I agree with Shiv, our normal A time here is 2hrs but I cut it back to 1hr30 after a nap of 30-45mins. Perhaps try stretching him a little more.
When you do a later BT how do you stretch him, do you add in another nap?
100mls, that's about 3oz right? So he could have been hungry and that just took the edge off it.
I would also treat a pre-5am wu as a NW and feed to get him back down after if I had to.  He may well be OT from all his short naps but if those are developmental you may just have to wait them out.

[Avery3]

well last night I didnt do a DF and he slept from 6.30pm to 6am! so a much better night and today I gave him a longer A time (1 hour 30min, but ended up 1 hour 45mins) after a 1 hour nap, he didnt like it and fell asleep on my shoulder during wind down then fought me for 10mins while I patted him to sleep

couldve been a fluke but im not gonna DF him again tonight and see if that makes any difference as well

[*Ali*]

Worth a try. Merry Christmas!

[Avery3]

Sorry Shiv I didn't answer your questions before, he does t usually have any NF unless it's the DF. he is ff. Our ideal WU and BT is 6.30-6.30

Last night he was asleep by 7pm and awake at 5.30am but I didn't do a DF so perhaps I should go back to that? I just thought the DF was disrupting his sleep, at least without the DF I get to go to bed early (like I did last night) and am able to better handle an early waking.
I just fed him at 5.30am and put him back to bed, but he was wide awake and talked in his bed on and off for half an hour

[Shiv52]

Its a tough one.  I would be tempted to leave the DF if it means you can get to bed early but I do think it  would be tough to not expect one NF at this age so if you are happier to do an early feed and put him back to bed then stick with that.   

today I gave him a longer A time (1 hour 30min, but ended up 1 hour 45mins) after a 1 hour nap, he didnt like it and fell asleep on my shoulder during wind down then fought me for 10mins while I patted him to sleep

It probably will take a few days of you gradually stretching the A time for him to get used to it after a short nap.  But you know him best and if you think he's getting OT then do cut back a bit.  Did he go back to sleep today?  No?

[Avery3]

i dont think he went back to sleep, we had a really bad day after that. i put him to bed early that night and gave him a DF and he slept 12.5 hours plus I give him his meds at the df so I think i will stick with the DF for now. I wonder what Im gonna do when he is too old for the DF and I have to still give him his meds at that time...