We're struggling with 05.30 wakes at the moment. My LB is just over 1 year, has been at nursery now for 6 weeks and settled pretty well. He's happy there and eats well. He's just started walking but has been trying hard for about 2 months. I know these things can impact sleep (doesn't everything) so I'm not sure if I should ride it out and assume that it will change again, or if something needs to be done.
When he wakes I try to resettle him but he will usually just yell when I lay him back down - and rather than start my day at 05.30 I bring him in to bed where he will often sleep for another hour or 2.
Has anyone found any tactics to help with this or will it just change by itself?
xx
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Millbanks
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Hi lovely. We have had a couple of episodes of this that were temporary. As a general rule, we try not to go in to him when he fusses at night as he will usually eventually go back to sleep after about 10 mins, and we can hear the difference between a bit of fuss and a proper I-need-you cry. We found the hard way going in to him makes it take forever to get him to go back to sleep! However, about 6 or 7 weeks ago (so he was about 13 months) he seemed to start waking around 5.30 and then just continually seemed to keep waking up and was much more fussy than usual. He was still on 2 naps a day at that time. We knew he was coming up to a nap transition so decided to start trialling 1 nap. The effect on his night sleep was almost instant. He actually still sometimes has 2 naps at nursery because he has short naps there, but he is on one nap probably 4x a week - at home this is anywhere from 1-2.5h, at nursery it is 50-60 mins - and somehow shifting the nap times helped even when he has 2. Is it possible you bub is coming up to a nap transition or is possibly having more sleep than needed during the day? Also, how dark is bubs' room? With the lighter mornings now could this be making him wake earlier? We have a blackout blind and also some blackout curtains to keep light out of the edges. It is not pitch black in there but it does keep it darker than our room. xx
We seem to be in the opposite stage. He was on 2 naps at home - only ever 45 mins max - but since nursery he's been on 1 2ish hour nap - he's almost 13 months too so seems like the right time to drop a nap but I wonder if it's playing havoc with his sleep. He's always been a good night sleeper and has no trouble going to bed at 7pm. But when he wakes up he goes from 0 - 100 rapidly so he isn't able to resettle himself - we have to go in and lay him back down. To be fair he does go straight back to sleep.
But at 5.30am he just won't resettle. I wonder if he's getting too much sleep now? with a good 2 hour chunk in the day - he doesn't need as much at night. BUT at the weekends he still wants too usually - or even if he does 1 its short - and he still wakes up. So I'm not convinced that the naps are the culprit!
His room is fairly dark but it could be darker - maybe that's the next step.
Do you use white noise? I'm never quite sure how loud it needs to be - I know the same as a running shower but it's hard to equate that in his room....
We do use white noise when we put him down to sleep- it switches off after 1.5h on timer. We have a dreamegg with the fan setting. It should be under 50dB where they are sleeping so I set ours to 40-45 (I downloaded an app on my phone and then put it in the cot to record the volume). I can’t remember what the minimum is to be effective, I think maybe 40dB but don’t quote me! My understanding is they need a certain amount of sleep in a 24h period, but obviously lots of things factor into the sleep quality. Might he be teething atm? Anything like heating or hot water switching on at 5.30 that might be waking him up? Xx
Ooo good idea on the app - just tried that and mine is at 50db so that's ok.
The cats often come in through the cat flap around that time and his bedroom is right next to the door - I wonder if that is having an effect.... Not sure what I can do about that though!
I might try pushing bedtime a bit later and see if that helps. I tried bringing it earlier too but that didn't have an effect.
Hey hun, I can so relate to this. With my girl, we now have a later bedtime -8pm as she is less likely to wake up too early.
She still wakes up during the night but she is getting better at going back to sleep by herself. So riding it out may work.
I have also learned to wait like Purpledoggy to see if she is just whining or really wants me. Sometimes I rock her in my arms and then put her back in her cot. I also finds she is more likely to stay asleep with a full belly so if she is restless and keeps waking up, I do give her a bottle of milk.
My daughter is still getting used to no longer cosleeping so some of her waking up might be about that. But she did used to wake up too early even when she were sleeping together and so I transitioned her to a later bedtime. We still have the odd bleep but overall better.
Hope it does get better and it sounds like it is just a phase xxx
My daughter dropped to 1 nap at nursery when she was 10 months! Sometimes it was only 30 minutes and I was really worried at the time but I realised with time she was just ahead and actually 2 naps meant she was not tired enough during her bedtime so it used to take us a long time to get her to fall asleep.
It settled itself and she now naps during the day for longer on most days. She has never been great with sleep and does not like to miss out on anything! 😂
Some of the guides say children drop to I nap after they turn one but not my baby girl. So yes every baby is different.
Oh wow! I mean that is why Killi has dropped to 1 nap - I don't think he was necessarily ready but he was so excited at the childminder he couldn't sleep until he was utterly exhausted...
He also gets FOMO!
I guess what is odd is that he never struggles to go to sleep at bed time - no matter how long he's napped for in the day time or how many naps he's had....
hi lovely, ahh we’ve been there with the early wakes too - my checklist is:
Nap length (sounds like not an issue for you as he’s on one at 13/14m so should be knackered in theory for bedtime
Brightness - we’ve had a bit of an issue recently with the clock changes and good weather (ha can’t believe I’m complaining about the nice weather!) but I think my little boy is quite sensitive to the light so we’ve had earlyish starts (6-6:30 but usually he’s 6.30-7) but we’ve invested in some draft guards to cover the gaps in his door and blackout blinds for the window which really has helped - I can send you the link for the draft guards if you’re interested!
Noise - so we’ve used White noise from the beginning really - we have the Hatch and have it around 30% and inbetween his cot and the door so it isn’t hugely loud. If you think the cats are waking him up, can you put the white noise a bit closer to his door / tiny bit louder to try and block them out a bit?
Temp - could he be either cold or hot on waking? It is getting warmer (a little) so his clothing / sleeping bag might need to be changed to something lighter? It’s hard though cos at the mo I’m finding the evenings quite cold but then it warms up during the day…
And sometimes it’s absolutely nothing and they’re just going through whatever they’re going through - hopefully passes sooner rather than later! If you want to get out the habit of co sleeping, you could keep a pillow / light blanket in his room and when he cries just lie next to the cot and if he falls asleep in there with you next to him, then you can hopefully sneak away after 15 mins or just enjoy your extra nap on the floor 😅 otherwise enjoy the cuddles in bed - they won’t last forever - for us, our boy gets too excited when we bring him into our room and sits still for 5 mins before the poking and the ‘hello mummy’ begins 😂 xxx
Yea I did wonder about the light but then this morning he slept until 6.30am so it is maybe a mixture of things.
I did check the db of the white noise machine and it shouldn't be any louder so I moved it a bit towards the door - maybe that helped?
I also really struggle to know what to put him in at night atm! We had trouble with leaking nappies so I stopped putting a long sleeved vest until his fuzzy onesie - this helped the leaks but then I wasn't sure if he was a bit chilly - so then doubled up his bags. He's toasty when he goes to bed but then the temp does drop.... so hard to know! But actually it doesn't seem to correlate with his wake ups anyway!
Oh that's so sweet that he starts the poking!! We're still at flailing arm slapping stage - but he does tend to settle back down and sleep - I do love it. I keep reminding myself that it won't last forever....
ah that’s amazing that he slept until 6:30! Maybe it was the white noise being closer to the door?! Or just a bit more overcast today?! Who knows - hope you enjoyed the ‘lie in’ 😂
Yeah I always worry it gets chilly in the night so we end up putting the heating on on days like this from 10pm-1pm - the pipes under the floor in his room do feel warm just walking over them so I think it keeps his room warm when the temp does drop down around 2-4am
Also they are so expensive but we put our little one in the pampers night nappy pants - never had leaks with them (I try and get them when they’re on offer but they hardly are!) but they’ve helped us loads. Though having said that even when he’s leaked through he literally just sleeps through it until the next morning 😩🤪
Hope you get another lie in treat tomorrow - K woke up at 6:10 today so I’m back to wondering what’s caused that 🤓🧐😅 xxx
we had this for a bit when he learned to walk and like purple doggy we found if we went in there was no chance of him going back to sleep (even if still tired) so we don't go in but put some books within reach of his cot and his wee elephant that projects stars and plays lullabuys is in with him so if he wakes too early he just presses it himself and puts himself back to sleep or reads a book for a bit that’s also helps 🙊 (still does it now he’s just turned 2 lol but the books are now also with his tonies box so we sometimes get to listen to a paw patrol or Thomas story at 6am through the camera 🤭🙄)
We also have 8pm bedtime and one nap which for some kids can help and for some makes no difference to wake up time I’ve heard but maybe worth a go, it was defo a wee phase for us lasted a few weeks xx
Yea I've defo noticed that sleep suffers when he's going through a learning phase - he's just walking so I'm sure it's that really. Doesn't help though does it, when you just have to ride it out! xxx
My first was exactly the same, we used to put her in our bed to get another hour or 2 out of her but then that stopped, she just wanted to play when we brought her into our bed. In the end we just started ignoring her, as long as she wasn’t crying. I honestly read so many online articles about why they do this or how to stop it but it just stopped by itself eventually. Some articles indicate if they’re waking up really early it’s due to over tiredness.
My 2nd is now a year old and we’ve started having the occasional early morning wake with her. We just try leave her now; as long as she’s not really crying or treat it like a night waking and try resettle her. It’s just a phase has always been my favourite saying when it comes to babies!
My guy is just an early riser. Between 5.30 and 6. We’ve tried lots of different tricks and we just accepted that’s the time he wants to wake 🤣🤣
He has the Oli the Owl clock now which goes yellow at 6, meaning if it’s not yellow yet, the owl is still asleep and he must stay in bed. But he’s nearly three now so he has that understanding!
He went originally 7:30, mostly 8pm but now ideally 6:30, but definitely before 7. We found that 6:30 or earlier works better as he is singing happily in his cot and puts himself to sleep. Is a bit of a pain to feed him and get him down this early but he is in a much better mood and sleeps so much better.
I’ve got a great tactic that can help…reset the sleep cycle. 30-40 minutes before you expect baby to wake, go into their room & gently change their position until baby stirs but not awake. You may have to do this for a few days to a week & what can happen is baby will sleep for longer & not wake up at the early time they have been waking.
It’s called ‘wake to sleep method’ & it worked on my 2, I am baby/toddler led & never tried any other method…good luck!
Ah yes! I've heard of this but never had the energy to get up at 4.30am to stir him!! Also I find that his wake time isn't consistent enough for me to not miss it.... Literally it can be within a 4 hour window.
But maybe I'll give this a go this week - thank you xx
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xx
Baby needs to stay in own cot - I am too sleep deprived....
Routine with 2 kids! 
