8.5month waking at 5am, long

[corrina01]

I am a bit embarrassed to ask, as I have always figured it out on my own, but I don't know what to do next.

I'll post DD routine yesterday, but that always alters within 30mins only

5am Wake up 
6.30am Feed 4oz
7.30 Solids, cereal and then 2oz of milk
8.30 Sleep (1hr 10mins) (wake up at 9.40am)
10.00 Get her up
10.45am Feed 5oz
11.15am Solids meat and veg. plus a yoghurt
12. noon to tired so  sleep (1hr 30mins)  (Usually 2hrs in the afternoon)
1.30pm Wake 
Do errands
2.45 Feed 5oz
4.30pm Catnap (30 mins)  (usually she doesn't have them)
5.00pm wake
5.15pm Solids veg, plus custard
6.15pm Bath
6.45pm Bottle 6oz
7pm Bed

Her awake times are generally 3hrs now but in January she could only stay awake for 2hrs 20mins.

Her daytime nap are generally 3hrs- 3hrs 30mins .

She used to go to sleep at 6.30pm have a DF at 10pm (less than 2oz) so I cut that out and she makes it up during the day, and wake up between 6.30am-7am.

I have extended her wake times, but I don't want to extend them again, as she is so tired by the time she goes for a nap.

I think she wakes up at 5am, gets out of her swaddled, I go in at 5.30am reswaddled, she gets out of it again. I reswaddle and then she stays in it.

She gets upset about 6am so I try to soothe her, it is a tired cry, but I can't get her to sleep. At 6.45am I give up and get her up.

I was going to try wake to sleep, but I don't know when she wakes up, as she is so quiet, then all of a sudden I hear her hand going up and down the cot rails.

I have tried changing her nappy, but no going back to sleep.  I have tried PU/PD but she doesn't like that, she gets more worked up.  I have tried ssshhhing her to sleep, but she laughs 

I have tried an earlier bedtime if she doesn't have a catnap (6.15pm).  Still she wakes up about 5am.  When she does have a catnap I put her to bed around about 7pm-7.15pm, still she wakes up about 5am.

I can't let her go to bed around 7.30pm as she is so tired.

I was thinking she only needs 11hrs sleep at night, but I can't keep her awake.

Any insight on what to do would be greatly appreciated, as this has been going for  2 weeks now.

[Mom to M&M]

I wish I could help but can only offer support, as my DD has been doing this some time too. At this point I'd be thrilled with 11 hours overnight - I'm lucky to get 10.

See what I just posted in another thread on this forum:
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Hi guys... Sorry to hijack this post but my 7-month old is doing this again/still too.

Basically EVERY day we hear her stir and moan and whimper on the monitor at 5:10/5:15 am. Usually she goes right back to sleep. Sometimes she talks to herself for 20 minutes or so first and then does. If she falls back asleep right away, she is generally back up by 5:45 for the day. If it takes her 20 minutes she might sleep until 6:15 or even 6:30. Once in a while she doesn't go back to sleep at all and is up for the day. Either way, we don't go to her unless she is upset and don't get her out of bed before 6 or preferably 6:15.

We stretch out her first nap so it doesn't start before 8:30. She has two naps of 1-1.5 hours and one catnap of 25-40 minutes. She is army crawling and starting to rock on all fours and spends most of her waking hours doing this.

Bedtime is anywhere between 7:15-7:45 depending on rest of day and cir!@!stances and doesn't seem to change wake time. It can't be earlier than 7 due to logistics.

The one day she took later naps and went to bed at 8:30 pm  she slept straight until 6:30 am.

It basically seems like she just can't get more than 9.5-10 hours of night sleep, even though she is then tired and wants more. Is this just developmental and something to keep working through? Anything else I should or can do? I'm tired of course but that's OK. But she's tired too - luckily she will still take a catnap most days...

I'm scared to try WTS because although it's always at 5:10/5:15 (assuming normal bedtime), she does go back to sleep. And I don't want to wake her more fully and thus have her unable to. Do you agree?

TIA.
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Hopefully others will have ideas for us.

[~BeckyD~]

I am sorry you are suffering with this too.  

I obviously have no advice to share, as you gave me some tips to try to curb Jacks 5-5.30am wakings, but they haven't worked either.

Our early wakings have been going on for about the same time as yours, and at the moment I am at the point where I am just kind of going with it.

I have tried the advice of putting him down at 6.15pm, but he still wakes at 5.15am. So I tried putting him down later again and still he woke at 5.15am. I knew he had not had enough sleep so I tried for 45 mins to get him back to sleep, but he only nodded back off for 15 mins!

I also make sure that I do not put him back for his first nap until 8.45-9am, but I am finding it soooooo hard.  I give him his bottle at 6.30am, then try to delay solids so that it does not ruin the whole days feeding routine, but by the time I feed him at 8am he is miserable cos he is already tired!

So at the moment I have accepted the fact that his wake up time is 5.15am, and I am putting him to bed at 6.15pm, just so that I can make sure he has 11 hours solid sleep. I am really hoping when daylight savings kick in on 26th March it will change his current routine!

I am also hoping your post will bring us some new tips to try though, as I would love to extend his wake up time to at least 6.30am!

I am sorry I can't help you, but thanks so much for starting this thread!!!

This is our routine, just in case its of any use?!?!

5.15am~Wake
6.30am~6oz bottle
7.30-8am~Breakfast
9.00am~Nap
10.30am~Wake
11.30am~6oz bottle
12.00pm~Lunch
1.45pm~Nap
3.00pm~Wake
3.30pm~6oz bottle
4.00pm~Dinner
5.45pm~Bath
6.00pm~8oz bottle
6.15pm~asleep

This is a 'good nap day' btw, thats when we are not disrupted with school runs. When we are having a 'bad nap day' he will basically have 1 good nap and then catnaps when we are out in car/pushchair. Although it never seems to make a difference to the night time sleep.

Lets hope that help is on its way!
X

[corrina01]

I'm sorry nothing has worked for you.  I think between 8 and 9 months when they drop the catnap the routine goes out of the window, putting DD to bed earlier worked for me for a while, but now we have hit the snag again of her waking up at 5am.

I hope there is some help out there, as I want one day when she doesn't wake up early to try and put her to bed for her nap at 10am and 2pm, and work from there.

If I hit upon something I will let you know.

I thought it coincided with dropping the DF, but I do not know, as she is making up for it in her daytime bottles.

[teezee]

am on the run right now but i also think it may have something to do with having too much daytime sleep. my lo dropped her catnap at about 7 months.  i think this will help the wake up time and also maybe cutting back on the morning A time (my lo only has a max of 3 hrs before her first nap - sometimes only two and a half) as this should be their shortest A time even if it throws off the routine for a few days until you get things back in order then it should all fall back in place. i hope by stretching out A time (A in the pm for my dd is more like 3 hrs depending on her signs) and then she usually has a better afternoon nap and is ready for bed on time. i think by stretching out the A times and not getting so many naps will help. i do find if my lo gets more than 2 1/2 hrs of daytime sleep i suffer early wakings here too. i would keep bedtime the same for now also - have you tried the aussie swaddle - was damn near impossible for my little houdini to get out of and really helped with weaning it as it gave her a little more freedom to get used to slowly. i will post the link if you are interested. hope things get better!!

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=1439.0

[corrina01]

She only has a catnap when she wakes early from her afternoon nap like 1.30pm-2pm (from her 5am wakeup).  She is rolling over and I think she is ready to be weaned.

[~BeckyD~]

Well I don't know what happened last night... it was even more rubbish than usual
He woke from afternoon nap at 3.10pm, had a total of 2.5 hours naps. Did the usual bedtime routine, but he didnt fall asleep until 6.45pm.Then he woke and was re-settled within 20minutes at 3.45am and then woke at 5.10am . He is already miserable and he has only been up for an hour! That 9am nap is sooooo far away.....
x

[corrina01]

(((((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))))))))) to you.

Well  I tell you what happened to me yesterday.  I had to go to work, but my DD woke up at 5.55am as I put to bed the previous night at 7pm.  My mum looked after her yesterday, she had a nap between 9am and 10am, and then 1pm and 2.30pm.  She actually had a catnap at 5.25pm.  I took her home and she went to bed at 7.30pm.  She woke at 6.55am this morning.  She is currently teething, so I will let you know how we get on.

[~BeckyD~]

Well it sounds like you are definitely getting better, whereas we are just getting worse!

Jack is also teething again(I think), but last night he woke(well actually just cried and needed re-settling w/out actually waking fully) at 12pm,2am,4am, and then woke at 5.15am(as usual). DH got him to go back until 5.30am, then again until 6am.

So I am at a complete loss.

Good luck with your progression!

[corrina01]

No, we are not getting better unfortunately.

Well, she is teething really badly, she has only had 45mins this morning, 45 mins this afternoon, I've just put her down again, hopefully for another 30mins. 

I was playing with her, and she was laughing, and I could see 4 white bumps on the top part of the gum  so she must be in real pain. 

The only 45 mins naps I have seen her have is the day her teeth broke through, so hopefully tomorrow she will have some teeth come through, if not 

[~BeckyD~]

Aw, sorry to hear that. I really hope they make an appearance tomorrow(or soon)!

That could be the root cause of your problem and you may see a big improvement once the teeth pop through.

Jack is about to have a bath at 5.45pm tonight, and bed by 6.15pm again as he too only slept 45mins this morning (after crying for about 15mins in my arms? )
And then he slept for about 30 mins in the car this afternoon.
He definitely needs an early night!

I really hope I can post some good news soon!

[corrina01]

She didn't go down for 30mins, she was singing, for 15 mins, got out of her swaddled and biting on her hands, I decided to get her up, feed her, her solids, and then we are going for a bath at 6pm, so she can get an early night, me too, as I will probably get up to her again at 5am.

I hope too soon as well. 

Jack was the same age as my DD when she started at the 5am wakeups.  What is it with 8 month old?

[~BeckyD~]

I was thinking the same thing about 8 month olds earlier!

Jack is down for the night now, but who knows for how long. I have a feeling last nights wakings were to do with wind. A lot of the time he is so tired by the time he drinks his bedtime bottle, that he is asleep by the end of it , but then it is really hard to get any wind out of him.
Last night he bought no wind up at all before I put him into his cot for the night,  and he woke crying and burped at 7.30pm, so tonight I made sure he was fully winded! Only time will see if that makes any difference to last night!

Just keep on struggling on!........

[corrina01]

Update,  I put her down at 6.40pm, she didn't wake until 6am, I can cope with that.  But she was really tired at 8.30am, but I managed to finally put her down at 8.55am, heres hoping she can sleep for 1hr 30mins.

[~BeckyD~]

Well done!

Jack fell asleep at 6.10pm, and he got up at 6am
Sounds good, however, he also woke at 4.30am, fell back to sleep at 4.50am , then woke at 5.15am, and went back to sleep til 6am. It is better than getting up at 5.15am, and I think if I can keep getting him to drop back off, 6am is a much more acceptable hour for me to be getting up!!

Now I just need to get around the 4.30am stirrings!

Heres hoping for some progress with each day(and night)!