waking too early

[pixieme]

We have never before had any problems with ds and sleeping, he always goes to sleep on his own and has 2 good naps each day.  He normally sleeps 7.30pm - 7am which is great - and I know, we are verylucky.

however the last couple of weeks he has begun waking at anything from 5-6.30am.  He also shares a bedroom with dd(3) and she is being woken by him and as a  consequence we have a very tired and grumpy dd all day too :roll:   

what can we do to get him to sleep longer?  i would understand it if it were the summer and the mornings were too light but it's now dark until around 7.30 so I don't know what it is :?

[Jaime]

hi there,

i think we need a little more info from you... what time & how long are your lo's naps?

a couple preliminary thoughts - we just went through a little of this.  i think it had a little to do with separation anxiety, a little developmental stuff, and a little cause he didn't need as much sleep anymore.

[momofgrace]

I got on this morning to ask about this very thing!  So I don't have much advice, I was more wondering how you handle it?  My dd (9 mo) has just started waking around 5:30 and sort of babbles and then makes her fussy groans and falls back asleep after about 10 minutes and then wakes again around 6.  Every once and a while she won't fall back asleep at all.  She used to go to bed at 6:45-7:00 and sleep until 6:30 or 7:00. Does he seem to be waking earlier because he's hungry?  Do you get him up?  Does this effect your morning nap time?
I feel like things are starting to spiral out of control now.  She is so tired that she seems to need to go down for her first nap much earlier lately I've tried keeping her up as long as I always had (until 9:30am) but over the last few days her naps have gotten shorter and shorter even though she seems more tired than usual.
Sorry not much help!
Amy

[pixieme]

Here is a rough daily schedule -

bottle milk on waking
 8.00  - breakfast
 9.30  - nap (about 2 hours)
11.30 - bottle
12.30 - lunch
 3.30 - bottle
 4.00 - nap (about 1 hour)
 5.30 - dinner
 7.00 - bottle & bed

I have recently increased the amount of solids he is having during the day hoping that will help a little.

One of the main problems is that he is waking his sister and her tiredness is having a bad effect on her behaviour   :roll:

[bsparki73]

Hi all,
I have just logged on to ask this same question too! Oscar is waking anywhere from 5-6am (we've recently weaned him off his night feed...he was waking anywhere from 1am-4.30am for a feed). He is nearly 6 months. We've also weaned him off his dummy/wrap this week & he's doing really well. He's been sleeping from 6.30-7pm (I'd like it to be 7.30pm but timing hasn't worked)...maybe I need to keep him up later to expect him to sleep an hour longer? I'm also trying to move him from 3-4 hour EASY. He's now on 3 meals of solids a day.

I guess the advice would be to increase his daytime calories? He is hungry when he wakes at 5.30am & I don't feel trying to get him back to sleep at that time would work. It's also very light here at that time too (birds chirping etc) which doesn't help! Thank goodness daylight savings starts soon! He's still having a 10pm dream feed. Maybe I should cluster feed him at 8pm too because he's having dinner at 5-6pm??

I was reading the Sleep Interview & have found it so much help but this was the one question not covered so hoping for some suggestions!

Thanks,
Sophie

[pixieme]

*sigh* Well it was 5.30 this morning :x   So we now have a very tired dd AND a very tired mummy - oh and ds is already (9am) back in bed sleeping peacefully!! :evil:  :wink:

[Daniel's mummy]

I'm beginning to think this must be a developmental thing as I have EXACTLY the same problem with my 8.5 month old dh.  2 good naps a day, eating well, going to sleep well then waking at about 5.30am :twisted:   We have tried putting him down at 6.30 (still wakes up at about 5.30).  We have tried putting him down at 8pm (still wakes at about 5.30).  So we are probably just going to stick to bed at around 7pm as that suits us all best.

[Kiwi]

Snap, we're having the same problem here  :roll:   :lol:
Maybe it's an "age" thing, most of us have babes the same age ??

 :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:

Fingers crossed xx it passes soon.

Sandie

[Kiwi]

Hazel, I think we're on to something  :lol:
Seems we posted at pretty much the same time...

Sandie 

[Jaime]

whew!  seems like the problem is spreading!  didn't have a chance to log on yesterday so here are some of my thoughts.

pixieme - 11:30 - 4pm is way to long to go inbetween naps.  i think your lo might just be overtired, so that's why he's not sleeping very long at night.

all - i would likely keep their bedtimes around 7-8pm - whatever you have been doing.  try and preserve as much of your old routine as you can.

with luke, i just hung in there - sometimes we had to throw in an extra catnap, sometimes his afternoon nap was pretty long.  and sometimes i had to keep going in there cause of separation anxiety  :roll:

however, after one intense week & a few refresher days here & there, we seem to be mostly on track again.

HTH 

[bsparki73]

Well, this morning Oscar woke at 5am again but I just left him (I think I've been going in too quickly) and he babbled happily in his cot for a whole 45 minutes & then went back to sleep until 6.45am! Cheering! I, being the useless light sleeper that I am, was awake the whole time but did manage to sneak in a nap later!! I think my eyes are bleeding  :wink:
So not sure if that will work for anyone else...in the past I've just gone into him & fed him to get him back to sleep but I'm hoping by leaving him he'll get out of that habit & sleep longer in the morning. Or, maybe he'll just keep waking & babbling at that time....in which case I need to close our door because it's quite loud!
Good luck all xxx

[Pixie]

Hi there,

I think it must be an age thing - however my ds started round about 8/9 monhts and is now 13 months and is still waking between 05h00 and 05h30 and to be honest it is killing me.

His routine is as follows:
05h15 - wakes
06h00 - bottle
09h30 - nap - roughly 1 and half hours
12h00 - lunch
14h00 - bottle
15h00 - nap till 16h00
18h00 - dinner
19h30 - bottle and bed

This does sometimes change as in he could have an earlier afternoon nap therefore his bed time would be moved forward - but even if he has a later nap in the afternoon I try get him down by 20h00 latest. He eats well - drinks his bottle well and is a very happy content little darling.

I think our problem is, is that we only have one bedroom  in the house so he therefore sleeps in our room in his cot and I think when he wakes up he sees us and wants to come into our bed to play. If I leave him he crys  :?

Basically - so now what???

A month or two ago and decided this was my lot in life and started to going to be at 21h00/21h30 but I mean come on now - this really can't be my lot in life and for how long. And what happens when I decide to have number 2. We are in the process of selling our house so I don't know know whether to just stick it out and wait till Luc can get his own room - but that could be for another 3/6 months. I also feel really bad for complaining as he doesn't wake up through-out the night - so in comparison I have it lucky.

But anyone with some worldly advise please help as  I don't know who else to ask.   :cry:

Kate
xx

[Jaime]

Kate - hugs!!  can't be easy having everyone sleep in one room...

if he's waking up happy that early... you just might have an early riser.  when you do get him into his own room you may be able to delay his start by having him play with his own toys, but it is no guarantee that he will sleep later.

i have a friend with 2 kids - the first is up by 5:30 everyday; the 2nd by 6 or 6:30 - they are 2 & 4 yrs. old.  they have always been that way. 

on the plus side, they always had early bedtimes, so she had long evening with her dh...

i would move his pm nap & bedtime a little earlier, but other than that there's probably not much you can do. 

sorry i can't be more help....   :?

[Pixie]

Thanks for you advise Jaime,

Just what I thought. I suppose I just need to get my mind right with whole thing and hopefully when we move things will get a bit better.

I will try getting him to bed earlier. He also seems to be dropping his afternoon sleep so he is passed out by 19h00. Now I'm just wondering do I try move his sleep to eventually be between 12h00-14h00???

Thanks again,
Kate

[Jaime]

while some babies do drop to one nap before they are 1 year old, most still need 2 naps.  maybe try aiming for the second one around 1/1:30 pm?  that way, even if it's only 1-1.5 hrs, he should still make it to a 7pm bedtime.