5.30am waking - what to do?

[camsma]

Hi everyone,

For the past 4 nights I have been doing controlled crying with my 10 month old and I think that it is starting to work. I have been referring to a couple of books on the subject which I have found really useful, apart from one thing.
I've found over the last few nights that when he wakes at say 2am or 3 am, it is relatively 'easy' to get him to settle back to sleep withouht much fuss. However, every morning, he is waking somewhere betwee 5 and 5.30am. I can tell that it is a different cry at this time when he wakes and that he is hungry. Usually if I give him a small drink of milk he will settle back to sleep for an hour or so. However, I rarely am able to get back to sleep after getting up at this time and generally then feel exhausted during the day. Im heading back to work soon and really need to get a proper nights sleep, which is why I tried CC to begin with. One morning I did try CC at this time but we were going nowhere and I figure that by the time he settles back to sleep after crying it will be time to get up, and also if he really is hungry at that time, which I know he is, is it really fair to leave him to cry through it? I am wilng to give it a go tough if I know that it will work and help him to sleep later in the morning.
Both of the books Ive been using have addressed the question but none of them really give any answers or guidance on what to do.
Im a bit confused about the most effective way of dealing with this.
Has anyone else experienced a similar thing when CC? I really would appreciate any advice you can offer me.

Thanks in advance!

[maartysmum]

Hey Camsma, my boy who is the same age also started waking up at this time, he had been sleeping happily from about 7pm about 6.45am for the last 4 months but then he recently started waking at 5am. I was told that it may be either because he is cold or because he was hungry. When do you feed him his last feed? Maarten gets his last feed of solids at about 5pm and then a full 250ml bottle at 6.20pm. He used to be breastfeed until 3months ago.

I tried putting a sleeping bag on him and he started to sleep better (even though it is a balmy 25-29 degrees here at night. The other thing I noticed was that the birds around my area chirp like nothing else at about 5-5.30am and I think it was waking him up as we used to leave the windows open - now I have closed them and he gets up around 6.30-6.45am again.

Try a few things and eliminate where you can. You never know your luck!!:thumbsup:

[Alisonp]

I would offer him a feed and then try to get back to sleep yourself. Your baby is probably very hungry by that time so it's unlikely that he is going to easily fall back to sleep without a feed (my daughter never would when she was waking at that time).

Have you thought about going to bed a little earlier??? Early starts don't seem so bad if you are in bed by 9:30pm.

We did controlled crying when my DD was 7mo and it worked very well for us...but I never used it on her if she woke towards morning as I knew she would be too hungry.

At nearly 12mo my DD sleeps through most nights (except if she is unwell) so this approach didn't cause a problem with her sleeping.....oh and she usually sleeps from 7:30pm until around 7am now :thumbsup:

[Seekrit]

5ish is actually quite a common wake up time for most bubs. I'm trying to get Cobey back to 5am (lately he's been up at 3.... :sleeping:)

I don't knw if it'll work for you, but for Cobes at 3am I stagger into his room and shove his dummy in his gob, unless he's crying (normally he's just yelling out for me) and stagger back into my room.

[sopolicha]

We have been blessed with early risers for about four years - since DS's arrival. My only advice is to Get Up and Embrace the Morning!!!

[aimz]

Could you perhaps try waking your bub up for a feed at 9.30 or before you go to bed?? We currently do this with our DD she is 4 1/2 months and she may wake at 5ish but its only to be resettled not for a feed. She doesn't get fed before 6.30am..... Even doing the hard yards for a few days and not feeding before say 6am might help your bub to realise its not time to get up yet???

[Nan]

I was going to suggest the same thing as Aimz. Adding an extra night feed will help him to sleep in for longer. Let us know how you're going.

[TwoBlue]

Both my Ds's went through a stage of waking at 5ish.. when they did i would bring them into bed with me and cuddle them, they would always go back to sleep until a more reasonable hour (7ish) after a while of this they just started sleeping longer.

Good luck

[lukaelmo]

Luka wakes up around 5 - 5.30, and that's it, he is up...

I just lump it, I go to bed really early (nanna time early) and, if not exactly embracing the morning, I do at least squint at it :D.