Baby wanting to start the day at 4.30am on the dot. !!

[hana1978]

For the last week my 9month old DS has woken up at exactly 4.30am - i hear him struggling and calling out and go in to his room - hes on his belly (cant turn back yet) so i turn him back again and he starts crying.  I do shh.patt for up to 40mins, sometimes he falls back to sleep but only for 10mins othertimes he refuses and i give up.  His day looks something like this -

7.00am breakfast
9.00am nap for 30m
9.30am bottle
11.00am lunch
12.30pm nap for 30m
2.30pm bottle
3.30pm nap for 30m
5.00pm supper
7.00pm bottle
7.15pm bath
7.45pm bed

He still wakes at 2am and takes a full feed, with or without a dreamfeed (which i have started up again recently to try and help things).  So as you can see he only gets 1h30m sleep a day and about 9h at night - this surley isnt enough??  Is he meeting his quota by 4.30am??  Im desparate for any help or ideas.  My mum says to put him to bed at 9pm but keeping him up to 7.30pm is tough enough.!  Hes clearly tierd at 4.30am but is so stubborn - ive never done PUPD as i feel this will wake him up even more - im lost for what to do.!!!
HELP!!!

[FrasersMum]

Hi Hana

Well I've got a couple of thoughts.

It does seem like your LO is not getting a whole lot of sleep - some babies don't need as much - what is your LO's temperament like during the day?  Does he seem overtired!

Have you tried putting your LO down a little earlier??  Sounds strange (and completely opposite to your Mum's suggestion  :lol: ) but if your LO is a bit overtired at bedtime, an early wake up could result. 

The other thing you might like to try is pushing that first nap back a little (I know that's going to be hard with a 4.30am start to the day) but a slightly later nap (9.30am or so) might help.  You can start moving it backwards in small increments like 5 or 10 minutes to help you get there.

Let me know what you think
Cheers
Jo

[hana1978]

Hi Jo thanks for your post - yeh ive tried the first nap at 9.30am, ive also tried dropping his 3pm nap - but had no effect.  He is wide awake it seems at 4.30am but tiers quickly so i know he hasnt had enough sleep.  He whines allot in the day - but wont sleep more than 30m - im so frustrated and now im back at work these 430am starts are killing me!  I havnt tried putting him down to bed earlier - im scared he will wake earlier??

[ella&jack'smum]

Not quite at the same stage, but Jack went through a phase of 4.30 starts when he was just under 1 - firstly HUGS becuase I know how completely draining it is - it seemed to colour my whole life for about a month - constant exhaustion is no fun at all. I know what you are going through!! You have my virtual hugs!

He was having two 45 min naps per day at that point. I know it may not be easy, and may seem a bit cruel, but I went cold turkey to 1 nap and also started hanging back a little at 4.30 - try and increase by 15 mins per day when you first go into them (unless they're screaming!!). If they are screaming, go and comfort them, but still don't start your day until 15 mins later each time - they will eventually get the message.

Within a week he was sleeping 2 hours after lunch and waking at 6.45. You may want to check out some of the posts on extending naps aswell - Jack did quite well at doing that by himself, but if your LO doesn't, and you do want to cut out the third nap you may need to help them.

You may want to consistently try aiming for 2 naps, bring bedtime forward as suggested and hold back on going in at 4.30.

Just my experience - hth

[hana1978]

Hi Sue - thanks!
I like the idea of not going to him straight away but he refuses to sleep on his tummy and as i can hear he has rolled onto his stomach i know inevitably ill end up going into him - i might try just the same!
Ill put him down at 7pm tonight and see how we go - i have to admit i assumed by 9months i wouldnt be feeding in the night anymore but thats another issue.
Anyway thanks for your advice - i know things change week by week its just a horrible horrible phase were in right now - no joy 

[MCGoldsmith]

Have you tried wake to sleep? Tracey talks about how to do it even up to toddler-age. I was reluctant to try it but it worked after just 2 mornings of doing it. I couldn't believe how amazing it was!

[hana1978]

I havnt no, scared too i guess - i did think about trying though.  Ive broght him into our bed every morning now and hes slept until 730am - 800am as im there to stop him rolling over.  I know its bad - my DP thinks its lovely having him sleep with us and i do to to a certain extent but worried it will lead to trouble so want to stop but im so tierd to try anything else - ill try wake to sleep tonight tho.
Thanks x