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Unsettled from 5am -7am and waking after falling asleep

  1. #1
    LeahH is offline Registered User
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    Unsettled from 5am -7am and waking after falling asleep

    A question for those who have successfully employed self settling techniques, crying down and shhh pat etc.

    I've made a rod for my own back by giving my 12 week old the dummy and rocking him (he sleeps in a hammock so rocking was so temptingly easy..) basically EVERYTHING I said I wouldn't do with no. 2....

    He's exactly the same as number 1. bub was initially in that he can fall asleep without the dummy and a little rocking, but will wake 3-6 times in the first hour of falling asleep and need re-settling with rocking at first, but eventually the dummy (esp like tonight if American Idol is on and we want some peace) .

    He's at least better than when he was very young as the waking from a 7pm bedtime would go on all night until his 10.30pm feed

    At 12 weeks he is still waking at 2am and 4/5am, he might take 2 ounces at each feed (I express into a bottle for night feeds) so I know he's not really hungry - I'm sure it's just that he cannot settle himself. He's well over 6kgs so capable of going through the night - plus he's often not even that interested in his 7am feed.

    I'm happy to leave the night feeds for now, but the big problem is that from 5 am until 7am he wakes on and off and never really settles properly - I give him the dummy, rock him to sleep, dummy falls out and he wakes up crying. I end up in the spare bed next to the hammock for the duration.

    Btw, Naps are hit and miss, some I rock him to sleep with no dummy and he does the whole stretch without waking - other times he needs resettling after a few wakings.

    Any advice appreciated, if I fix the dummy/rocking issue might it fix the 5am - 7am issue or is that something else??

    He's on a fairly good Gina Ford routine so I'm usually good about ensuring he doesn't have too much day time sleep - unless we're out and about and it's impossible to stop him sleeping in the bjorn or stroller.

    Doc said it might be silent reflux so he's on medication for that, I also use infacol as he's terribly hard to wind - I'm quite sure it can't be wind at the same time of 5am every night though - can it?


  2. #2
    Shenzhennifer is offline Registered User
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    I wonder if 5am is his wake up time? I`m going through similar things with my son (17 weeks), but for him it`s an hour later. We aren`t on any book routine, just the one that he naturally fell into with some guidance. I read Babywise and had high hopes that my baby would be able to sleep through the night...not so. He still wakes up every 3 hrs after his initial longer sleep. Come 6am (which is starting to get earlier bc of the earlier morning light), I just take him into bed with us. He will usually settle down pretty quickly, with or without a feed. I don`t know why.
    I read another thread on here about baby`s early waking times, 5am, 6am, etc. It`s like they are hard-wired or something.
    Also my baby`s not a great napper - took him til about 10 weeks or so to even do it. When he discovered his fingers, he was able to self soothe, but even now once he wakes, it`s nearly impossible to settle him down again.
    Mine always fell asleep in the bjorn until I started to put him face out. Now there`s too much to look at.
    sorry no real advice, as I`m kinda in the same boat. I myself am wondering if I will just accept it or not...


  3. #3
    aussiegal is offline Registered User
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    If it is the light waking the baby I would recommend completely blacking out the window so no light can come in. Our bodies generally react to light, particularly babies and toddlers know it's time to get up when the light comes on!

    Black out curtains don't cut it in my opinion which is why we can regularly be seen cardboarding out our kids' windows! It is really effective. Our first child always woke up between 7.30am and 8.30, and it didin't destroy his naps and he still went to bed at 7pm.

    Our second child hasn't needed us to do this, he is almost two and has always woken between 7 and 7.30.

    Our first born who is now 3 started waking up around 6am and sometimes earlier recently and not getting enough sleep was making him cranky all day long so we've just gone back to blacking out the window, with garbage bags this time. It's not pretty but I believe sleep is really important for everyone but especially for kids.

    We're very lucky with out 8 week old. He sleeps til 8 or 8.30. Yay.


  4. #4
    LeahH is offline Registered User
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    Aussiegal: 8.30m you are VERY lucky, I am deeply enviously

    It could be light - will try a black out option. Currently I have a black sheet that goes around his hammock so it's not total blackness, but shields 70% of the light out.

    It could be that 5am is his wake up time, that sort of would make sense as he's exactly the same until I get him up (at 6.30am or so) and he's perfectly fine (so I therefore conclude pain is unlikely otherwise the crying and straining would continue??).

    thanks


  5. #5
    babybat_mindie is offline Registered User
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    a few thoughts.

    I have two children a girl of 3years old and a boy of 5 months.
    they both have the similar morning rutine. They both want to get up at 6:30 every morning. My three year old then will play until about 1pm when she starts to get cranky. My 5month old will nap at 9 through 10 and then nap again at 2:30 in the afternoon. He usually sleeps untill 6 then he wont retire untill 9 at night. He has problems in the morning of not being able to settle himself. But I found that hes wanting to sleep on his tummy now. So I laydown, on a couch or bed, and lay him tummydown on my cheast for about an hour of peaceful sleep, after that I lay him on his play mat on the floor and keep a very close eye on him. Maybe your child is changing his sleep positions, our 3 year old did the same around the same time only she wanted to be only on her side.
    light does seem to be an issue with my son as well and we have a thick blanket over the bedrooms windows.


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