Early morning waking - advice please

[KateW]

My daughter is 6 and a half months and has been waking around 5/5.30am for a long time. I understand that all babies come into a light sleep between 5-6am but she just can't seem to resettle. She naps well at 9.15am (for 30-40 mins)and 12.30pm (for 2 hours) and goes to sleep at 7pm. She goes to sleep by herself, unaided, so I know she can settle and resettle herself at these times. She sleeps through the night until she wakes at 5/5.30am. Up until a few weeks ago, I was feeding her when she woke then putting her back in her cot and she'd sleep until I woke her at 7am. However, because I was giving her 5-6oz (she's formula fed) she wasn't then interested in breakfast milk at 7am, so this in turn would throw out her meal pattern for the day. (She is on solids and is eating a good lunch and tea, when she has a full bottle at 7am). So, I decided to only start offering her 2-3oz at 5.30am and get her back to sleep so she would still be hungry at 7am. That worked for about a week then I decided to stop feeding her at all and trying to resettle her without the bottle (as I presumed she was waking through habit and expecting to be fed). I was able to settle her back to sleep on the first day but since then (about 4 days) she hasn't settled and has dozed and cried on and off. Then, on Monday morning she stirred at 5.30am but resttled herself til 6.25am and the next morning til 6.20am. Since then she has been full of a cold so everything is out the window as her sleep is quite disturbed. She takes between 22-24oz of formula per day plus 2 good solid meals including protein and carbs, so I know she's getting enough to eat and shouldn't be needing a feed at 5.30am. My question is, should I stick to my guns (when she's well again) and resist feeding her til 7am? I'm happ to start the day at 6/6.30am (as I'm from a family of early risers) but 5/5.30am is just too early! Has anyone got any advice they'd be willing to share? Many thanks.

[leta]

MY SON IS 3 GOING 4 .HE STILL WAKES UP IN THE YEARLY MORNING (LIKE 4AM) TO COME INTO MY BED.

COMING IN TO MY BED IS K BUT BECAUSE IS WAKING UP AT 4AM I DID NOT LIKE IT,BUT HE GEST WANTS A WARM CUDLE AT 4 AM:))

FROM EARLY AGE A DID NOT WORRY WHEN IS HE EATING WHEN IS HE SLEPING(HE WAS GOOD WITH SLEAPING ANYWAY).

TO MANY RULES IN THIS DAYS SLEAP NOW,EAT NOW.

I HAVE 2 CHILDREN (ENOUGH FOR ME) AND I AM LOOKING AT THEM AND THINK :WHERE IS THE TIME GONE?

THIS ARE THE MOMENTS THAT WE HAVE WITH THEM ,,,COUPLE OF YEARS UNTIL THEY START TO WANT THEY OWN TIME ALONE.

I THINK WE NEED TO RELAX A BIT AND GIVE THEM WHEN THEY WANT TO EAT AND ETC...SLEAP,TIME TO PLAY.

THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION,,BUT ALL THE BEST IN WHAT YOU DECIDE

[Grotty]

My daughter is 13 months. She also happily goes to bed at 7 with no fuss, sleeps all the way through until almost exactly 5.38 every morning. She was having 2 sleeps a day - about 45 minutes in the morning and up to 2 hours in the afternoon, but was starting to fuss with one or both sleeps. Last week we dropped the morning sleep. she happily goes until after lunchtime now and still only sleeps 1-2 hours. We were hoping this may have an effect on the early mornings, but it doesn't. 5.38 again this morning like clockwork. She is very happy, eats and sleeps well, so there is no sign that she should/needs to sleep any longer. My husband says he was always a very early riser and his mum agrees. We have tried black out blinds and putting her to bed one hour later. Nothing makes a difference. She seems to have an inner clock that ticks at 5.38 and says its time to start the day. I think some babies may just be like that. We have given in to it and just try to enjoy the 2 hours we get with her jumping on us, prodding us, singing to us whilst we desperately try to catch a little more sleep. I guess we have to enjoy these times, cos soon they'll be sleeping later and not wanting anything to do with us!!!! Good luck x

[Trish]

My son is the same age as your daughter, KateW, and we have exactly the same problem. I too have tried later bedtimes, different nap times and length of nap during the day and it seems the more I mess around with things, the more difficult it is i.e. he will wake at 3am or similar for a feed, rather than sleeping through until 5.30am. Sorry I can't offer you any advice - but at least we're getting them through the night now!

[Earl Aelfheah]

My 20 month old still won't nap during the day reliably. Goes down well at night now, but only a fairly recent achievement. Wakes 5.30.

[supergolden88]

The sunny mornings don't help. Even though it is completely dark in my son's room I think he knows it is sunny outside.

But could be teething or the cold that are causing the wakings. Have you tried a dreamfeed around 11pm? That works for my son same age as your baby. Having said that he is teething like mad suddenly and woke at 3am last night / was up at 6am and refuses to nap or eat today.

I would not offer a feed at 5am - try to hold out for 7am or near as

[dullified]

As I really dislike getting up early I always fed at 05:00am and put baby straight back to bed (in room with blackout blinds and very thick dark brown curtains). Then up at 8, lazy breakfast about 9 which fitted in with us as one of us was always at home. Eventually slept through at 11 months without 5:00am snack. Since then has consistently slept 8 till 8 which suits us. I didn't dream feed and found the early morning was the only feed from about 4 months (started at 3am and then pushed to 5am). I don't know whether this helps just my experience - I prefer slight disruption 5:00am and back to bed till 8 than up at 6:30 and baby asleep again by 9. (Not that I ever got on top of consistent day time napping).

[KateW]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Supergolden, yes I used to do a feed at 11pm but stopped about 6 weeks ago as she had never slept later than 5.30am and it didn't seem to make any difference (got to the stage where she was only taking 2-3 oz anyway). We've tried reintroducing it and it makes no difference; little lady still wakes at 5.30am. I'm going to try a few more weeks of not feeding her at that time and holding out til nearer 7am to see if it pushes her to wake any later. Incidentally, as she's full of a cold this morning, I gave her a short feed at 5.30am as she was crying lots but it didn't get her back to sleep. Normally a feed then would always send her back to sleep. Bless her, she's really grotty with this cold! Thanks Trish, it is good to know that I'm not alone with this one!

[supergolden88]

My boy wakes between 5.30 and 6.30 every day. Usually it's around 6am. He then proceeds to chat to himself very loudly until we pick him up. I just leave him to it unless he gets upset and then I go in and shush him etc. On a couple of occasions when he woke up really early, he then fell back asleep (after me going in and shushing him for ten seconds) at 6.30 or so and lasted till 7.15 when we pick him up awake or not.

He frequently wakes around 3am in the night as well and sometimes just resettles, others chats or sometimes cries. If he cries I go in and shush him.

But when something is bothering him (cold, teething, eczema) I can always tell by his 'tone'. I will then always soothe or pick him up. Funilly enough after the sleep training I am completely atune to what's real crying and what is being awake and trying to resettle. Before I would always pick him up and breastfeed him which meant he was never hungry in the morning.

Right now something is bothering him in a really MAJOR way - think it is teething. He is extremely unsettled. I would not be surprised if he came down with something.

My daughter on the other hand will always get up at 6am on weekends only because she knows it is the weekend. She is 5. I find that so beyond annoying but can't get her to stop.

[duchessofdulwich]

Glad im not the only one. 5:00am this morning ::::::::::::::yawn:::::::::::::::

[????]

Our nearly 6 year old wakes up between 5 and 6am everyday as she has done from a baby - her younger siblings are quite happy in their pits/cots 'til 7 or later....just the way it is sometimes grrrrrrrrrr (especially as she's the first)

[snowboarder]

Both my children were awake at 5 again this morning. I fed the baby in the hope of a speedy resettle but he's only just gone back - excellent timing as in about 5 seconds my 2 yr old who has been chatting in his cot for an hour an a half will come bulldozing in. Baby will also have a rubbish 7am feed so be hungry on the nursery run. 2 yr old will be hysterical with tiredness when I pick him up from nursery at 1pm. And probably nap badly as so overtired! Argh! No solutions only empathy....