Early wakings
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Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=29535
Printed Date: 30 August 2025 at 3:03pm
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Topic: Early wakings
Posted By: wellygirl
Subject: Early wakings
Date Posted: 23 October 2009 at 4:27pm
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I know this is an issue for a lot of people, but my DD constantly wakes at 4.30/5am and won't resettle. I try feeding, changing etc all in the dark with no eye contact or talking, but she's well and truly awake. But when we officially get up, she grizzles with tiredness and goes back to sleep around 6.30 for her first nap of an hour.
Her bedtime is usually 7, with a dream feed at 10.30 but she'll still wake at 2am, then again at 4.30/5. I've tried adjusting bedtime forwards and back, but it seems to make no difference. Does anyone have advice? |
Replies:
Posted By: mollycat
Date Posted: 23 October 2009 at 5:16pm
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This sounds exactly like my child too. If anyone has suggestions, bring them on! ------------- http://tickers.cafemom.com"> 
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Posted By: crafty1
Date Posted: 23 October 2009 at 6:06pm
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hmmm alex has been through phases of this. We used a dummy with him and that usually helped him to either soothe himself back to sleep or keep him quiet in his cot for an hour or so till i could face getting up.
He just seemed to wake later as time went on, nothing we really did, maybe the change of daytime sleeps or routine but never anything i could point to i'm afraid. Could you bring him into your bed and get him to sleep that way? At least that way you'll be able to lie down! Another thing we do when it is bad is that we take turns getting up, so dh does one night and i do the next etc. That way you are guaranteed a sleep every second night. Oh and EARPLUGS!!! Love my earplugs ;-) you can still hear them when they really wind up but otherwise help you sleep through their chattering or just grizzling. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: wellygirl
Date Posted: 24 October 2009 at 9:59am
I wish the dummy worked... She just spits it out and keeps crying, and being in bed with us just seems to stimulate her more! But sharing nights is a good idea, will run it past DH 
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Posted By: blondy
Date Posted: 24 October 2009 at 11:52am
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we have early starts here too (5.15am yetserday, although this morning was a lovely sleep-in till 6.30!)
It does come and go, so fingers crossed it's something you just have to ride out for now....until the early starts come back again! Advice from a book i have (Good night sleep tight by kim west - love it!) says that you pick your 'start of the day' time, and anything before that is still nighttime. so even though it's unbelievably hard to do at that time of the morning, you act the same way you would at 2am and try your hardest t re-settle (be it via feeding, rocking, everything quiet and dark etc etc). If it then takes you to your starting the day time (for us it's 6am), you leave the room for a couple of minutes and come back in and do the "yay it's morning, let's get up" routine of turning on lights, being louder and happy etc (god knows how you're meant to do that after already being awake for an hour  ), but anyway, apparently it can take a while but eventually they get the message that morning doesn't start until 6am (or whatever time you choose). The trick is picking a time and sticking to it, otherwise your day creeps earlier and earlier. What we do is just leave her until 6am at the earliest, and fortunately she is used to it, so is happy (or at the worst mildly complainy) to play with some toys/books we leave around the cot and looks at her aquarium that she can turn on. We also leave her water bottle where she can reach it.....and we try and ignore her and go back to sleep!
However, obviously some of this isn't yet applicable to a 4month old!  The book i mentioned before has age-appropriate advice, so I'll have a read of the 3-6 month chapter and see what it says.
Edit for spelling! -------------  
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Posted By: blondy
Date Posted: 24 October 2009 at 12:28pm
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ok, so there's no advice on early wakers for 4 month olds, but at 6 months, the book suggests these things:
*check the room isn't getting too light or noisy at that time *make sure your baby gets enough daytime sleep *before start time (like 6am), stay in room with baby but don't get them out of cot and try to get back to sleep....but if your presence is too stimulating, try leaving the room and checking back in every few minutes. (don't imagine that would be much fun with screaming going on!) *if the baby is hungry then feed, but do it the same way you would at 2am. I would also check the room isn't too cold - sometimes the temperature can drop at that hour of the morning, and while our daughter almost always wakes at 5am, she does tend to go back to sleep by herself, but if it's too cold she wont. hope that might help a little -------------
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Posted By: SarahJane
Date Posted: 25 October 2009 at 9:07pm
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This is te coldest time of the night. Are you sure she isn't waking through cold?
Perhaps have a heater on timer, or throw on an extra blanket at 2am wake. Do you really have to do a nappy change? That really won't be helping. Is the feed a good one, or just a comfort one? If the latter perhaps slowly cut down on the volume. |
Posted By: BerryBliss
Date Posted: 25 October 2009 at 9:16pm
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My Tessa likes to get up very early at the moe, between 5 and 6am *sigh* i just get up with her and start the day and in the weekend i have a sleep in. Shes been waking at this time for a few weeks now, thinking maybe to do with DLS??
Sorry no advice but sometimes it helps to know your not alone ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  DD 1999 DS 2003 DS 2006 DD 2009 |
Posted By: mummymonster
Date Posted: 26 October 2009 at 9:10am
DS also does 7/7.30pm bed, 10.30 dreamfeed (BF), 2am BF, 5am BF, and awake around 7am. He's is almost 3 mths. I thought (hoped, dreamed) that after 3 mths he'd start dropping the 2am feed. I feel bad about it, but we're just about to go for FF at the dream feed hoping this will push the 2am feed out and let me get more than 3hrs sleep at a go ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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wellygirl wrote:Posted By: kellie
Date Posted: 26 October 2009 at 9:22am
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Sorry not much help, but my DS went through the exact same phase at the same age. He grew out of it after a few weeks though :) ------------- 
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