13 month old waking at 4:45 in the morning and not going back to sleep!!

[karindmor]

My 13 month old son has been waking up at BF at 445 the past few days.  By the time I get done nursing him it is about 515 or 530 and he acts exhausted still in my arms as I lay him down, but then he pops up and is awake for the day.  We recently have been trying for the 2-1 nap transition and he's not doing as great as I had hoped.  He's also getting his bottom molars in, so I'm not sure if that would account for the early wakings?? 

The last 2 days, his EASY has been this:
Day 1:
0700-W/BF (he woke up at a decent time today I think because he got a 2 hour nap...with the sitter...the day before.  I can NEVER get a 2 hour nap out of him!  He'll only go 1.25-1.5 hours for me.  And she doesn't do anything different than me.)
0900-BF
1135-1145-catnap (This was not on purpose. I was driving home and he fell asleep in the car for about 10 min).
1300-BF
1315-S (normally I wouldn't BF as much, but I know he's extra sensitive due to the teething. So I do it more for comfort too)
1630-BF
1900-BF/S

Day 2:
0500-W/BF
0530-AWAKE in crib (didn't get him out of bed until 630...he was babbling, but then started crying)
0645-BF (he was very fussy and it was not time yet to give him meds and he wouldn't let me put him down, so that's why the extra feeding).
0830-BF (again, I know).
0845-0905- CN (when he wakes up super early like this, I do the short AM/long PM.  I try to keep his CN short like 10-15 min and I can only get him to CN on me or in the car. Should this nap be longer since he's teething?)
1200-BF
1315-S
1430-W/BF
1915-BF/S

I try to make sure that he has Motrin in his system before a nap or bed time.  Sometimes I've wondered if the meds have worn off though.  I stacked Tylenol and Motrin for his top molars, but I kind of wanted to give his system a break and just try Motrin, but now I'm thinking about stacking the two again.  I don't know. Ugh.

I was curious about doing the W2S with him since it seems like when he wakes up at 445, he's up for the day after his feeding!  He also wakes up about every 4 hours (sometimes sooner, but I just thought it was from the teething). I'm not sure how the W2S works though.  Do I wake him up completely, or do I wake him up and feed him??  Not sure. Not sure what to do with any of it, or if I can do anything until he gets done teething??  We're also traveling in a few weeks, so i was just going to address some of the bigger issues once we get back from traveling.  But these EW are killing me!!

[*Becky*]

I find ibuprofen works much better for teeth, we forget the paracetamol as it just seems to have no effect. Have you tried giving it as a DF around 2/3am to see if you can get past the EWing? If it is teeth I am not sure W2S will help tbh.

[karindmor]

Thanks! I'll try that. I was doing that w his top molars, but he doesnt seem as uncomfortable w these. Plus when he wakes around 1 or 2 am, he has been falling back asleep just fine so I thought he didn't need any. Do you know why he would fall back asleep ok at 2 am but not 5 or 530?

[*Becky*]

because he has not had enough sleep...lots of lo's wake around 5/5.30am for various reasons and because they have had quite a bit of sleep already they struggle to go back but at 2am they are still far from the morning yk?

[karindmor]

I gave him some at 0245 and I think it helped!  He still woke up a ton though!! Poor little guy must've been in a lot of pain But he woke up at 5 and when I laid him down at 530, he went back to sleep until 0630!  Muuuuch better than 445 lol  

[*Becky*]

oh good