What can I do about 4am wakeups?

roo1oo

LO got over his first cold but now wants to wake up at 4am every morning. As in start his day at 4am. So what are some suggestions for adjusting his wake time to be a bit later? Or am I fighting a losing battle and maybe you have suggestions on how to cope (other than more coffee, I got that covered)?

LO has been getting about 15 hrs a day of sleep. Usually about 7 hrs of naps and 8 hrs of nighttime sleep. Before he was sick he was on a 13-14 hr a day schedule, getting 9 hrs of nighttime sleep and 4-5 hrs of naps a day. He's actually napping great lately (so daycare reports and so I can see on the weekends) and the last few days his nighttime sleep is good with 0-1 wakeups, but he just wakes up so early!

BelhurstBride

Agree with the PP, it could be the 4 month wakeful. You just have to deal until he grows out of it. 

Gatorsgirl731

Put him to bed later? Honestly this may be the best you can do for a while. I'd be thrilled with 9hours and 0-1 wake ups. But I'm a morning person.

inthelost

my DD loves to wake up at 4am , I've tried keeping her up a bit later...not sure what else you can do but weather it.

platypusbaby

I treat 4am like any other MOTN waking. Feed with out talking or interaction, keep the lights off, when she's done eating I turn the sleep sheep back on and rock her til she falls back asleep. This morning it took an hour for her to fall back asleep but then she slept until 7:45. 4am is not morning for me so I don't want her thinking it is either!

LindseyH033

platypusbaby said:

I treat 4am like any other MOTN waking. Feed with out talking or interaction, keep the lights off, when she's done eating I turn the sleep sheep back on and rock her til she falls back asleep. This morning it took an hour for her to fall back asleep but then she slept until 7:45. 4am is not morning for me so I don't want her thinking it is either!

This.

pb&jojo

Sounds just like us...mine slept amazing. 12-13 hours a night. Then just around 3 months 3 weeks, she began waking 3-4 times a night, sometimes every hour. Most of the time she wouldn't want to eat...just need the paci given to her, or a little reassurance. She also started waking at 3:30-4:00 for the day.

When I could tell she was up and awake for good I would change/feed her, play with her on her mats just for about 30 minutes and then reswaddle and put her back down. She would usually sleep for another 3 hours or so. It was just like she had some energy she needed to get rid of. Maybe try that?

It got better about 2 weeks ago, but FWIW, she is 6 months now and still hasn't gotten back to how good she used to sleep. We will usually have 3 good nights and then a couple bad night...Naps vary every day.

Mum2Be28

platypusbaby said:

I treat 4am like any other MOTN waking. Feed with out talking or interaction, keep the lights off, when she's done eating I turn the sleep sheep back on and rock her til she falls back asleep. This morning it took an hour for her to fall back asleep but then she slept until 7:45. 4am is not morning for me so I don't want her thinking it is either!

This. And I often change his diaper when he wakes at 5am and then do the feed so if/when he falls back asleep nursing then I don't have to wake him back up changing the diaper.