8 mo wakes at 5:40 every day

[Siliann]

For the past week my son started waking every day at 5:40. Simultaneously his first nap extended. What should I do?

I tried postponing bedtime by 30 minutes, but didn't work. Should I wake him up from this first nap early hoping it would extend his nighttime sleep? Or would it just OT him? Or maybe try wake to sleep around 5:20?

For the past week our day looked more or less like that:
5:40 Wake up
6:30 E solids (yoghurt, he isn't hungry straight after wake up)
A
9:00 E bottle before first nap
9:00-11:30 S (he is pretty tired at 9)
A
13:00 E solids (soup)
A
15:00-16:00 S (walk, I have to wake him up at 16:00 to pick up my doughter from daycare)
A
16:30 bottle
A
18:30 E solids
19:00 bath, story
19:30-20:00 bedtime he falls asleep around 20:00 and sleeps whole night through till 5:40

He is a 1 month preemie and is exactly 8,5 months old now, so i guess it's too early for 2 to 1 transition.

I would be very grateful for any thoughts or an advice what to do

[katie80]

What time did his wake-up used to be? I think I'd be more inclined to bring his bedtime earlier rather than push it later, as it looks like he may be getting OT by the time he goes to bed.  He's got a 4hr A time after a 1hr nap, which is really quite long.  I also wouldn't let him sleep more than 2hr for his morning nap, as that will continue to rob from his night time sleep.  Simultaneously, I would start gradually pushing the morning nap later to 9:30, as letting him sleep too early in the morning can perpetuate the EW, as he uses that nap to catch up/extend his night sleep.  I'm sure he's tired by 9am, but even if you can push that nap later by 5-10min every few days, you can eventually get it to 9:30am.

What if you tried for something like this...
WU 6/6:30
Nap 1 9:30-11:30
Nap 2 15:00-16:00
BT 19:00

Also, is he only having the two bottles per day? At his age, milk is still the most important form of nutrition/calories for him, so if he's not getting enough, he could be waking early due to hunger.

[Siliann]

Thanks for the advice.

His wake up used to be between 6:20 and 7:00.

So I should aim at 3 hours 40 minutes of first activity, I sometimes get to 3:30 but never longer.

He gets 3 bottles of milk, the last one he gets after supper, I forgot to write it. His milk intake is in accordance of what they recommend in Poland: 3 bottles of 210 ml each, but he does eat a lot of solids, he loves them, so I have to have a double portion prepared for each meal. In the morning he ain't hungry. I used to bottle feed him in the morning and he just wouldn't take it. I turned to joghurt couse he likes it a lot, but still I need to wait at least 30 minutes for him to be ready to eat at least a bit.

today was better, but weird:

I've put him to sleep earlier, but he fell asleep at 19:45.
I've tried wake to sleep at 5:15, and he did stir.
Nevertheless at 5:40 exactly he had a very strong jolt. He was fast asleep and suddenly his whole body jolted.
I couldn't calm him down after that, finally I took him to my bed (I know its accidental parenting :/) and he did fall asleep there (previous mornings, he didn't).

Today i did 3:35 minutes of first activity, woke him up after 2 hours of nap and I will try to put him down to sleep for the night earlier - we'll see if it works.

Thanks!

[katie80]

Sounds good, let me know how it goes. Just an FYI... Tracy suggested to do W2S for NWs an hr before the habitual wake, so doing it at 5:15 may not be giving him enough time to settle into a new sleep cycle. The jolting awake does sound like OT to me.

[Siliann]

Oh, W2S hour before, ok, that is a difference. Thanks for the info!

Unfortunately yesterday he peed himself through and woke up at 5:40, by the time I got him changed he was already tottaly awake.

Today he slept till 6:10, he was moving around since 5:40, but still had his eyes closed and tried to settle to sleep or was in a light sleep. I just watched since he didn't cry or anything (yes, now I also have a habitual wake up at 5:40). He went to sleep at 7:37, so i guess that 6:10 is an acceptable wake up time?

[katie80]

He went to sleep at 7:37, so i guess that 6:10 is an acceptable wake up time?

It's decent, yes. Typically, you don't want to go much lower than 11hr night sleep, but some babies just don't sleep longer nights, so it's variable.

If you feel like the wet diaper could be causing issues, you can always try an overnight diaper or going one size bigger or both! Hope that morning wake-up continues to improve for you!

[Siliann]

I changed the nap pattern, but I don't know is it for better. Last two days the first A time was 3:40 and than a nap of 1,5 hours (wake ups due to a renovation across the street), but the second nap got longer to 1,5-2 hours, which is long (earlier it was an hour). He didn't seem OT in the evening, I kept the last A time as the first at 3:40. Unfortunately again he did wake up at 5:40 bot days. Should I wake him up earlier from the second nap as well if he tries to compensate?
 
Today it was even 5:30, which is weird, and I managed to convince him to sleep, but again in my bed not in his, which is bad. I want him to fall asleep after the 5:40 wake up, but the only thing that worked so far is getting him to my bed and I am not sure if it makes the problem worse or better.

Thanks, I will try bigger dipers, he is very sensitive to wetness.

I could get used to 5:40 if I was sure that is good for him.

[katie80]

Should I wake him up earlier from the second nap as well if he tries to compensate?

I think I would try to shoot for 3hr of daytime sleep, so let him make up for it up to that. Have you been able to bring bedtime earlier as well?

It really does sound like a habitual wake, and he seems tired enough to go back to sleep in your bed. I'd be tempted to try W2S at 4:40 for a whole week (if you can bring yourself to get up) and see if that helps.

[Siliann]

I tried wake to sleep twice and it wasn't effective, I can try it again, but previous two days were great without it. I kept his naps short up to 3 hours altogether, as you suggested, and extended his activity time till 3:50 as a result once he woke up at 6:10 and once at 6:30! Which was wonderful! He did stir around 5:40, but just went back to sleep. But, yesterday was a disaster and I think I did something wrong: I had first A 3:50, S 2:00, A 3:50, S 1:00 and then a problem, because either I had to reduce the last A to 2:50 and have a bedtime at 8:00, or have the last activity as all the others at 3:50 and have a very late bedtime at 9:00. And I realized this problem will emerge every day if he starts waking up later - so what do you think I should do?

Yesterday I've put him down at 8, he fell asleep at 8:20. The result was that he woke up every hour and fell back to sleep with a pacifier or a sip of water and at 5:40 he was up and ready to play. And I don't even know if the reason is over or under tiredness.

So yesterday looked like this:
6:30 Wake up
7:00 E yoghurt
10:05 E milk
10:20-12:20 S (I had to wake him up)
13:00 E solids (soup)
16:10 E milk
16:10-17:10 S
19:00 E solids
19:20 bath, storytime ect.
20:00 E milk
20:20 S (I started around 20:10 but it was difficult)

My older daughter goes to sleep at 8:30-9:00 so it wouldn't be very bad if he had the same bedtime, but then I guess, younger children should sleep more, so have earlier bedtimes. I'm kind of lost in all this.

[katie80]

I wonder if maybe you've pushed him a little too far and he's gotten overtired. Would he still sleep full naps if you put him down at 3h30-45min? Since his second nap is only an hr anyway, you could probably get away with a shorter A time in between. Otherwise, the day is getting too long and he's likely becoming OT.

Maybe, it could look like this...
WU 6:30
Nap 1 10:15-12:15
Nap 2 15:45-16:45
BT 19:30

The other option (and what is likely coming as the A times get longer) is to start capping the second nap to only 45min in order to get a bedtime that isn't too late.

What do you think?

[Siliann]

Terrible teething - maybe that's what was waking him up and it's getting worse, now even the naps are bad. Hopefully the teeth will be out soon and it will be back to normal.

That plan looks reasonable. I'll start implementing once the teething is over and I'll write how it went.

Thanks!!!!!

[katie80]

Oh shucks... teething is the pits. Hope they're through quickly and you can get back on track! (((Hugs)))

[Siliann]

Well, the teething is over and I made some experiments, so:

- his 5:40 habitual waking is no more, now his wake up time changes with the bedtime
- he still sleeps almost exactly 10 hours every night, no matter how early or late I put him to bed, but since he is in a good mood whole day, then I guess it's just the way he is. I extended his first activity till 4 hours, and I keep his daytime sleep up to 3 - 3:15 hours altogether, so he ain't got the possibility of compensating during the day, and still he is in a good mood.

So I just have to make sure his bedtime is around 20 or 20:30 (assuming it will not overtire him) and then I get to sleep till 6-6:30 which is acceptable.

Since the teething he started some night wakings, 3 or 4 every night, but its enough to put the pacifier in his mouth and he goes to sleep. This week I will stop using the pacifier at all, hopefully those wakings will stop then.

All in all, now I at least have a feeling I know what's happening and can adjust to it, so it's good.

Thank you very much for all the advices!
You are doing a great job, its wonderful, that one has someone to ask in a time of doubt and lack of ideas, what to do next.

[katie80]

Glad to hear you've figured some things out! We're happy to be a sounding board.

Just a little note about the paci... he's definitely old enough to learn to replug himself, so if you put a bunch in his crib and just help him find them for a few nights at the NWs, then he should learn how to do it himself.  Then, you don't have to keep going in, and he can keep the paci.  Hope that helps!