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Babies: 6 - 9 Months
erjarv
member
6 month old waking up way too early!
erjarv
member
My LO is 6 months old now, and is put down for bed anywhere between 7:30-8. He goes to sleep really well -- if he cries at all it's usually for less than 2 minutes. Since he was 2 months old he's slept through the night and wakes up at about 7.
That is until about 3 weeks ago. Still has the same bed time and bed time routine, but not only does he now occasionally wake up at 1 or 2 (probably about 3-4 nights a week), he always wakes up at 5 AM. It sucks for me and my husband, obviously, but I'm concerned about him not sleeping enough at night. I know he's supposed to sleep 11-12 hours at night but that's obviously not happening anymore.
Help please! I don't know how to get him to sleep longer, or how to cut out waking up in the middle of the night.
He JUST started eating solids a few days ago, but that doesn't seem to be helping with him waking.
TIA!
Also, huge apologies for the MASSIVE picture in my sig. I took it out but it keeps showing up anyway. Sorry!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: 6 month old waking up way too early!
Do you feed him when he wakes up in the middle of the night? What do you do when he wakes up? At 6 months a growth spurt is really common - so he could be waking up because he's hungry. How much is he eating during the day? Do you sleep train at all? We have had really good success with Ferber - especially for the middle of the night wake-up. Our LO just wanted his pacifier.
Will he go back to sleep after the 5am wake up? Sorry...lots of questions! I would try putting him to sleep a little earlier - maybe between 7 and 7:30 and see if that helps. If you bottle feed, try giving him a bigger bottle before bed.
It is really common for babies to change up their sleep patterns. He could be teething, learning a new skill or just going through a growth spurt. Hopefully in time he will go back to not waking in the middle of the night.
Baby #2!
When he wakes up I usually wait a few minutes to see if he'll fall back asleep (always in vain, haha, but I always hope!). I go into his room, check/change his diaper, feed him, and put him back down. I didn't do "formal" sleep training. I haven't read Ferber's book, just a lot of internet research and talking to friends/family, but that's basically the method we did for getting him to nap and sleep on his own. I always feed him right before he goes to bed to help get him sleepy and fill up his tummy one last time. Occasionally he'll go back to sleep after he wakes up, but not always. It just seems to depend on the day.
My LO wakes at 5 or 5:30am if he sleeps through the night and I'm in the same boat as you, always trying to figure out how to get him to sleep longer. I think he wants to sleep longer too but it's hard to make it happen. Usually what I'll do is not change his diaper, keep the room dark and just treat it like a middle of the night feeding. I can usually give him a bottle and get him back to sleep but I usually have to lay with him on the couch to make it happen. It's not ideal but it's where we're at right now.
Now this morning, he woke at 5:30 because he had pooped so I had to change his diaper and then he was just awake and there was no going back to sleep.
My son has had a similar sleep schedule since he was born. At 6 months he was still waking at 1 or 2AM to eat and then he would wake up at 4AM for the day! It was so hard to get him to go back to sleep after 4. Slowly I was able to get him to go back to sleep at the 2AM time slot. I would go into his room, turn his sound machine on, replace binkie and pat his back. Over the next month or so, he didn't need to eat at that time anymore and stopped waking up every night (most of the time).
My LO's bedtime is between 6 & 6:45. He still wakes up anywhere between 4 and 5AM to eat and he is 8 months old. Sometimes we can get him back down for another hour or so and sometimes we can't. I know he doesn't need to eat at 4:00AM anymore...but it's a hard habit to break.
Sorry, this probably wasn't very helpful...but know you are not alone! These babies are tiring us out!
5 DIUI - BFN
IVF#1 - BFP - AJ 7/12
FET#1 - BFP Due 7/24/14
DS was doing the early wake-ups at 6 months old, too. At first I would get him right up, but he was still obviously really sleepy. I started letting him stay in bed (just watching him on the monitor as he would babble and play), and he eventually would fall back asleep unless his diaper had leaked or he had pooped. Eventually he started sleeping a bit later, and now he normally gets a good 11 hour stretch in.
Keep in mind that the time changes in a week and a half, so what feels like 5:00 now will be 6:00 then.
this is exactly what happens at our house!!!