I have a 6 month old baby boy that sleeps through the night very well. We put him down around 6:45 - 7pm and then he sleeps through the night. He has, however, begun to wake up at 5:15 - 5:30am in the morning. How do I work with him to try to get him to sleep through until at least 6:00 or 6:30? We have tried putting him to bed later (thinking he will sleep later) and earlier (thinking sleep begets sleep) and neither one has helped. If I do go get him and feed him at 5:15 then he is ready to go right back to sleep, so do not think that it is his natural wake up time. He is not crying out of hunger either as we can play with him for 45 minutes before starts to get hungry. For the last 2 mornings we have tried letting him cry it out and go back to sleep. He eventually falls back to sleep after about 30 minutes of crying…..this way is really tough on us though and we would LOVE other suggestions.
sleeping for 10 straight hours is great...count your blessings. Just nurse him and he'l fall back asleep with you in bed or after nursing just place him back inthe crib. Expecting him to go longer than 10 hours without eating might be too high of an expectation at this age.
Hi W.
Not sure if you would be open to this but you could always bring him in to your bed at 5:15 and try to go back to sleep with him. I did that with my son and it worked. It's just a matter of do you want him in your bed.
Unfortunately the concept of putting your child to sleep later so they sleep longer is a myth. It doesn't work, they actually get up earlier!
He just sounds hungry. We have a similar sleep schedule. But, my daughter (especially if going through a growth spurt) will occasionally wake that early too, seems ravenous...nurses and falls back asleep for 1-2 more hours. I can't really expect her to go more than 10-12 hours w/ out food. Her tummy is so little! She is 7 1/2 mos now and I feel blessed that she sleeps through the night. I wouldn't be so strict about your sleep expectations of him, you and he will be happier in the long run. It may only be a phase, he is growing like a weed right now. Good luck.
I have a 7 month old who started doing the same thing around 5 1/2 6 months old! He used to wake up at 7:30am and then it just kept getting earlier and earlier and earlier :( I don't have any suggestions as nothing really seems to work for us either (later bedtime, earlier bedtime, etc...) Maybe it just depends on how well they slept, the bettter they slept maybe they are ready to wake up earlier? unlike when he used to wake up 2-3 times a night to eat, now that he sleeps straight through I think he is just getting up earlier? who knows! :) Our rule though is that we don't go into the nursery until at least 6:00am, unless he is really crying (or sick or teething etc), if he is just fussing, we let it go until 6:00am, no earlier. Usually he will just "play" in his crib until we come get him. Have you tried going in and comforting him til he stops crying and then putting him right back into the crib again? (the pick/up- put/down method?) that might work to get him back to sleep without crying so much- I feel for ya (and me :) trust me it SUCKS having those early am wake up calls :) GOOD LUCK!
Yeah, putting them down earlier doesn't equate getting up later! Unfortunately babies sleep habits constantly change. I know the early mornings suck.
Maybe my story will make you feel better :o) My daughter is a year old and she started sleeping from 10pm-5am straight around 2wks and then around 3mo changed to 2 wakings between 10pm and 6am, then around 4mo changed to 2-3 wakings and that lasted until about 10mo. After 10mo of sleep deprivation, I finally forced her to sleep through the night. My hubby slept in another room and I would let her cry when she woke up - it took about 4-5 days. Now, at 1yr, she goes down around 8:30pm and her mornings start anywhere between 5am and 7:30am.
There are a lot of things to take into consideration too - are you breastfeeding, does baby co-sleep, does baby sleep in your room or own room, is baby teething? My daughter was breastfed and co-slept/slept in our room and I'm sure this is why she woke more often. I also noticed when she was teething there was a certain time of the night it seemed to bother her most. Maybe baby is cold/hot? I know in the early morning hours our house is cooler and this has caused some early wakeups and she does go right back to sleep when I get her.
Honestly, I'm OK with the cry it out method but I don't let her cry for more than 5-10 minutes depending on how desperate it sounds. I feel like crying for 30 minutes without you is too long, especially for a 6mo old. If you do want to try to let him cry it out I suggest going in every 3-5 minutes just to pat him on the back and let him know you are there. A baby that young hasn't learned "object permanence" yet - which means if he can't see you, you're not there. How sad and scary this must feel. You may be right about this not being a natural wakeup time but something has him waking up enough to realize you are not there.
Good luck.
Hi W., either don't get him up at thattime weather he is awke or not, or put him down later, so he will sleep later. J.
