8 1/2 month still waking at 5am

[MumofH]

Hi there,

My 8 1/2 month old son has been waking at 5am for months now (obviously a habitual thing). Of course, given the time of morning I automatically give him a quick breastfeed and he falls asleep until 7am.

I know the early morning breastfeeding has to stop and that I have to resettle him to sleep, however am a bit confused where to begin. I am willing to try the PU/PD if required but am not entirely clear about whether I can still use a dummy and the dos/don't for a baby this age??

He eats well during the day and I would consider him an ok sleeper - 40 mins for morning nap most days (unable to be resettled) and then a longer afternoon sleep of 1.5-2 hours (occasionally he'll nap for 40 mins morning and afternoon but he is exhausted by the evening). He has a dummy for nap/bedtime and generally falls asleep with minimum fuss.

His normal bed time is 7.30pm.
Any suggestions would be appreciated??

cheers
Nadia

[sara_derek]

Hi there Nadia, (I love your name by the way

Yes, you're right.  If you don't want to keep waking up at 5, you'll have to eliminate that feed.  Have you tried getting him to settle without it?  What have you done, and what happened if you have tried?  It might take pu/pd to get past it and you'll have to stay really consistent, but it should work for you.  Once he has nothing to wake for that early, he'll adjust his clock and sleep later.

[MumofH]

Hi Sara, thanks for the reply.
My lo has always woken at this time for a feed so I guess he's only doing what he knows but I still continue to breastfeed as it means he can resettle quickly and sleep until 7-7.30am. I have tried to resettle (going in, giving dummy, leaving room then repeating process when cries become distressed) but after half an hour I cave in. I have never tried resettling longer than that. Most of the time when he wakes at 5am he is rolling around playing and have a good old time in the cot, it's only when he starts to actually cry that I walk in and give him a feed. How would you do PU/PD with a baby who thinks it's all part of the fun, and who cannot keep still to be patted on the back?? He starts laughing at me, rolling onto his stomach and getting up onto his elbows etc. But I can tell he's also tired at the same time so I dare not start his day at 5am!!
Nadia

[Little Bear's Mum]

Nadia, I have exactly the same problem with my 6 month old. I've been trying wake to sleep this week, but not much luck yet. If I don't feed Daniel he gets very upset when he sees me. I don't need to give him much to resettle but he just have to have something. So you're not alone with this problem.

I've heard that an earlier bedtime can help as if they're overtired they can wake early. Have you tried altering you LO's bedtime to earlier? My son already goes down at 6.30pm, but might try even earlier to see what happens.

Sorry, I'm not much help. Let me know if you have any success.

[MumofH]

Thanks hayley, I'll give the earlier bedtime a go, I am open to trying anything. Just don't want to let this drag on too much longer before it becomes a habit too hard to break!!

cheers
Nadia