What time a child wakes in the morning is controlled strongly by their internal clock. And most of these clocks say to wake up between 6:30-7:30 am. Expecting a child to sleep much later than this is not very reasonable and usually not possible(especially if you are trying to have a well rested child). I know, sad, huh?
Many children start waking early in the morning out of the blue. Sometimes there is something you can do to stop the waking, while other times you have to wait it out--sometimes for several days, sometimes for, gulp, months. The list below should help you do some troubleshooting.
Here are some possible causes along with some solutions:
*A light room. This may be the cause of early morning awakenings even if your child is used to sleeping in a light room for naps. Because a child's sleep is almost done in the morning he doesn't have a very strong drive to sleep at this time so things like light effect him more.
*Your child has a disrupted sleep routine. A disrupted routine could include something that happened the current day or the even the night or day before. While some children don't mind a few disruptions, other children are very affected by them.
*Your child has an inconsistent or nonexistent sleep routine. A child that has an inconsistent or nonexistent routine does not have consistent internal rhythms to help him know when he should be sleeping and for how long. See Why have a schedule/routine?
*Morning sounds may be waking your child. If you think this may be going on, wake up a bit earlier than your child usually gets up and see if you can figure out what is possibly waking him. You may want to consider getting a sound machine.
*Your child's nightly requirement of sleep may have already been met. To fix this you may need to either put him to bed later or decrease his total nap lengths. See Nightly Sleep Phase.
*Your child may have gone to bed too early. Either his nightly requirement of sleep may have been met (see above) or his body is set on such a routine that even if you put him to bed early to make up for lost sleep from a bad nap (which often is a good idea for some children, see below), it will cause him to wake up early in the morning. I'm not sure why this happens, but just be aware that it can happen with some children. A sleep log will be useful to see if this is the case.
*Your child may have gone to bed too late causing over tiredness which often results in waking too early( not to mention multiple night wakings). Many children need to go to sleep earlier than usual for a time after a nap is dropped or when they have a bad nap day. Sleep often (as funny as it sounds) begets sleep.
*Your child may be waking for something (cartoons, mom and dad's bed if he is usually brought here when he wakes early, etc.). If your child watches tv in the morning, try not offering it until he has been up for at least an hour and see if it helps with the early morning awakenings.
*Your child may need to eat. Newborns need to eat often. If he doesn't normally eat at this time he may be in a growth spurt or may not be eating enough during the day. Refer to the post timing morning wake time with night time feedings.
Your child feels hungry because he is in the habit of eating in the early morning hours but is old enough to have his nutritional needs met during the day. You may consider doing some sort of night feeding weaning and/or sleep training.
*Your child may need wake time during the dreamfeed. Gina Ford suggests keeping your baby up for approximately 45-60 minutes during the dreamfeed for the first 2-4 months of his life or until he is regularly sleeping until the desired morning wake time (at which time you slowly decrease the wake time at the dream feed). Doing so helps decrease early morning wake ups, especially once night feeds are dropped.
*Habitual wakings may result if your child is used to waking up at a certain time in the morning even if he isn't really ready to get up.
*Your child is uncomfortable.
*Your child is learning a new skill. Children practice new skills (even when they can't quite do the skills yet) before they fall asleep and even in their sleep. Obviously if you're trying to crawl or walk when you should be sleeping it can cause some disruptions :)
*Your child may be going through a monkey business phase. He wakes and plays around for a bit before going back to sleep. He is excited about life, day or night! Some kids may wake and cry for you, especially if they are not used to sleeping on their own.
*Your child, while transitioning through sleep phases, may wake up for a bit and make noises which you wrongfully assume as a sign that he is ready to go for the day. If left alone for several minutes he may go right back to sleep. Don't rush in!
Some Additional Tips
* Teach your child to stay in his bed until you either get him or, if he is old enough, some sort of indicator let's him know it is time to get up. This may be something like a clock (either by the time or some you can set to light up at a certain time to represent morning) or a light that lights up to signal morning.
RELATED POST:
Morning Wake Time - Timing Morning Wake Time with Night Time Feedings
Many children start waking early in the morning out of the blue. Sometimes there is something you can do to stop the waking, while other times you have to wait it out--sometimes for several days, sometimes for, gulp, months. The list below should help you do some troubleshooting.
Here are some possible causes along with some solutions:
*A light room. This may be the cause of early morning awakenings even if your child is used to sleeping in a light room for naps. Because a child's sleep is almost done in the morning he doesn't have a very strong drive to sleep at this time so things like light effect him more.
*Your child has a disrupted sleep routine. A disrupted routine could include something that happened the current day or the even the night or day before. While some children don't mind a few disruptions, other children are very affected by them.
*Your child has an inconsistent or nonexistent sleep routine. A child that has an inconsistent or nonexistent routine does not have consistent internal rhythms to help him know when he should be sleeping and for how long. See Why have a schedule/routine?
*Morning sounds may be waking your child. If you think this may be going on, wake up a bit earlier than your child usually gets up and see if you can figure out what is possibly waking him. You may want to consider getting a sound machine.
*Your child's nightly requirement of sleep may have already been met. To fix this you may need to either put him to bed later or decrease his total nap lengths. See Nightly Sleep Phase.
*Your child may have gone to bed too early. Either his nightly requirement of sleep may have been met (see above) or his body is set on such a routine that even if you put him to bed early to make up for lost sleep from a bad nap (which often is a good idea for some children, see below), it will cause him to wake up early in the morning. I'm not sure why this happens, but just be aware that it can happen with some children. A sleep log will be useful to see if this is the case.
*Your child may have gone to bed too late causing over tiredness which often results in waking too early( not to mention multiple night wakings). Many children need to go to sleep earlier than usual for a time after a nap is dropped or when they have a bad nap day. Sleep often (as funny as it sounds) begets sleep.
*Your child may be waking for something (cartoons, mom and dad's bed if he is usually brought here when he wakes early, etc.). If your child watches tv in the morning, try not offering it until he has been up for at least an hour and see if it helps with the early morning awakenings.
*Your child may need to eat. Newborns need to eat often. If he doesn't normally eat at this time he may be in a growth spurt or may not be eating enough during the day. Refer to the post timing morning wake time with night time feedings.
Your child feels hungry because he is in the habit of eating in the early morning hours but is old enough to have his nutritional needs met during the day. You may consider doing some sort of night feeding weaning and/or sleep training.
*Your child may need wake time during the dreamfeed. Gina Ford suggests keeping your baby up for approximately 45-60 minutes during the dreamfeed for the first 2-4 months of his life or until he is regularly sleeping until the desired morning wake time (at which time you slowly decrease the wake time at the dream feed). Doing so helps decrease early morning wake ups, especially once night feeds are dropped.
*Habitual wakings may result if your child is used to waking up at a certain time in the morning even if he isn't really ready to get up.
*Your child is uncomfortable.
- Is his clothing itchy?
- Does he have eczema? Talk to your doctor about getting something to help if lotion doesn't fix the problem.
- Is his mattress uncomfortable? I suggest buying the best mattress you can afford and preferably a hypoallergenic one. If you are using a pack 'n play as a crib you can buy padded sheets and even put additional blankets for padding under the sheets (make sure it is SAFE).
Is baby too hot or too cold? See Getting the Right Temperature. - Is he in pain? **Does your young baby have gas? If you think this is the case, burp your baby, help him calm down and then set him down to try and sleep again. **Is an older baby teething? **Is baby sick? **Does he have acid reflux? **Does he have a diaper rash? ** I've noticed that some things that don't bother my son too much when he's awake (like teething) will be a bit more bothersome when he is trying to sleep since he doesn't have other things to take his mind off of the pain. You can all probably relate with this when you're trying to go to sleep and you notice your sore neck or back for the first time.
- Does he have a wet diaper? Some children are more sensitive than others and do better with diapers that are extra absorptive like huggies supreme. These unfortunately usually cost more. I would first try the next size up to see if this works.
- Does he have a dirty diaper? If he has a dirty diaper you obviously need to change it. Keeping with a eat/activity/sleep routine usually helps reduce dirty diapers during sleep times. You might also want to check out the post about poop and sleep if you are having this issue.
- Is his tummy upset from something in mom's diet if she is breastfeeding or new solid foods that have been introduced? If your baby is formula fed he may be constipated (uncommon with breastfeeding).
- REFLUX- My son Jacob was fussy in the morning from the time he was about 3 weeks old (until now at 2 months old as I write this). I trouble shot everything and couldn't figure out what was going on. After talking with his pediatrician we decided that it was due to reflux. Apparently a baby being fussy in the morning (and no other time) can be due to reflux and is related to the reflux worsening by lying all night (even at a slant) and not eating for long periods of time. He actually did have signs of reflux at other times of the day, but wasn't on medication since I was able to control them through other methods.
*Your child is learning a new skill. Children practice new skills (even when they can't quite do the skills yet) before they fall asleep and even in their sleep. Obviously if you're trying to crawl or walk when you should be sleeping it can cause some disruptions :)
*Your child may be going through a monkey business phase. He wakes and plays around for a bit before going back to sleep. He is excited about life, day or night! Some kids may wake and cry for you, especially if they are not used to sleeping on their own.
- Babywise states that it is not unusual for 2-3 month old babies to wake up around 5 or 5:30 in the morning and talk to themselves for 30-60 minutes. It states that this may go on for 1 week or even 1 month. It encourages you to not respond to your baby during this awakening since they will most likely go back to sleep by themselves and responding may make this their new wake time.
- The most common time I hear about kids waking is between 5-6 months of age (often later with kids that are not sleep trained). They may wake for 1-2 hours and play around in their beds. You have a few options if this happens. 1) leave them alone. 2) Go in and tell them to go back to sleep--make sure to not go in too often 3) Some parents have success soothing their child back to sleep 4) Try adjusting the dreamfeed like I mentioned in the how to do a dreamfeed post. Most kids respond best with as little attention as possible. Extra attention can reinforce the waking and turn it into a long term habit.
*Your child, while transitioning through sleep phases, may wake up for a bit and make noises which you wrongfully assume as a sign that he is ready to go for the day. If left alone for several minutes he may go right back to sleep. Don't rush in!
Some Additional Tips
* Teach your child to stay in his bed until you either get him or, if he is old enough, some sort of indicator let's him know it is time to get up. This may be something like a clock (either by the time or some you can set to light up at a certain time to represent morning) or a light that lights up to signal morning.
RELATED POST:
Morning Wake Time - Timing Morning Wake Time with Night Time Feedings
I just found your blog, I hope you can help me troubleshoot my early riser. My DD will be 7 months old next week and for the past 5 weeks she has been waking at 5am. She's been STTN since she was 18 weeks old. It was off and on, when she would wake it would be around 5am, I would feed her and she would sleep until 7am when I would wake her to start our day. Somedays she would wake early but never earlier than 6:30. We've been on a good routine since she was 5 weeks old (following Babywise). Then 5 weeks ago she started waking at 5am, at first I thought growth spurt (6 months) so I fed and she would fall back asleep, but then after a few days she didn't go back to sleep but was wide awake instead. Then I thought it was now habitual waking, so I stopped feeding her at 5am (for 4 weeks now we only eat at 6am regardless of wake up time) but she still wakes and plays in her crib anywhere from 30-60 min before she starts crying. Even when I go get her she stops crying so she isn't crying out of hunger she just wants to be up. So 2 weeks ago I adjusted her bedtime from 7 to 7:30 in hopes of her sleeping in 30 min later but no luck. She's a really good napper; takes 3 naps. The first 2 are 1.5 hour and the last is 45 minutes. I almost always have to wake her from naps. She has a 2.5 hour waketime in between. Last night she woke at 4am! I'm willing to try anything!
ReplyDeleteMake sure to rule out things from the list above (like light, sounds etc).
ReplyDeleteYou were smart to consider the initial waking as hunger. It sounds like this waking may or may not have been due to hunger (continue monitoring for this and make sure you continue working with solids since she is 7 months old), but either way it sounds like it turned into a habit because she liked your company in the early hours. So that means you have to work on cutting out the habit. You could leave her but I know some babies will keep things up for weeks if not months if left alone. So I would think about trying TBW wake to sleep or P.U./P.D.
It is still possible that this is a phase and you'll have to wait it out too.
Hello rachel,
ReplyDeleteWasn't sure where to post so thought I would email.
I love all the information you provide on your site.
My son, Oliver is 3 months old. We started off following gina ford from birth and he has a 7 am - 7 pm routine with a dream feed at 1030. When he was swaddled he was sleeping until 6 am or if not would settle back with a dummy until then. He was breaking out of the swaddle more than he was in it so we decided to use a sleeping grow bag. Since then he wakes from 3 am onwards and he is not easy to settle. I have been feeding him at 5 am but he doesn't then want his morning feed.
Through the day he feeds well. He cat naps and has about 3, 45 minute naps a day. Feel like we are going backwards now!!!
Feel free to post this and any comments are appreciated
Jennifer
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteFirst, make sure to look over the list above to see if there are any of the issues going on. It does sound like it might be related to the swaddle since it sounds like things suddenly changed at this time. It isn't too uncommon for babies to initially put themselves to sleep ok but then have trouble at transition time when changes like this happen. I would either consider getting a more secure swaddle (Iike the miracle blanket) or doing some sort of sleep training when he wakes in the morning. Maybe feed him when he wakes just to be sure he isn't hungry, then let him figure it out from there on. If you are following gina ford, this probably means you'll do cio. If you are sure he isn't hungry, then hold off on the feeding since it might turn into a habit you have to get rid of when he learns to sleep through the night again.
If he doesn't want the morning feed when you feed him at 5, then maybe try feeding him the smallest amount possibly at 5 that he is content with. If this doesn't work well, then you might want to slowly decrease how much you feed him at this time (content or not).
As for short naps, once you drop the swaddle this can happen. So you can try a better swaddle or do something like cio (or whatever method you choose) to help him get used to sleeping unswaddled. It will probably just take time. Some babies still have a strong moro reflex that bugs them at this age so if this is the case I would encourage you to figure out a swaddle that works (look under the swaddle post in the index). If short naps are new, then look over the short nap post (found in the index). It has a lot of suggestions. Sometimes there are things you can do to fix the short naps, sometimes it seems to be something that babies just have to grow out of. Either way, gina ford in my opinion has wake times that are pretty long for young babies so I would consider shortening them to see if this helps. Good luck! It is a rough stage right now with the changes going on but you'll hopefully be both through it before you know it!
Hi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteMy 13-week-old son just started sleeping through the night, from 8 pm to 6 am. He dropped his middle of the night feeding on his own a few days ago. I am definitely happy about that!! My question is about his wake-up time. I would ideally like to start the day at 7, since that is when my older son wakes up and I could get an extra hour of sleep. (I am not complaining at all...I just would like to see if it would be possible to shift his schedule a little before he gets into the habit of waking at 6 am sharp every day.)
Since he is already sleeping 10 hours, I feel that I would be cruel not to feed him right away. And it would not make sense to put him back to bed right after feeding him to let him sleep another half hour and then wake him up again (and he probably won't fall asleep anyway--I tried it once). What would be the best strategy to shift his schedule?
I had already been shifting his bedtime later with the daylight savings time change. He used to go to bed at 8:30 before the time change, and I have successfully shifted it half an hour later so that it is the equivalent of 9:00 old time (8:00 new time). I can try to continue shifting it later; however, I am not sure if that will cause him to sleep in more.
I also had a question about what you said in this post. You said too early a morning nap would cause early wakings. I don't think I really understand this one. Since my son is waking at 6, I am putting him down for a nap at 6:50 or 7 and letting him sleep until 10, so that I can kind of be back on schedule (I had been feeding him at 7, 10, 1, 4, 7). Is his morning nap too early then? If I put him down any later, he will get overtired and will not fall asleep easily. Can I change the time he wakes up by putting him down for his nap later?
Thank you!
Chantal,
ReplyDeleteIf it works for you, you might want to aim for like 12 hours of sleep. Most babies and kids need this much at night although some will sleep longer int he day to make up for this and some will only sleep like 10 hours regardless. So you could try a 7-7 or 8-8 sleep time at night. If you kept the 8pm bedtime, you would try to feed at 6 then get him up like at 815/8:30 (see http://www.mybabysleepguide.com/2009/06/morning-wake-time-timing-morning-wake.html). Keep things quiet and dark when you feed in the morning, even let him suck a bit longer to get him drowsy again to help him go back to sleep. Sometimes this will work after several days, sometimes it won't bc baby is stuck at an early wake time. Then you have to move onto other methods. Look at the list above and see if any of the things mentioned seem to be causing early morning wake ups. Is he going to bed too late? This makes a big difference for some kids with early morning wake ups, but not with others. He may simply be waking early out of habit. Or he might have his internal clock set to an early time and sometimes you can move him to a later time by getting up from bed 15 minutes later ever few to several days. But this is hard to do if he's hungry at this time.
As for the morning nap, with SOME kids a really early one can make them wake up early in the morning (the body kind of gets confused you could say and does this on its own). It can be hard to know if this is going on, especially since most kids have a pretty short wake time at this age and things go just fine. If you rule out others things, it is worth seeing if this is the issue. You could try extending wake time very slowly, even 5 minutes every several days so that you don't get bad naps from this. Regardless, a 3 hour nap in the morning can cause some issues with kids. It can make them cut out on night time sleep too so shortening this nap might help things out too.
I just found your blog, and I hope you are still accepting questions. I have a 10 week old. He is on a good routine. He isn't prop dependent, and we do the shush pat to get him to sleep at night. He is asleep between 7-7:30pm every night. Earlier the better for him, the longer we wait the more overtired he becomes so we are sensitive to the time and make sure to get him to bed earlier enough and he falls asleep without any crying. He was waking at 2am then at 3am every single night and I did the wake to sleep technique and stopped the 2am waking. He still wakes somewhere between 2:45am-3:30am every single night. He comes out of his swaddle, he isn't always awake, but making loads of noise and moving his legs like crazy and trying to get out of his swaddle with his arms. I can usually go in without him waking and get him back to sleep until 4am when I feed him. I'd love for him to sleep until 4am at least! I hate the multiple waking in the night. I'm not sure if his 3am-ish waking time is also habitual waking? The time isn't as exact as the 2am one. I know he is sleeping for a long time, and so I don't mind him waking at 4am for a feed. He goes back to sleep until around 7-7:30am. How to I get rid of this 3am-is thing he is doing? It is wearing me out!
ReplyDeleteMary@,
ReplyDeleteHow long has the 3 am waking gone on? If you used to feed him them he may be waking out of habit for a feed and not feeding him for a few days---a couple weeks might make it go away on its own. I think wake to sleep is worth a shot, even if it isn't at exactly the same time. Maybe try a better swadddle or really make sure you swaddle him good and tight. Have you tried leaving him to see if he'll go back to sleep on his own? Maybe you going in is disrupting him. He might just be going through a rough sleep phase and need time to get through it before falling into more of a quiet sleep.
Dear Rachel,
ReplyDeleteOur son (almost 15 months) was sleeping from 7-7.30 pm till 6-6.30 am (sometimes 7am) and had 2 naps (45mins between 9-10am; 60-90mins from 1pm). Few weeks ago he started to wake at 5am and perhaps it is every day few mins earlier! He sleeps through the night (if he wakes up with cry, he can be easily comforted by stroking in his cot). At 5am wake up he seemed to be hungry but after a feed (breast milk) he couldn’t sleep for at least 45 mins, usually an hour. I tried PU/PD to get him back to sleep after milk, but it worked just at 6.30 and brought a standing up in the cot and cry. He clearly is not fresh yet, but also not tired anymore. I thought the early waking is due to needless morning nap. I tried to eliminate it by making him sleep longer as described above and then put him to earlier nap after lunch (at 11.30). The problem is, he still doesn’t sleep longer in the morning, and he never falls back to sleep after 5am feed. Recently I just gave up, after milk he gets also some milky-grain porridge (I also tried to offer him cows milk or formula to have more of it, but I failed), then he plays till 6-6.30am and then easily falls asleep for no longer then 45-60 mins. I don’t know, whether it is a habitual waking at 5am, but I can imagine he is really hungry. My son is getting too little of sleep (9.5 hrs + 1 + 1.5 = 12hrs / day), waking up at 5am is also stressing us. Rachel please, do you have an idea what’s going on and how to fix it? Another question is, why he almost always wakes up with cry and getting up in his cot. Is the cry normal? I’d very thankful for any opinion and suggestions. Many greetings! monika
Monika,
ReplyDeleteSorry about the delayed reply! As for the crying when waking, it can be due to overtiredness, but in your situation my guess is that it is due to him wanting your companionship right when he wakes. With some kids, even when they put themselves to sleep without mom and dad around, it can take them a while before they stop crying out when they wake up. I think it has a bit to do with temperament sometimes.
The early morning wakings can be tricky. I would definitely not get him up to play, I wouldn't even turn the light on and talk to him outside of saying something like "it's time to go to sleep". Give as little attention as possible. I probably wouldn't even feed him (he 100% doesn't need food at this time and giving it to him can really get him into the habit of feeling hungry at this time and/or waking out of habit to eat and see you). I would maybe try an earlier bedtime. The often does the trick as funny as that sounds. with one nap a day my guess is that he needs an earlier nap than you are giving him (with a normal 6 or 6:30 waking) and it might take some time to get long. You will probably need an earlier bedtime for a while and a SUPER early one until he gets that nap extended. Just one nap may or may not help. And it may hurt. So I would keep a log of what is going on (making sure to not jump to conclusions too quickly). Good luck. That kind of a wake up time is no fun at all!!
Dear Rachel,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your last advices! I immediately applied both; the earlier bedtime and staying in bed at the 5 am wake up. The latter needed some time to adjust. First days it took him almost an hour to fall back to sleep, luckily almost no cry! Later our son was able to fall back to sleep in few minutes, with cuddling. However, he still kept quite long period of time to wake up at 5 am. After all, he is sleeping without the 5 am break. Sometimes allows us to sleep as long as to 6.30 :) more often it is sth like 6 am, which is not so bad, however he never sleeps 12 hours in the night, mostly only 10,5. During the day his sleep is longer than before, 2,5-3 hrs.
Our second baby is on the way, due in January. I’m wondering how our son’s sleep will change. As a prevention, I’m reading E. Pantley’s book, to be ready :) hoping to prevent any crying methods with both babies … Did your older son sleep in his room when you got your second son? Did he start to sleep worse? Perhaps you wrote some blog on this…
Anyway, thanks a lot again and a lot of fun with your family!!!
monika
Monika,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad your son is sleeping better!
If you are going to make any room or bed (crib to bed) changes, make sure to do it at least a few months ahead of time. My oldest and youngest both have their own rooms so I didn't have to deal with the sharing of room. My oldest son didn't have any change in sleep when the baby was born. Baby did share a room with me and my husband until shortly after he started sleeping through the night. If your kids are going to share a room, I would hold off on moving baby into the room until he sleeps through the night so he doesn't wake up your oldest son.
Hi rachel! I need your advice. I recently teached my baby to sleep on her own, and its been great i wake her for a feed at 12, she used to wake at 2am. My problem is that she used to sleep until 6am now she wakes 4:45. Last night i tried wake to sleep at 3:30am and it worked i could get her to sleep till 5:15 but then she gets hungry, when before she used to feed perfectly at 6am. Today i fed her and put her back in her crib and slept for 20 more mins. She goes to bed at 7pm every night. How can i shift her schedule to she gets hungry at 6 again?
ReplyDeleteShe is 4 months old.
ReplyDeleteI found you'd blog a couple days ago and started doing cry it out with my 7 month old successfuly for the firstvtime yesterday. Reading your blog gave me the confidence I needed to do it without giving in to her or my husband lol. My 7 month old was waking up 3 to 4 times every night and eating a tiny bit then going back.to sleep. She would also wake up at 430 or 5 and be wide awake and have to come to bed with me to sleep till 630 or later. I was so tired all the time. So I let her cry it out yesterday for naps till she fell asleep on her own, she did better when I didn't check on her at all, then again at bed time and she only stirred once at 430 for a few seconds then slept till 630! I was so proud of her and myself. She slept almost 12 hours! Thank you so much for your helpful tips. I needed the sleep and so did she. Hopefully she sleeps like that most of the time ;)
ReplyDeletejoy83,
ReplyDeleteGreat news! I'm glad you are all sleeping better. Hopefully things will keep up, for the most part.
Rachel
hi rachel, hope you are having a really nice holiday season with your family!
ReplyDeletei last posted a question on afternoon naps, which are still inconsistent but i keep trying and she now sleeps more often than not.
i can't quite figure out what is going on with my 5.5mo old daughter waking early in the morning. until a couple of weeks ago, she was a 630-8a sleeper with a dreamfeed around 1030. her night sleeping has been over 90% reliable since she was 9 weeks old. teething threw her off, and then the holidays, and now she wakes up at 630 and just looks around until i go in at almost 8. i've tried putting her to bed earlier, also later. at first i thought she was waking at 730 but woke up around 630 this morning to find her just starting to stir on the video monitor. i guess since her naps aren't very consistent in the afternoon, and other things have been going on, it's hard to eliminate all variables. prior to this, if she ever woke up early, she would fall back asleep.
if it's a phase, i guess i should just keep doing what i'm doing, or i can take her lead and start getting up with her earlier and starting the day. i'm never quite sure how to handle her changes (i can say that there are SO many at her age and she doesn't even roll yet!!). sometimes i think that even though she doesn't quite wake up for the dreamfeed that i'm interrupting her sleep. obviously it's never bothered her before, but baby sleep patterns/cycles seem to change a lot so maybe i should try dropping? i hate to throw in yet another thing.
i guess i'm a control freak so part of it is that i want her to wake up when it's "time"..but the more major issue is that her morning wake time has to be clipped short because she's already been awake for almost an hour and a half by the time i go in to get her...
any ideas or thoughts are very appreciated!!
revekah
the roache hotel,
ReplyDeleteah, 5.5 months. There might be a lot of develomental things going on that are keeping her up in the morning instead of falling right back asleep (ie she may be trying to learn to crawl:). I would also make sure bedtime is early enough (really, try it!) and make sure she her waketimes are long enough but not too long. both things can cause the bad naps. Likely she can handle around 2 hours waketime, give or take 30 minutes.
It is possible the df is causing issues. But she might have a hard time going the entire night without it so you migth be stuck with a nigth feeding/early morning feeding. but you may be fine. And even that feeding might help her sleep better overall and be worth it.
I would consider starting the day like at 7 at least. Many babies don't do well starting much later than this, especially once they get past the newborn age.
Good luck! Sorry for the late reply!
Rachel
Hi Rachel, my little baby is almost 5 months old and has been on a great routine since birth. She would sleep from 7pm to 7am with a dream feed at 10.30pm each night. The last few weeks she has been waking at 6am with a dirty diper. I change her but she will not go back to sleep. She will stay in her cot talking to her self ad yelling out until I go back in.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any advise on how to either get her to sleep through the dirty diper or how to resettle her.
She has also only been sleeping for an hour at a time during the day. She used to have 2x2 hour sleeps but I can not resettle her no matter what I do.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Kelly
Flick,
ReplyDeleteIt will be tough to get her to go back to sleep when she wakes at 6 am. Some babies will, but most won't. It is too close to the normal wake time.
That is weird that she is suddenly starting to wake with a dirty diaper at that time, but sometimes it happens. Any recent change in diet? My son actually did this around this age (he was always a weird pooper in regards to timing) and I did wake to sleep for a few morning and it got rid of the wakings. There is a post on this titled wake to sleep again, or something similar.
As for the short naps, my guess is the wakeitme is off. How long is it? She'll probaly need around 1.5-2 hours right now.
What do you do to resettle? Maybe that didn't used to cause issues but is now causing issues and early wake ups because she wants your attention (this is also a great age for an increase in that desire!).
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteYeah her we have started solids recently. So she has a bottle at 7am, solids at 8am, bottle at 11am, solids at 12 noon, bottle at 3pm, solids at 5.30pm and bottle at 6.30pm with bed at 7pm. Do u think I should change these times?
The most my baby is awake is normally 2 hours but sometimes she falls asleep before then but not less than 1.5 hours. I noticed that she is waking in the first nap also due to a dirty diaper even tho is did a massive one at about 6am.
The only way I would resettle her was by putting her pacifier back in and walking straight out of the room. These days she is more awake at that time and won't resettle. I have also had to stop swaddling her as she now has began to roll. Could it be to do with this?
Flick
Flick,
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that the solids are having to do with the dirty diapers. So things will likely improve with time. Maybe hang off with giving one of the solid feeds (probably the later one) for now.
Yes, it could have to do with the unsaddling. She maybe used to wake up early in the morning and settle right back to sleep. but now she is sensing something a little different and is having a harder time going back to sleep. I am dealing with the same issue with my son right now since taking away his pacifier :) The short naps may have to do with the lack of the swaddle too. My guess is with time she will get better with self soothing without it and sleep longer.
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog. There is so much info on sleep training.
My LO will be 5 month old on Monday. I did the sleep training (TBW) when he was 3.5 month old. It went quite well for about a month. He would sleep from 730pm till 6am with a DF at 1130am.
Yet, starting about 2 weeks ago, he started to wake up at different times every night, anywhere b/w 3am to 5am. B/c of this, the schedule is totally off, depending when he wakes up. I am not sure if that was due to hunger and if i should feed. Sometimes he would cry for an hour. I have tried both shush-pat and PUPD but he just wouldn't settle. Sometimes when i picked him up, he would "eat" my face, so i ended up feeding him. After feeding him, i would put him back in his crib and he would fall asleep on his own without any problem. When i laid him down, he usually open his eyes, so i laid him down when he was half awake.
At first, I didn't think it's habitual cause every night he wakes up at different times. But this has been going on for more than 2 weeks and I am not sure if i should continue feeding him when he wakes up or not. Is this causing him to wake up? I am EBF and he always finishes both sides.
Thanks a lot for your help!!
Hi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteFurther to my last comment, my LO woke up at 2am last night and 3pm the night before.. i fed him both nights..
thanks a lot.
Iris,
ReplyDeleteHmmm, if he is getting a dream feed it doesn't seem likely that he should need a feed in the middle of the night either.
Let's try to figure this out. When you used to not feed him and it took an hour to fall asleep, did he sleep well after that? If so, my guess is that it isn't due to hunger. If you drop the df does he wake around the same time?
A thought would be to 1)move the df earlier and 2) get bedtime earlier. These are often the reasons for night waking. also ensure good naps that don't go too late at night.
Try wake to sleep if the things above don't help. He may be in such a habit of waking now that you will have to wean slowly off this feed before he'll sleep through the waking.
I'm glad you have found the blog helpful!
Rachel
Hi there. I am having many issues with my kids and sleep. My son, Tyler 3.5, has alway had sleep issues. He is in his room, big boy bed, potty trained, goes to sleep alone, but wakes up 1-3 times a night and I have to take him back to his room and lay with him. Resulting in me normally falling asleep and waking sometime later and returning to my bed to sleep only to be waken again by him shortly after. His bedtime routine starts about 7 with a little tv time, story, singing songs and is asleep by 8-8:15. His wake up used to be about 6, but has just moved closer to 5, unless he is sleeping with me or my husband then he will sleep closer to 6. He still takes an afternoon nap from anywhere from 12-1 to 2-3 also know he is waking earlier because of his sister....here is her issues...
ReplyDeleteBlake (19 months) has been a much better sleeper than her brother, however in the last 2 months she has gone from sleeping 6:30-6:30 to6pm-4am! She has 1 nap a day same as her brother. She was always waking between 6 and 6:30, then it moved to like 5, and now it is like 4am. Mommy can't keep up with these two:) My son will sleep thru her cries if he has someone in bed with him. He understands that it is ok for her to cry, I Try and make her stay in her crib until 5am, she cries. She has two sleep crutches her blanket that I will not get rid of and her pacifier. I am tempted to get rid of it since I am already having users with her sleep, why not throw the pacifier away and hope to solve them all at once.
Any help, suggestions anyone can provide would be great.
Thank you a very sleep deprived mom, I haven't slept thru the night for over in what seems like years. Please help:)
Kmart,
ReplyDeleteWith tyler, you may want to consider reducing the nap length a bit and putting him to bed earlier. I would avoid tv before bed. If he keeps waking from his sister, try a sound machine. My guess is that his issues are related to sleep props--you being the prop. He wants you to help him go back to sleep and to stop the wakings and calls for you, you need to stop acting as a prop. I would avoid going in to him in the morning until a reasonable hour. Let him know this beforehand. He is old enough to understand. You can give him a clock and say it has to at least say 6 before he gets up or buy one of those clocks or night lights that show it is day and wake up time at a preset time.
As for blake, I would do similar things with her that I mentioned with tyler for the wake ups. I wouldn't consider the blanket a crutch. I know some people do, but I don't. It is something she uses to help give her comfort, just like adults use things when they sleep to give them comfort (though we don't' usually think of it as this).
Good luck,
Rachel
Guys, help me,
ReplyDeletemy baby wakes around 4 in the morning and cannot fall asleep, i usually find him playing and i come to him and tell him its time to sleep (he poops now also regulary at this time so i have to change his diaper and put him back to his crib), i cannot use PU/PD to make him selfsooth and sleep.
The problem is, since he is not sleeping through the night he is drowsy through the day and makes short naps.When he wokes up from the naps he does not know how to selfsooth, i want to help him, but i am also out of my energy and my nerves are gone.
additional information to this above, he is also 5,5 month old and been doing these wakings since mid December. Sometimes i have the feeling he is awake in different times between 2 and 4 am.
ReplyDeleteGK=Andrej
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachel, my son is doing better, but even with trying to put Blake down earlier to help catch up on her sleep she is still continuing to wake at 4am! I have been keeping her in her crib until 5, hoping she will go back to sleep but she isn't. I guess I will just keep @ it.
ReplyDeleteAndrej,
ReplyDeleteSome kids will wake up and play for weeks on end. Make sure he is going to bed early, between 6-8, 12 hours ish before morning wake up. Make sure his total sleep seems appropriate (see post in index) . Too much nap time, or too little can cause wake ups. Monitor daily wake times to see if it helps with naps. See that post too. If he is awake playing in the middle of the night it doesn't sound so much like a sleep prop problem and inability to self soothe., but it is still possible.
I did wake to sleep when my son was waking pooping, there is a post about the too. Might work for you.
Take a look at the sleep training post in the index to see if there are any methods that sound ok to you to do for self soothing. Try to get some support if you can to help you through. Being a mommy, especially a tired one, is hard.
Look though the posts in the index to see if there are other ones that sound useful for your situation.
Rachel
Good luck kmart, I hope things improve!
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel
ReplyDeleteI came across your blog and it is brilliant!
My baby boy is 14 weeks old and stopped feeding in the night from about 7 weeks. This is his current routine (give or take half an hour each side):-
Wake and feed 7am
Nap 9am-10am
Feed 10am
Nap 12am-2pm
Feed 2pm
Nap 4.30-5pm
Bath and feed 6.30
Bed 7pm
Small feed (half regular feed) - 10/11pm
He has been on this routine for about 8 weeks. However, although he no longer wants to eat during the night he always wakes at least twice. Initially, he would wake at 5am-5.30am. I would go in and soothe him and/or give him the dummy and sometimes he goes back to sleep until 7am and sometimes then he wakes every 20/30 minutes until 7am. This is leaving me feeling exhausted the next day! I tried wake to sleep (TBW) but his waking has now simply changed to waking at more random times - there is no longer the consistent waking at 5am. Last night he woke at 4am and 6 am, both times I popped the dummy in and he went back to sleep.
I do recognise that he is very good to have been on such a routine from an early age and not feeding during the night and I feel we are very nearly there with him sleeping through the night but I just don't seem to be able to get rid of these night awakenings. I have gone through all the trouble shooting list and all have come back negative so I am wondering whether I simply need to give it time and this is something he will grow out of.
He has slept through the night without waking on 3 ocassions since he was born.
I wondered if you had any ideas?
Many thanks
Sophie
Sophie,
DeleteConsider reducing the daily wake times. They seem long for her age and can cause night wakings. Consider dropping the dream feed to see if it helps. I would consider hunger if she continues to wake over and over at night. Some babies will jump back and forth with their sleeping through the night. I would also consider the need to just wait longer. She may not have the ability to sleep a 12 hour consolidated stretch at night yet.
Best of luck,
Rachel
Thanks Rachel
Delete"He" has been sleeping a lot better since we stopped giving the pacifier as he's not now waking for it. I also thought that 3 and half hours nap time was pretty standard for a 3 and half month old and never once considered this to be long for his age. Thanks for your thoughts though!
Sophie,
DeleteSorry for the "she". I realized that when I read this again . Good luck with everything. Glad dropping the pacifier helped. That sure can cause a lot of extra wakings when it turns itself into a prop.
Rachel