Early morning waking

[KellyC]

Hi everyone

A while ago Zander was a chronic early morning waker and in order to convince him to go back to sleep I would go straight in and feed him his morning milk.  After a while he was consistently going back to sleep but starting to wake earlier and earlier and screaming for his milk - I knew this would happen and that I'd have to wean him off that early feed so no problem at this point.  I started dilluting this feed and when he was having almost all water started leaving a cup of water in his cot for him.  My issue now is that Zander still wakes between 5am and 6am, he doesn't re-settle as he would during the night and his crying escalates until I go in.  I literally lie him down, hand him his water, turn his fisher price aquarium on and leave and he goes back to sleep, usually until at least 7am.  I tried w2s last week and it worked for 2 days but after that he would already be in a light sleep when I went in so it was a no-go.  Also his wake-up time isn't very consistent so it's hard to know when to attempt w2s.  There was one day this week when he slept through until 7am and the night before I managed to get him to bed 15 minutes before he was ready to sleep and he played on his own before drifting off.  I'm trying to emulate that every night but without success yet!

Clearly this isn't a huge problem but I wondered if anybody had any ideas?

Thanks
Kelly

[KellyC]

Hi Stacy

The strange thing is that he drinks his water during the night (without me) and also has a Fisher Price aquarium which he turns on himself when he's settling down to sleep and when he wakes from his naps.  Do you think he might just need to know that I'm there?  I can't compare to whether he was doing this before I went back to work because he was still having milk then.  I was thinking about telling him to go back to sleep on the baby monitor (it has a page facility) or turning on the lullabys on the monitor as that can be done remotely.  I feel a bit cruel though - I have company all night after all!  I've tried blackouts on and blackouts off - on to see whether it's daylight waking him and off because I was worried he couldn't see enough to amuse himself, lol!  Ooh, here's an idea, perhaps I should send DH in!  I'd have to wake him first though    I might see what he says about that.  I don't want to lose the part where he goes back to sleep as it allows us to keep on track with our daytime routine (and I go back to sleep!).

Thanks as always.

Kelly x

[KellyC]

Yes they do, little monkeys 

I think I'll try letting him know over the monitor that it's still sleepy time and that I'm right next door, then I'll turn on the lullabys.  If this distracts him enough to stop crying then I won't need to go to him and hopefully he'll learn that he doesn't need me to re-settle.  If he continues to want to see me for 30 seconds early every morning then so be it, I could have much worse problems!

Thanks Stacy, I'll let you know how it goes.

Kelly x

[KellyC]

It may have been a good plan but it had no effect whatsoever 

Zander seems to go from fast asleep to stood up sobbing his heart out at this waking.  When I realised the other things weren't going to work I went in and did my usual re-settling and he immediately started to re-settle, I then had to wake him at 7.30!  I think getting him to stop waking in the first place is the only thing that's going to work so I need to get w2s to work.  I'm working for the next 3 days so I'll make a note of the times he wakes and maybe do w2s half an hour before the earliest waking.  What do you think?  Also, when I've done w2s in the past it's worked for 2 nights and the 3rd night he's already been awake as if I've created a new habitual waking!  Have you come across this before?  I'm wondering about varying the times slightly, maybe 15 minutes earlier each night.  Am I being too technical?!

Kelly x

[Mom2katiebug]

Just lurking cuz we're having some night wakings and early mornings!

[KellyC]

OK, so I think I've discovered the reason why he's sobbing his heart out when he wakes - good old teething    (I used that emoticon because it has big teeth not because this makes me happy!)

Yesterday when I collected him from nursery they told me he hadn't eaten much lunch so they'd offered him some milk and he didn't want that either which is very strange.  We then noticed some bite marks on his arm which seemed to have appeared all of a sudden.  At bedtime I discovered that Zander is biting his own arm (quite hard judging by the impressions he's leaving!) and I had to numb his gums with anbesol before he'd take his bedtime milk.  This morning I tried w2s at 4.30am (I definitely disturbed him enough because he started to stand up and then went back to sleep!) but he woke at 5.15am crying his heart out.  I gave him some anbesol, some pain killing medicine and a dummy and got him back to sleep by around 6am then woke him to go to nursery at 7.45am.

I think what's happening is that he's going to sleep ok initially because I give him meds for his teething, then he's sleeping deeply (he took quite alot of rousing at w2s time) and then he comes into a light sleep between 5am and 6am and has no meds left in his system so wakes fully because of the pain.  I don't think I'm making excuses for him because he really does seem to be suffering, possibly one of his top right molars but it's hard to see in his mouth - he doesn't co-operate!  I just don't know what else I can do.  I've considered giving him some meds when I do w2s but it seems wrong to give him drugs just in case he wakes in pain, but when he does wake in pain he can be awake for up to an hour until they kick in and he's relaxed enough to go back to sleep and by then it's almost wake up time.  I could maybe give him a dummy when I do w2s but he'd then probably come to expect that every morning once he comes into a light sleep and I try to keep the dummy out of his cot.  I'm also sure this wake-up time will be well established even once he's stopped with the pain.

Any suggestions?

Kelly x

[KellyC]

Hmm, I could try rubbing some on his gums.  When he's awake he just opens his mouth and I pour it in!  I run the risk of waking him up but at least at 4.30am he'll go back to sleep fairly easily as he's still really tired.  Teething gel might be easier - I don't mind giving that I just don't want to resort to paracetamol unless he really needs it.

Wish me luck!

Kelly x

[Missy Lou]

zander's mom - what mobile does zander have?  i found a fisher price ocean wonder's aquarium mobile where LO can make it work on her own but it doesn't say that it's by remote.  then there's another one that's just ocean wonder's that is remote but it's a hanging one so once she can stand/sit up in her crib, i think it's supposed to be out.

i really want a remote mobile or one that LO can work herself but can't find the one you're talking about.
thanks for answering a question that has nothing to do with this post. 
melissa

[KellyC]

Hi Melissa

Zander has the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium which attaches to the side of the cot.  It's not remote control but it's turned on and off with a big button which he can do himself - took him a while to figure out though!

Kelly x

[Missy Lou]

ok.  thanks.  i've seen the one that attaches to the side. 

[Glynis]

I'm having this problem with Samuel - waking at 5 & will only settle if I put my hand on him then it seems every 10 minutes he's waking up again until I finally get him up at 6.  Very interesting post.  I think Samuel's teething, too, but I don't think when they pop thru it will be solved.  What's the teething powder you're talking about?

[Missy Lou]

i'm not sure about kelly and stacy but we use hyland's teething tablets when she seems uncomfortable but not super whiny or with a slight temp.  the tablets dissolve fast and are homeopathic so i don't feel so bad giving them when i'm not sure if she's whining from teething or tummy issues.  for me, i swear she's always teething but still no teeth.
i give tylenol when she has a temp or is crying. 
also,  i took one of the teething tablets and they didn't make me feel bad or anything.
melissa

[KellyC]

We don't get Hylands tablets here unfortunately but we use a similar homeopathic powder - I think the main ingredient is camomile.  Where are you Glynis?

Do you think Samuel might be hungry?  When Zander first started waking early I would give him his breakfast milk (so no more milk when he wakes for the day - nothing extra!) to get him back to sleep so he would sleep soundly until wake up time.  Once he was used to going back to sleep until the right time I started dilluting the milk until it was almost water and now I know for sure he's not hungry in the mornings I only offer water.

Zander is suffering so much with teething and a cold at the moment but surprisingly he slept until 7am today!

Kelly x

[Missy Lou]

i'm sorry zander isn't feeling well - double whammy with teething AND a cold.  he must have a hard time breathing.  happy to hear that he slept well during the night though.
BTW i love that name for a little boy.  trying to talk my DH into it if i ever work up the courage to try for another one.

[KellyC]

Thanks Melissa 

Zander didn't eat any lunch today, nor did he eat any dinner    If he wakes early tomorrow I'll definitely be going straight in with a milk feed as I imagine he'll be pretty hungry!

Kelly x