EMW

[Dino44]

Hi,
Just looking to see if anyone has any advice on early morning waking.

My LO's nap routine is as follows:
WU anytime between 5.25-7am
Bf 6.30
Breakfast 8am

Nap 1 ideally 9.45-10.15 but sometimes 9.30-10 if it's been a very early morning! Never earlier than 9.30.
10.15 snack

12 lunch

Nap 2- 1pm-3pm
3pm small snack
5pm tea
6.20/30 bf
Bedtime 6.45

LO self settles for all naps and bedtime. The bedroom is pitch black with blackouts. He is bf and has slept through since about 5 months old. We have had spells of making it to 6/7am but always seem to go back to 5.30 onwards! I cut morning nap a few months ago as when we did long am, short pm nap, we got 4.45-5am wakeup regardless of short awake time before bed.

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas? Last week I had to wake him at 7am for 3 days in a row after he slept 12 hours? The weekend back to 6am (which is fine) and today 5.25

Does anyone have any thoughts? I have tried feeding him when he wakes but this does not settle him. Don't think its waking out of hunger as not fed for so long at night and dropped to 2 x bf at 8 months. Occasionally if left chatting/bit of moaning, he will fall back asleep after about 40 mins/1 hour but only if it's been a super early initial wakeup. Generally no Nw's or if there is, it's a little squeak and self settle (fingers crossed! And I am so grateful for this so don't want this to seem as though I'm complaining).

Lots of people tell me 5.30 is normal for baby's but just wondering if anyone can think of any routine tweaks as I'm certain that 10.5 hours is not long enough at night for him. Don't want to increase sleep in the day though, in case it reinforces short nights? Occasionally I have left him sleep 2.5 hours at lunch if he's really bushed as scared of OT night wakings.

Any thoughts? Thank you in advance!! Xx

[LovelyLilyandJack]

10.5 - 11 hours *is* normal for some LOs (we had this for months, and even now 10hr 45 - 11 hours is common), but for us things got worse with teething, developmental stuff and during nap transitions. How old is he?

[Dino44]

Almost 10 months. Ahh ok maybe normal then. Would you up DTS? He sometimes sleeps 3 hours in the day (2.5 hours Afternoon nap) and nights still tend to be the same. Should I just let him sleep? I've been waking at 3 to preserve bedtime as awake time can be 3.75-4 hours after a 2 hour nap. We normally always get 2.5 hours in the day so maybe he is just 13-13.5 total sleep? Sometimes I feel this is enough and at other times he seems tired due to long day.

Loads going on developmentally but we've been battling early mornings on and off since 5 months when he started consistently sleeping through. We found with long MN, short pm nap, nights got even shorter so 4.45-5am wakes hence why wake from first nap.

Maybe I need to accept its enough? If we slip under 10.5 hours and I dont get 2.5 hours day sleep or say gets too long we get OT NW's so it's a constant balancing act!!!

Thanks for your response

[gejun]

Dear, how did you switch to 5:30 wu when wu was 4:45~5:00 with long am /short pm, a very long day? You did a great job.

[Dino44]

We did a few early bedtimes (to try to have no more than 13 hour day) and stuck to super consistent nap times with first nap only being 30 mins and at 9.30/45 so no naptime for him to catch up on sleep . That was the problem with long am nap as he'd often then sleep 2/2.5 hours at 9.30am to catch up on night sleep and was then OT by the end of the day on a short pm nap. One night we even put him to bed at 5.50 and he slept till 6am the following morning. This morning however was a 5.07 wake but turned on the White noise and left him and he went back to sleep 6-7 so not bad overall. Just drank barely anything so sure wakeups are not hunger related x are you having the same problem? X

[Dino44]

We just stuck to consistent naps regardless of wake up. Short am and long pm and super early bedtime (5.50 one day) so the day didn't exceed 13 hours till we got a decent wakeup. Saying that he was awake at 5am today chatting and moaning but I turned on the White noise and he resettled 50 mins later for another hour or so?? Are you having EMW too?

[Dino44]

Weird I thought this mornings message hadn't posted so rewrote but now both have posted?

[LovelyLilyandJack]

I can't quote on my phone, but you asked about upping daytime sleep? If more daytime sleep doesn't affect night length then you might as well let him sleep in the day, though you might find that after a few days it does start affecting nights. Your routine looks good otherwise for 10 months. 13 - 13.5 hrs total sleep is about average I think for a 10 month old and some just don't do long nights, so you could drive yourself crazy trying to get more and it just never happening reliably.