4:30am is not get up time!

I need soome ideas on how to get Tori to sleep past 4:30 in the morning. At the moment she is waking up between 1-3 for a bottle and then no matter what time she has that bottle she is waking up at 4:30 and just won't go back to sleep. She doesnt want a feed at this time, and you can tell she is still tired but as yet I have not been able to get her to go back to sleep,we usually get up for a a couple of hours before she will go back down. This has been going on for a couple of weeks now, and I am just exhausted. Any ideas of things I can try to help her sleep longer in the morning, even if it is just an hour or so I think it would make all the difference.

Have you tried bringing her into bed with you? Kynan often has another little sleep if he's in bed with DH & I. What are the light levels like in Tori's room? It's been getting lighter earlier lately so it could be worth getting blockout curtains if it looks like that might be affecting her. Also what is the temp like in her room at that time of morning? Often in the early hours of the morning the temp can drop quite a bit so could she be sensing that?

Ali what if you didnt take her out of her cot?
What I mean is that you stand at a distance so she cant see you , and let her be for awhile , maybe if she's still tired and not hungry she'll go back to sleep??

When Jesse wakes in the early hours even after a feed if he wont self settle, i try to give him as little stimulation as possible. I dont even talk to him (perhaps a shhhhh if he's wriggling). Keep the lights a a very dim if you have to have them on at all and just either walk around with her or sit and hold her tight. Sometimes a soft tap on his bum helps too. I will also give him a dummy to suck on but do take it out before he goes back in his cot. He sleeps pretty good enough in his cot most of the time so i dont want to personally get him in the habit of co-sleeping. That may not work but that does for Jesse.

aaah! yes, Beth loves to party at 4.30am! I co sleep with her anyway, but if she is really insistent I roll over and just ignore her. Sometimes she will rant and rave (not upset) and giggle, but then whammo! She is out like a light. I sort of don't mind because when she is like that she will usually sleep in till 10 or 11am. Sometimes I pass her off to dp and he (insomniac) rocks her in her arms but with minimal stimulation just so she ends up realizing (sooner or later) that 4.30 ain't time to party!

Some great ideas there thanks girls, I have tried the co- sleeping thing, and it has worked up untill recently, now she just fusses and fidgets and no one gets any sleep. I will try going into her and putting the dummy back in and soothing with as little stimulation as possible. I will also try and darken her room a bit I think. Day Light savings start here on Sunday so if it is a daylight thing then maybe that will help (one can only hope).
I guess in the mean time I have to keep telling myself that this can't last forever

Hi Ali

Ihad this problem with Gaby for a while when she was younger too (can't remember the age). The MCHN pinpointed part of the problem for me, I was overstimulating her at that time of the morning and giving in to her - ie letting her get out of her dark room and playing with her, putting on tv (moreso to keep me awake :D )etc. So it was hard but for a few nights I just persisted and kept her in her room, even tho her crying woke DH up and we were all grumpy for a few nights. It did eventually work!

Have you got any kind of soft music that you could play in her room so that she perhaps recognises that as a queue for going to sleep? Alex has one of those Fisher Price musical aquarium things on his cot and whereas I dont use it all the time when I do put it on he recognises the music and it helps lull him back to sleep. He quite often atm wakes up between 4-5 but I almost sleepwalk in, put the music on, slap some bonjella on his gums and within 30 secs I am back in bed and he is fast asleep again.

Hey Ali,

I'm having the same problem with Josiah, it doesn't matter what time he goes to bed, he thinks 5am is a great time to wake up!

How did you go with daylight savings kicking in this morning? Josiah did great, he woke at 4.30, but because it was still dark he went back to sleep...we'll see how he goes tomorrow though, but hopefully it works in our favour.

Unfortunately I don't have any other suggestions - but would be most grateful for some!

Good Luck

Bel

We had a better night last night partly because we had REALLY late night, but I think partly the same thing with Day light savings whe she woke up it was still dark and she went back to sleep and slept till 6:15 (which is still on 5:15 so we will wait and see tomorrow) I have also admitted defeat with wrapping her and started letting her sleep on her Tummy and she is MUCH MUCH happier, not more struggling against the wrap or trying to roll over. So I am hoping a combination of the 2 will at least get her to stay asleep till 6 ish.....fingers crossed

I am not sure what the recommended minimum age for tummy sleeping is, but I figured as Iwent in there after every time she had a sleep and she would be on her tummy anyway I thought it was time to just put her down like that. Her sleeping has been so much better since we started that, she is still waking for her 2 am bottle which she gulps down ( I am still dubious as to whether she wants it due to hunger or comfort) but it is working at the moment so I am not going to change it, as she takes it and then settles straight back into sleep. This morning she slept untill 6:15 which is a huge improvement!

Glad to hear things are better.

I just read an article in a magazine about getting your baby to sleep from 7pm to 7am (by Tizzie Hall). She said that if your baby wakes each night at 4am or 5am, then they are most likely cold.

I've now bought a Cosi Bag sleeping bag for my son and will try it out tonight. I hope he will sleep a bit longer in it. I just hope he won't be too hot initially as I put him to bed just after 6pm and it's often still very warm (26 deg +). I will try putting the ceiling fan on and then turning it off before I go to bed.

Thats interesting as Jesse can wake any time from about 5am. He's in grobags but yeh i always am unsure what to put on him underneath it as when he goes down it can still be a bit warm and then cool off come early morning. He doesnt have a ceiling fan unfortunately. May just try the longer sleeves tonight anyway and see what happens.

Kaitlyn does the samething and has for about 6months ..but thankfully she sometimes stays until 530am or 6am .We did the co-sleep from about 4am when she would wake and that worked ..although she sometime also mucks around for up to an hour and then falls back asleep.

Good Luck...I hope you get some more sleep!

Ali, just wondering how everything went?

Cooper has stopped sleeping until 5.00 am and is now waking around 4.00 am or 4.30 am. I have to feed him - nothing else will settle him. And for the last week or so I am having trouble getting him back to sleep after the feed whereas I used to have no trouble before! It's very frustrating.

I wish he would sleep until 5.00 am again. Or even better, 6.00 am. I would LOVE this. I'd just get up and start my day if he woke at 6.00 am.