5 month old waking at 4:30 am

[Bbylove]

My 5 month old has been having good naps throughout the day, goes to bed very well without much fuss, sleeps straight through the night with no wakings, but is up at 4:30 am the last week. How can I curb this?
Here’s a typical day for us:

Wakes up 4:30 and lays in crib looking around. Doesn’t usually get fussy until around 5:30. So, I’ve been basing his wake up time at 5:30, as I figure if I was a heavy sleeper I wouldn’t even know he was awake until this time. He’s also on 3 naps a day, and starting him earlier messes everything up. His A time is 2.5 hours otherwise.

E 6:00
S 8:00 - 9:30 (usually for 1.5 hours)

E 10:00
S 12:00 - 1:00 or 1:30 (this nap varies from 1-1.5 hours)

E 2:00
S 3:30 or 4:00, depending when he last woke up. This nap is usually 45 minutes, but if he had a short second nap, it has been 1.5 hours.

E 6:00
S anytime between 6:30 and 7:00

I question myself all the time, but overall I feel he does pretty good... just need to get his wake up time figured out!

Thanks for any insight or help in advance!

[Bbylove]

Here’s how yesterday went:

WU 4:45, in and out of sleep until 5:30. I left him in crib until 5:45
E 6:10
S 8:00 - 9:40 (1hr40mins)

E 10:00
S 12:30-1:10 (40 mins. Put down after 2hr45mins due to being out running an errand. Tried to resettle for 30 mins, but wide awake. Assuming OT)

E 2:00
S 3:30-4:15 (45 mins. Put him down 20 minutes early to counter the OT)

E 6:00
S 6:30

Now he’s tossing and turning since 4;30 again. Not fully awake, but will be by 5:00.

Thoughts?

[becj86]

You may need to shift your first nap a little later - that's a fairly classic explanation. A few other potential causes are:
1. recently started solids - LO waking with new sensation in bowel.
2. Hunger - sometimes babies who have previously slept through without a feed have a growth spurt and need night feed(s) again. I'd expect him to be a bit more vocal about it though if this was the case. Certainly worth trying a feed to see if he will go back to sleep.
3. Cold - classic hour of the morning to be a touch cold...

Are you sure he's awake? Babies do move about and make noises quite a bit at times when they are still asleep, especially in REM sleep which they have a lot of compared with adults.

How close is he to 6 months? If he's just turned 5 months, 2.5h A time is probably great, could be a touch short if he's closer to 6months, as average at that age is 2:45-3hr.

[Bbylove]

Thanks for the reply and suggestions! He’s been waking up at 5:00 the past few days, which is an improvement. And yes, now transitioning him to 2 naps per day, as he’s now 5.5 months and he’s certainly capable of staying awake longer. He also resisted a third nap yesterday, which had never happened before, so I’m confident making the change.
Only reason I know he was awake so early was with his monitor (I could see his eyes glowing!). His monitor also shows his room temp, so I keep a close eye on that (especially as we’ve had summer temps and the AC running). I’ll consider the temp more carefully.
Transitioning him from 4-3 naps was very natural, so I’m hoping that 3-2 will be similar.
I’ll just have to figure out his feeding times, as he’s been eating every 4 hours with solids and milk, but 2 naps will interfere slightly with those regular eating times.

[becj86]

Well, sounds like an A time increase is a good plan, then. Let us know how you go

[Bbylove]

Providing a quick update on babe. He’s been on 2 naps for one whole week and doing very well. Typically taking 1.5 hours per nap, sometimes even 2 hours (with A of 3 hours). He’s been waking up around 5:45 am for the most part now, which works good for me too, and goes down around 6:30 pm for solid sleep. I’ve had to adjust his feeding times a bit, but so far so good.
Thanks for the reassurance on moving to two naps!!

[becj86]

Yay! Happy to help Glad things are better again. Yes, there's always a bit of juggling with feeds and naps to get it all in during a day.

[Bbylove]

Hi,
My LO is 6 months old this week, and now we’re dealing with something different. For the last week he’s been waking up around 3:30 am, and takes up to 1.5 hours to fall back asleep. For the first hour he’s just hanging out talking and looking around. His room is almost pitch black. Then he escalates to crying and screaming. I’ll go in and give him his soother(that keeps falling out!) and place my hand on his chest. The only thing that ends up working is when hubby rocks him for the sake of getting sleep (especially so he can work the next day). When he does fall asleep it’s for 1 or 2 hours more before he’s up for the day. I’m exhausted! His day naps have been good (about 1.5 hours each), and he goes down well for the night. It doesn’t matter what sort of activities we’ve done during the day, nothing seems to make a difference. Any ideas? Thanks!

[Bbylove]

He slept until 5am this morning!! I wonder if the early wakings are a mix of his inner clock with the 6 month sleep regression?

[becj86]

Could be - I would try an A time increase, especially the first A time - that long happy waking (that turns cranky when he realises its still night time) is a classic sign he needs more A time in the day. His naps are still good because of that long waking so if you can increase his A time, he may have a couple of OT 30min wakings from naps which you should be able to resettle fairly easily and then you should be back on track. What's his EAS look like?

[Bbylove]

Giving today’s schedule, as he woke early this morning again. I increased A time throughout the day, and he handled it very well. The first round was hardest for him, as you’ll see what his morning was like. I guess I never thought to increase A time, as he’s only been at 3 hours for A time for two weeks. He is a big boy, not sure if that makes a difference (was two weeks late and always been in 90th percentile). Shall see what tomorrow morning is like...!

Woke up 3:10 am
Fell asleep 4:10 am (after I rocked, then hubby rocked)
Woke up 5:10, and left in crib until 5:45.

Nap 1: 8:25 (super cranky, trying not to fall asleep while I prepped him for his nap)
Woke up 9:50 (1hr25min long nap)

Nap 2: 1:15
Woke up 3:00 (1hr45min long nap)

Bedtime routine (bath, bottle, bed) started at 6:00.
Fell asleep at 6:40

Here’s hoping for a better morning!
Let me know any thoughts until then, if you get a chance! 

[Bbylove]

This morning was an improvement, with him waking at 4:50, and I got him out of his crib at 5:50. So it looks like today will be similar to yesterday’s schedule for nap times. Will keep up the longer A times today and see what that means for tomorrow. Let me know what you think!

[becj86]

Yes, certainly looks reasonable. I would suggest that at least some of that time when he's awake but lying in bed could be counted at sleep...

Wrt A time increases, they increase by 15min per fortnight on average from 3mo to 6mo and keep increasing albeit m ore slowly thereafter.

[Bbylove]

Thank you! He’s doing pretty good. Woke two nights ago from 2:45-3:45am, but when he woke at 6:00 after that, he had a big poo, so thought he may have had a sore tummy. Slept through the night last night and woke at 5, getting him out at 5:45.
Thanks for clarifying  the A times! He’s basically doing 3.5 hours (officially 6 months old now), and he’s doing very well with that.
Thank you so much for your guidance, I appreciate it so much!!!

[becj86]

Great You're both doing well!