Author Topic: 6mo waking up between 5 and 6am  (Read 1987 times)

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Offline mommytham

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6mo waking up between 5 and 6am
« on: April 08, 2018, 22:49:27 pm »
Hello,

My LO is now 6 mo.  For the past 2 months, he has been sleeping at 7pm but then wakes up between 5 and 6am (usually around 5:45am) and then goes back to sleep after a bottle until around 8-9am.  If he had a bad day with minimal naps, he wakes up around 2 or 3am for a feed and then sleeps until around 7am.  Although he goes back to sleep after this "night waking", I would like to eliminate it if possible, but he has never slept more than 11 hours in his life.  Also, I would like our day to start at 7-7:30am (8-9am is a bit late for us) so I am not sure whether I should wake him at 7:30am after he was up at 5:45am until 6:30am, and at 7:30am he would likely not be hungry.  Any tips on how to eliminate this night waking or what I should do to get him back on a 7-7 EASY.  I have tried different ways of trying to soothe him back to sleep, but he is just frantic for the bottle.  I have also tried keeping him up and starting his day at 5:45am (well, leaving him in the crib until 6am), but it is not ideal because it is too early and his crying wakes up my 4.5 year old.  By way of background, he can soothe himself to sleep, he is bottle-fed with mostly breastmilk and started solids a few weeks ago (but is not fully established on solids).  His EASY looks like this:

wake up, E - 8am
A
S - 10am
wake up, E - 11:30am
A
S - 1:30pm
wake up, E - 3pm
A
S - 5pm maybe cat nap

Bedtime - 7pm

Because his days can start at 7, 8 or 9 and his naps vary from 45 to 2.5 hours long, I may or may not give him a cat nap at the end of the day.  If he wakes up from his 2nd nap after 4, then I hold him out until a 6:30 to 7 bedtime.  If he wakes up from his 2nd nap before 4, then I try to give him a catnap to tie him over to bedtime.  His A time is now 2 hours and 10 minutes, but I am slowly increasing it.

Any advice on how to fix his EASY and/or eliminate the 5:45am waking would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!!


Offline becj86

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Re: 6mo waking up between 5 and 6am
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2018, 00:27:13 am »
Hi, at 6mo, most LO's are moving to drop the CN and it sounds like you've got an UT/OT loop going. The long waking close to WU time is likely because that first A time is too short. Have a read of this: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=246541.0

Having said that, you're not always going to have a 7-7 EAS and this is about the age that an 11hr night becomes really common, so you may have to think about compromising on the 7-7 thing and either have a later BT or an earlier WU, whichever fits with your family better.

Its still normal at this age to need a night feed, so I wouldn't say its going to be something you can eliminate but you might find things even out a bit and are more predictable once his routine is more age-appropriate and he settles into a rhythm with it.

Offline mommytham

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Re: 6mo waking up between 5 and 6am
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2018, 03:37:21 am »
Thanks for your reply.  Sorry, just so I understand - do you mean that the early waking is due to his first A time being too short?

Offline becj86

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Re: 6mo waking up between 5 and 6am
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2018, 04:16:33 am »
do you mean that the early waking is due to his first A time being too short?
Yes

Offline mommytham

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Re: 6mo waking up between 5 and 6am
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2018, 19:30:07 pm »
Thank you.  After he has a 5am waking, but is able to go back to sleep again, should I wake him up at the time that I want him to wake up normally (say 7:30am), or should I let him sleep until he wakes up naturally?

In terms of an EASY, do you prefer keeping A times consistent throughout the day or do you like a laddered approach like the 2-3-4 method?  What is appropriate for a 6mo?

Thank you!

Offline becj86

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Re: 6mo waking up between 5 and 6am
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2018, 20:53:54 pm »
After he has a 5am waking, but is able to go back to sleep again, should I wake him up at the time that I want him to wake up normally (say 7:30am), or should I let him sleep until he wakes up naturally?
Here I think you can best help him get a routine by waking him whlen he would usully wake for the day rather than letting him keep sleeping. If you let him sleep, he extends his night and you open yourself up to BT issues too.

In terms of an EASY, do you prefer keeping A times consistent throughout the day or do you like a laddered approach like the 2-3-4 method?  What is appropriate for a 6mo?
I go with what suits the LO. Some babies do well with 2-3-4 but given what's happening with your LO, I don't think it will work well for him. I have done the opposite (4-3-2) and it works well for some too but at this age, usually the place to start is to keep things reasonably consistent and let the nap lengths and his mood guide you. You can certainly increase in small chunks of time but I think the best approach for you is likely to be increasing A times across the board to 2.5hr and keep it there for 3-4 days being ready to resettle OT 30min  wakings and tweaking from there or you will almost certainly be at this for more than a month. Average A times are 2:30-2:45  at this age so going for the lower end gives you confidence you're probably not over-stretching and room to move if naps get longer then shrink again.

Offline mommytham

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Re: 6mo waking up between 5 and 6am
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2018, 22:07:18 pm »
Many thanks!!!