What do you do when your baby wakes up at 4 am??

natback · March 2016

He goes down at 7, sleeps mostly well throughout the night because he's in a Merlin suit and hasn't had to learn how to self soothe yet, wakes when the binky falls out and we rush in to put it back in, and he sleeps really well with all of that in place. He is almost too big for the suit and I'm trying to prepare what my next move it..... I'm thinking it's gonna be hard for a while. I know the binkie putting back in will need to stop as well. Anyhow, he wakes at 4 am almost daily and we then have to rock him back to sleep but he still tries to wake up as soon as we lay him in his crib. If anyone has any solutions to any of these issues I currently am struggling with id appreciate it!! Currently too sleep deprived to make this post make more sense..... Rambling much?!!!

mel0601 · March 2016

This is like you write about my daughter! I put her binky in a few times but if she is still upset I just get her a bottle and she settles again right after

JenLovesDesign · March 2016

Imho, 7 is too early and if you put him to bed later then he would wake up later.

mrsbacz · March 2016

My situation is pretty similar to yours. I put my son down at 7pm, and he also uses a Merlin suit. We've never used a pacifier though, he hates them. Some nights he sleeps all the way until 7am and some nights he wakes up crying at 4am. We use a white noise machine which helped cut down on the nights where he wakes up. When he does cry at 4, I run in and rub his belly and "shh" repeatedly until he falls back asleep. It took a while at first, but now he's usually back to sleep under a minute.

mel0601 · March 2016

JenLovesDesign said:

Imho, 7 is too early and if you put him to bed later then he would wake up later.

Not necessarily..., I've always followed my daughters cues and she has made her own routine. She has been going down around 6-7 pm for a long while now. She would be so incredibly cranky and hard to handle/ falling asleep in my arms if I tried to keep her up any later! At first I fully expected her to wake by 9 or 10 but she would always sleep through.

Bognes · March 2016

Ugh I feel your pain. We quit the Merlin when she was rolling. Then put her in the sleep sack and a pillow under the sheet so she couldn't roll. It was great for her except for the pacifier! It kept falling out and we were constantly putting it back in. But it put her right back out. This week we've been to hell bc she's teething so I decided to rip one bandaid off and take the pillow out. I'm hopeful that she'll start to roll and settle on her stomach and eventually be able to find the pacifier herself. I think it will be a month though and it's going to totally suck. It sucks sucks sucks already but can't really get worse bc she's only napping 30 minutes 3 times a day and waking all night already I'll try almost anything.
Wait- you thought you were rambling? Sorry. This was completely unhelpful.

dmbfan46835 · March 2016

When DS is up at 4 I usually just get up with him and start my day. I have to be up at 5 anyways to pump, work out get ready for work, make breakfast, feed him, pack his daycare bag, etc. so it's not too far off for me. Sometimes I get him back to sleep fast and if that's the case I may go lay back down for a half hour to an hour. But if it takes 30 mins or longer just I stay up and watch Netflix or catch up on my DVR while hanging out with him. Makes it not so frustrating. He goes down between 8 and 9.

ReneeJ2011 · March 2016

JenLovesDesign said:

Imho, 7 is too early and if you put him to bed later then he would wake up later.

Logical, but Not necessarily true...the later we put my LO down the earlier he wakes up. If we go down at 6 he wakes up for good at 5 but if it's 7 when he goes down he tends to wake more throughout the night and is up for the day at 4. I had the same thought as you put him down later and he will sleep later but it has backfired on me every single time.

yellowbean15 · March 2016

If he still seems tired I shush, pat, soother or feed if those don't work.

If he is wide awake I just let him play around in his crib until he gets tired and either falls back asleep on his own or fusses to be put to sleep.

Good luck with the sleep suit transition! I don't have any advice on that. Getting rid of the swaddle was pretty bad here so I obviously don't have any handy tricks to make it easier haha.

missliz53 · March 2016

I would try a sleep sack. We still swaddle DD with both arms out because she loves to be wrapped in a blanket and doesn't break out of it. We are also having the pacifier problem but for us it's maybe once in the night and not every night so that makes it easy. She falls asleep on us at night because we have to keep her upright after she eats and I'm not going to try and keep her awake for 20 mn. The pacifier is a big problem at naps though. I guess the way I see it is that eventually she will learn to either put her pacifier back in or suck her thumb. But if you think about it, the pacifier is kind of all they can have in their crib, so how are they supposed to soothe themselves to sleep? When we go to bed we have blankets and pillows to snuggle into. I don't think that I could fall asleep laying in the middle of a big empty bed so I don't expect my lo to.

thinkpink101 · March 2016

My LO (28 weeks) goes to bed at 8:30, wakes to eat at 10:30, 1:30 and 4:30. I usually don't bother trying to go back to bed after the 4:30 feeding during the week because I have to be up by 5:30. On weekends I can sometimes get him to go down again around 6 and he might sleep for another hour. He still doesn't nap during the day unless I take him on a long walk. Some kids don't seem to need as much sleep. Two of his brothers (ID twins) just turned 11 and they get up at 4am EVERY SINGLE DAY. Between the ages of 3-4.5 they woke up at 3am every day. They dropped naps a little after 1.

rachelkawesome · March 2016

I'm actually on the side of putting him down later and seeing what happens. Trying it one night is worth it. I know others have had success putting kids down earlier and them sleeping later, but mine definitely sleeps later when we put him down later. It really depends on the kid.

cait040415 · March 2016

My LO can now take her pacifier out, scream and yell at the top of her lungs just for fun, then puts it back in. Repeatedly. For hours before she goes to sleep every night. I'm slowly losing my mind lol. When she wakes up at 4, which is most mornings, I put her binky back in and turn on just the noise function on her soother (aquarium themed, so it's just bubbles) and that seems to calm her down. If not, i put on the lights and movement function. If THAT doesn't work, I have put her on our bed and turned on cartoons. Only out of desperation and if DH is out of town

ems028 · March 2016

JenLovesDesign said:

Imho, 7 is too early and if you put him to bed later then he would wake up later.

Nope. 7 is the perfect time for a baby to go to bed. My DD is in bed around 7, then wakes once to drink milk and normally goes back to sleep until 6/7 am.

But she's just getting over a cold so sometimes she wakes at 4 and won't sleep again haha.

In response to the OP...I'd just get rid of the Merlin's suit. My LO sleeps in a convertible woombie and she loves the freedom. But actually your baby sleeping from 7-4 is very good!! Be proud of him!

shelbydd · March 2016

We usually end up getting up for the day at 4:30am. I feed LO in bed and lay him back in his crib, which is our normal routine for motn feedings. sometimes he will go back to sleep for a couple of hours and sometimes he won't. My husband gets up between 4:30 and 5am for work so it's not unusual for our whole household to be up for the day so early. It usually just means LO will take his first nap around 6am and we nap together on the couch for about 2 hours.

chelseajeanene · March 2016

When my LO wakes in the middle of the night, all I have to do is cuddle him. I lay on my side and have him lay on his side but facing me. I have one arm under his head and hug him like a teddy bear. I wait for him to sleep about 10 mins and put him back in the crib, sometimes lol I love sleeping with him like that so if I'm too tired I just keep my snuggly chub

CEW225 · March 2016

My LO will wake up somewhere between 430 and 530 everyday. We usually get up at 530 anyway, so it's not too bad. Sometimes we can get her to go back to sleep by holding her and she'll sleep until about 6 or so, which allows us to eat breakfast and all that. She goes to bed at around 7 or 730. I don't think 7 is too early, at least for us.

On weekends though, it sure would be nice to go back to bed. Yet, she decided 5:00 was still a nice time to get up, play, and make lots of noise. Good thing she's cute.....

ForeverEverAfter · March 2016

Bedtime here is 7-8 (depends how quickly DD1 gets through her routine). We usually have 2 wake ups for feedings, one between 9-11, the other between 3-5. At 4am I am too tired to care! I bring her into my bed, stick a boob in her face and go back to sleep. Then we're up for the day around 7:30.

buckleyk · March 2016

STM mom opnion-
1. 7 is no too early- LO and my 2.5 year old are in bed by 7-7:30 every night.
2. Going to bed later does not equal sleeping in later. Both of mine wake up at the same
rime no matter what which is why I'm so strict with bedtime.
3. Treat 4am like its the middle of the night. So what you would do if it were 10-11pm. Pick a wake up time and don't bring him out of his room until then. For us it's 6 which sucks for the weekends but that's when I need her up to get to daycare/ work. We were in a smiliar situation and I just kept going in, replacing the paci and now she's sleeping till 5:30/ 6.

jlemons-2 · March 2016

I completely disagree that 7 is too early. I put my daughter down at 7 and she sleeps until 4. I nurse her at 4 and she goes back down until about 6 am which I think is totally appropriate.

ElleMF728 · March 2016

I would continue doing what you are doing. Those early morning wakes are the toughest and it is usually recommended to wean from those last. At that point LO is rested so without soothing/eating he will just decide to start his day at that time. Both of my boys have gone through early rising phases and they typically go back to normal after a few weeks. IMO it is worth it to spend some extra time in there to get that extra hour or 2 when he finally does go back down.

jennahkross · March 2016

I am so glad someone posted about this! I thought I was the only one! We've been dealing with this for about 3 weeks now. I'm not sure if its part of a leap or what...anyway, I try to put her back down and some mornings it works and sometimes it doesnt!:)

urfcerin · March 2016

@thinkpink101 that is insane! How did you survive?!

CaboBride2015 · March 2016

Would definitely agree with trying the sleep sack.

Also, I would recommend not taking him out of the crib. Replace the pacifier, rub his belly or something to soothe him but avoid picking him up. We had a 4am riser for awhile and that worked for us. She sometimes still gets up at 4am but mostly just babbles (very loudly). Since I have insomnia it doesn't bother me so I giggle and try to shush her for the sake of everyone else. Unless she totally loses her sh!t literally or figuratively she doesn't come out of the bassinet. She usually wakes around 6am to eat and then chills or falls back asleep while I get ready.

I am also well aware I am blessed with what I consider a very easy baby. I'm sure it will come back to haunt me when she's a hormonal teenager.

CaboBride2015 · March 2016

@thinkpink101 I have no idea how you're still doing 3 a night feedings. You must be a saint.

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