10 months - night feeds and early wake ups 😔

[cathyandivy]

Hi - my son has just turned 10months but for the last two months he has been waking in the night and taking a full feed (6oz) AND waking up at 5-5.30am.
I was hoping it was just a phase, growth spurt, teeth, cold but it doesn't seem to be changing despite these various episodes passing. Any suggestions?! Here is his typical day

5-5.30 wake up - normally doesn't want much milk especially if he has feed in the night which is more often than not. His night wakings are very random anything from 12am/ 2am / 3am
6.00 Breakfast - porridge etc
8-8.15 Nap - this is normally around an hour
9.30-10.00 Snack - yogurt / fruit
11.00-12.00 Lunch - sandwich, fruit etc
12.30-1.00 Nap - normally an hour
2.00 - offer more milk but not really interested - sometimes takes 2oz
3.00 - Snack - breadstick etc
4.30-5.00 Dinner - whatever we are having (BLW)
6.00-6.15 Bed / Milk 5-6oz

He is vey mobile, started standing up in cot. Walks with assistance. I am just pooped! Any suggestions? Anything glaringly wrong with his typical day? Thanks in advance

[jessmum46]

My feeling would be that his early starts are perpetuated by a combination of an easy first nap and early bedtime.  He is getting an 11h night and I don't think you can expect much more from a lot of babies - certainly my DS is an 11h man most of the time.  Is he an independent sleeper?

Routine-wise I would be tempted to do an hour shift just to get things moving (treat it like DST - move his entire day an hour later).  Likely to be a bit painful for a day or two with some OT but I've found a step-change, meals and all, gets my LOs through the transition much better than trying to shift everything slowly.  So that would give you (hopefully)

WU 6/6.30 - don't get up and start the day until then
Nap 9/9.15
Nap 1.30/2
Bt 7-7.15pm

And then I would think about whether you want to aim for a short am, long pm routine or a long am, short pm routine.  If the former I would keep his first nap where it is but wake him after 45 mins instead of his usual hour and see if you can get a longer afternoon nap (you may need to move it a touch earlier).  If the latter I would push his first nap later i.e. make his first A time longer until you get a full morning nap of 1.5h or more, and then you may need to wake him up from the afternoon nap to keep to a reasonable bedtime.

What do you think?

[cathyandivy]

Thank you so much. I think your suggestions sound great. I will give it a go and see how we get on. I agree that 11hrs is a good amount of sleep at night and know it's about changing his day routine to try and get a later bedtime.

He is also waking for a night feed - I am sure this is our fault as we gave a feed when he was going through a growth spurt and he is now expecting this.

Thanks again X

[cathyandivy]

Sorry - another question. What is a reasonable activity time for a 10m old?
Thanks

[jessmum46]

It's variable but around 3.5-4.5 hours for a full A time, shorter after a short nap (especially if you've capped the nap). With DD at this age we were doing

WU 6.30
Nap 10.30-12
Nap 4/4.30 for 30-45 mins
BT 7