Please help - 10 MO waking at 4.30!

[SusieQue]

Hi there, I really hope someone can help with our 10MO, as his wakings have been getting earlier and earlier and I'm gettig to the end of my tether! I figured it was the 2-1 transition so was capping his morning nap a couple of weeks ago to an hour and a half, then he was having an hour in the afternoon. But he was still waking at around 5 in te morning, and yesterday he woke at 4.30. He was chatting happily for half an hour then started getting cranky so DH walked him around for half an hour but he still didn't go to sleep. Eventually got him up at 5.45 and fed at 6. He wasn't that hungry as he only took 6oz. It has been hot here so his windows have been open and we live in a wooded area so the birds are noisy! He eats well and is teething but doesn't seem to be bothered by it. I just need to figure out where I'm going wrong so any advice would be really appreciated!  Here is the last few days EASY:

4.30 wu
6 Bottle
7.30 solids
8.20 asleep
10.30 wu (I did let him sleep longer as he was up so early)
11.45 solids
1.30 bottle
2.30 sleep
3.30 wu
6.00 went to put him down but he really resisted, which he has never done, and he had to be cuddled off. Eventually fell asleep 6.40

This morning
5.30 wu
6.15 bottle
7.45 solids
9.15 asleep
10.45 wu
11.30 solids
1.30 bottle
2.35 asleep

We'll aim to have him in bed by 6.30 tonight, but I'm worried that he was so reistant to bed last night as he never does that. He just cried and cried and had to be cuddled to sleep. Couldn't work out if UT or ot. He doesn't seem to have any SA issues at the moment.

Maybe he needs a bigger bump in A times? Any advice would be very gratefully received from a very tired mummy!

Today was this:

[katie80]

Hi there, yeah I wonder if he doesn't need more of a push in the morning. Just capping the nap doesn't always do the trick. I'd push that first A out to 4 hr at least for a few days and then give it another 15 min or so. With the push in A time, you can let him sleep up to 2 hr for a nice restorative nap and then start cutting the pm nap so it's more of a CN to preserve BT once the EW gets sorted.

So, something like this:
W 5:30 am
S 9:30-11:30 am
S 3:00-4:00 pm
BT 7:00 pm

Unfortunately, you can't do much about the heat and the birds which are likely playing a factor as well. Could you try a big box fan in his room to circulate the air a bit and provide some white noise?

Teeth are also notorious for playing a part in EW. Even though he doesn't seem too bothered, they could be enough to prevent him from going back to sleep. You could try a dream med (kind of like a DF, where you don't wake him up, but just go in and squirt the meds in) at around 2/3 am. He should still be sleeping pretty soundly then and the meds may help him continue sleeping when he hits that lighter stage of sleep around 4/5 am. I've never had the guts to try it, but I think it's always worth a mention because I know it has worked for others.

[SusieQue]

Thanks so much for the reply. I thought that might be the case but I keep doubting myself lately as everything I try seems to go wrong! I'll try pushing his morning time tomorrow and see how we get on. Thanks again for the response, it's really appreciated x

[katie80]

I keep doubting myself lately as everything I try seems to go wrong!

Easy to do when they keep changing the game on us! Keep us posted.

[SusieQue]

Hi Katie, just wanted to say thanks for the advice and it seems to be working! He still stirs around 5am but puts himself back to sleep until 6-6.30, which is perfect! The extra awake time in the morning seems to be doing the trick, so thanks for your help x

[katie80]

You're welcome! Thanks for the update, I'm glad its going well.

[SusieQue]

I think I spoke too soon! He's back to waking at 5.30am, and I think the pm nap is the culprit. As he was going for his am nap so late (10am) and sleeping until 11.30ish, it meant his pm nap was really late and sometimes he wasn't tired enough to go down. Here was the last few days:

Friday

WU 5.45
Sleep 9.50
WU 11.20
Sleep 3.10 (had to APOP as didn't seem tired)
WU 3.50
Bed 6.45 (bit resistant but asleep by 7.00)

Yesterday was this:

WU

5.30
Sleep 9.45
WU 11.45
Sleep - tried to put down for a nap at 3.15 and think he fell asleep for about 10 mins then woke unsettled
Bed 6.30 asleep - aimed for 6 but took ages finishing his bottle

Should I start capping his morning nap and aiming for a longer pm nap? As he does 4 hours awake time his pm nap would run into 4pm on his current 2 hour morning nap routine, which I thought would be too late for a 7pm bedtime. I'm pretty sure he was overtired last night, hence the 5.20 wake this morning, but its the afternoon nap that's confusing me!  Would be grateful for any (more) advice!

[katie80]

This is the tricky part of the 2-1, a pm nap refusal. You have a couple options. You can keep with the long morning nap and do a pm nap as late as 4pm, but at that point you only let him sleep for 30 min. It's just enough so that he's not OT by bedtime, but not too much so that he fights BT and the EWs continue.

The other option would be to switch the naps around and do a short morning nap, ultimately a CN and then a longer pm nap. Although this is the route I did the DD, she kind of naturally fell into it, so I might need to ask around for a bit of help in switching your routine around if you decide to go that way. I think you'd probably want to do it gradually, but that could be kind of messy for a little while. 

[SusieQue]

Thanks Katie. I put him down at 10.05 this morning as he woke at 6, and he woke after just over an hour - not sure if OT or UT!  I'll try with the longer am nap and short pm catnap as I think that's his general rythmn, but we'll see how he goes!  Thanks for the great advice again!

[katie80]

I put him down at 10.05 this morning as he woke at 6, and he woke after just over an hour - not sure if OT or UT! 

It's hard to know sometimes.  It could have been something entirely different as well.   Just remember that if he only does an hour in the morning, you can start the next nap earlier and let him sleep longer in the afternoon.