Son Waking up Earlier and Earlier

He has a pretty early bedtime. Have you tried keeping him up until 8:30 or 9:00? That's what I would do.

At 6 months he shouldn't need the middle of the night feeding. Start giving him a little cereal before bed and he should sleep through the night. He may get up a little earlier than 7:30 (that is almost 12 hours of sleep which is a lot) but if you aren't getting up in the middle of the night, this may be easier to handle.

Good Luck,

C.

My son did the same thing! So, I did a few things to help him soothe himself back to sleep and all of them worked. The first thing I did was give him a stuffed animal in his crib. It was one that he loved to play with. He was delighted to have it in his crib. The second thing I did was to buy one of those crib toys that plays music. I got the rainforest one and later found the aquarium one at the thriftstore. And then I pushed his bouncy seat way up to the crib so that he could reach the buttons. (He used to love his bouncy seat - it's the aquarium one and it has moving toys and music). He was delighted. When he started to wake up in the morning and it was too early, I just waited to get him and he did start turning on the music and going back to sleep. This is how he actually started to sleep through the night too after he weaned. And even now, when he wakes up in the middle of the night, he turns on his music and goes back to sleep. Anyway, at first I was really skeptical b/c I didn't want a "loud" toy in or around his crib but it works like a charm for him. Often he just cuddles with his stuffed animal and does not use the music. Good luck to you and your little one. You'll find something to help him go back to sleep...

What do you do when he wakes that early? Do you rush in to get him or do you let him fuss a bit? Try letting him soothe himself back to sleep - you know he's capable of sleeping later because he's consistently slept until 7:30. If you rush in there at the first sign of waking, you may be creating more stimulation than he can handle to go back to sleep. Also, he may come to expect that behavior from you, anticipating your morning visits and waking earlier and earlier to be with one of his favorite people! We had this issue with our baby - he'd wake up earlier and earlier by about 15 minutes each day. We decided that 6:00 was the earliest we would go get him (our family is a Weissbluth family; we like that his methods are based on decades of research with tens of thousands of infants). Now, he sleeps to 7:00 or later.

The other thing you might try to do is put him to bed a little earlier. Yes, it sounds counterproductive but sleep truly does beget sleep. When I tried putting my baby to bed earlier for the first time I was panicked thinking that he'd wake up earlier. This never happened and he slept later. Think about it - if you go to bed 15-30 minutes earlier does that automatically mean that you will wake up earlier?

Good luck to you and hope he gets back to his 7:30 risings!

You might try keeping him a little later before putting him down for the night.
Is he teething?

Hi D.
I have a 6 month old son as well and it sounds like to me that maybe he is getting hungry. Do you give him ceral before bed? You might try that. Are you able to keep him up later and then maybe he will sleep later. My son does not go to bed until 9 pm or 10 pm at the very latest. He has been getting up earlier also. He gets up between 6:30 am - 7 am and I nurse him and then he will go back to sleep for a little while, usually. Good luck!

My son did the same thing at about that age. I'm sure you have tried this already but here's what worked for me... I would get up and nurse him or give him a bottle while keeping his room dark and quiet and not really looking at him. Then I would simply put him down in his crib and walk out of the room and close the door even if he seemed like he didn't want me to leave. He would usually go back to sleep or at least be somewhat quiet for a while. Eventually, this tactic quit working and he would be wide awake and ready to go for the day at a time way too early for me! At that point I decided just to leave him in his crib for a while after he woke up. I turned down the volume on his baby monitor so I could halfway go back to sleep for a little bit. He eventually learned that it was ok just to hang out in his crib for a while by himself. He would just play or talk to himself and be fine for a while and learned that I'm not going to run to his room as soon as he wakes up. It really worked b/c he ultimately learned to get up at a decent time. Today he got up at 8:30 (although 7:30 is the norm)!

Hi D.,

I found that sleep habits in babies may not be consistent until the age of 2 years. My daughter, who is now 4, was breastfed, and she would often go back to sleep if I had her bed sharing with me and then breastfed her as soon as she woke up. Sometimes I would just have to get up for a couple of hours, and then I could breastfeed her back to sleep and get a nap myself. A sleep mask is very helpful for this. Teething, growth spurts, developmental milestones, etc.. can affect the sleep habits of babies. Try to just accept things as they are rather than fighting against them, as hard as that sometimes is! Good luck!!

Try not putting him to bed until like 9 or 9:30 and see if he will sleep later.

Try to lay him down a little bit later at night. If that doesn't help then you can give him some cereal with fruit before he goes to bed. That will help keep his tummy fuller longer. It also may just be a matter of time before he goes back sleeping in his normal routine because he may be going through a growth spurt and he'll be wanting to eat more.
D.

I am 31 and have been married for almost 12 yrs. My husband and I have 3 boys ages 10,7 and 4.

oh, trust me, luckily it doesn't continue. There was a point where my little ones were up at the crack of dawn too, but now they have days where they're asleep until 10am sometimes! And trust me, I live for those days! lol. But really, I know it's tough, I'm guessing most moms have been through this phase with their little ones, just nap when he does. That saved me on many a day from being too moody from not enough sleep. And luckily you only have one, so you have the luxury of doing that! I was a month away from having Irish twins(13 months apart) so believe me when I say it's a luxury to be able to do that! lol

Try putting him to bed later

Not sure what kind of naps her takes, but I suggest that her only naps short ones during the day. Maybe only 1, no more than 2, short naps. I also suggest trying to do something that could tire him out at night and not putting him to bed until at least 8:00. Worked for me. Hope it does for you.