Sleeep
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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=33044
Printed Date: 27 August 2025 at 9:37pm
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Topic: Sleeep
Posted By: Bobbie
Subject: Sleeep
Date Posted: 23 April 2010 at 1:45pm
is for the weak right? 
Well that's what my little girl seems to think. We don't have trouble with settling her or anything like that but the issue is that she's decided anywhere between 4am and 5am is a great time to start the day 
Any advice on pushing this out would be gratefully received. Our routine is a bottle of EBM at 6pm and bed at 6:30pm. Then she usually wants a feed sometime between 12 and 2am. But when she wakes again between 4 and 5am (or 5:30 if we're really lucky) she isn't hungry or upset she's just awake. It takes between 1 - 3 hours for her to go down and then she sleeps for only 45 mins to an hour (her daytime sleep length). We're going to try moving her bedtime to 7pm but I don't think that's going to make a heap of difference. But any other ideas would be great  -------------  
 
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Replies:
Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 23 April 2010 at 2:35pm
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I could only think of moving her bedtime out... ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: tiptoes
Date Posted: 23 April 2010 at 2:40pm
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We usually say sleep is for girls but since Morgan is a girl that doesn't work haha.
Here's a couple of ideas, though you might have tried them. * Black out curtains - just in case light is waking her, but I don't suppose there's much light at 4am. * A heater? Do you have one going at night? * Go in just before she usually wakes and start doing the patting and shushing thing for 10 mins, so she doesn't wake properly. Though, if it's not the exact time every day, that mightn't work. * Cooper was waking a few times with wet nappies around then. Do you change her nappy at that last feed? I know they say not to, but maybe a little more awake at that first time and then back to sleep might make the difference? * One of the other girls in our thread got recommended to wake her baby before going to bed and have her up for an hour play and I think from memory that did the trick? Not ideal but better than 4am. ------------- http://alterna-tickers.com">  
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Posted By: Disco
Date Posted: 23 April 2010 at 4:13pm
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DD is five and half months and we were having major issues with sleep. waking anywhere from 1-6 times a night. also feeding.
So we got to a point we just couldn't take any more sleep deprivation so i read a few books and talked to a few different people. then last week we did one night of tough love. we waited for ten minutes before getting up to her. the first time she went back to sleep. the next two times i got up after ten mins and checked her nappy. then put her back to bed and sat beside her cot and placed my hand on her. she cried on and off for about 45 mins each time. then once she had calmed down. i said good night and gave her a kiss and she went to sleep after i had left the room. the next day we were all tired but i noticed she fed a lot better instead of the mucking about and fussing she was doing previously, she just concentrated on feeding. She also slept better each nap time. Since then out of the last 7 nights she's slept from 7pm - 6/7am 6 of those nights. She's so much happier during the day and well I think it's just reset her clock for sleeping and feeding. She also resettles herself sometimes during the day if she wakes after 45mins. i don't know how long she will continue but I'm amazed at the difference it's made to me, my husband and daughter, and even the dog, who was a bit miserable with all the noise and waking each night! she starts solids in a few weeks which I'm hoping will help even more. i think it's just a matter of trying different things until you find something that works for you, also feeling comfortable about what your doing too. disco |
Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 23 April 2010 at 4:36pm
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i would push her bed time out to 7-7.30am if it were me....
Jake still does this occassionally and he gets put in bed with us.... 99% of the time he will go back to sleep. -------------   
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Posted By: tiptoes
Date Posted: 23 April 2010 at 5:44pm
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Just thought of another thing. We just started using the safe-T sleep last weekend and since then night sleeps improved dramatically. Not sure if a coincidence? ------------- http://alterna-tickers.com">
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Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 23 April 2010 at 6:33pm
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Thanks guys. Pushing it out to 7pm tonight and I'll keep an eye on the temp as well.
I'm borrowing a safety sleep off one Jan mum'sand it should be arriving soon so that might help too. That's a good point about the nappies. I'll change her at the middle of the night feed. Problem is that she isn't unsettled and tired - she's wide awake as far as I can tell. But I'll give pretty much anything a shot. -------------
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Posted By: MrsH
Date Posted: 23 April 2010 at 6:39pm
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Maybe an extra blanket to keep her snugglybuggly when it gets a bit cooler at that time of the morning - then she might not wake up so 'thoroughly', stay sleepy and go back to sleep...... ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 23 April 2010 at 8:53pm
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Oh yeah, Jake definately wakes if he is too cold!
Oh and I forgot in house "sleep is for wimps" -------------
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Posted By: tiptoes
Date Posted: 24 April 2010 at 9:11am
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Any luck last night? ------------- http://alterna-tickers.com">
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Posted By: wellygirl
Date Posted: 25 April 2010 at 10:53am
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My DD used to do this, and stopped around the time we ditched the sleep aids (dummy, swaddle, rocking) and taught her to self settle - two books called Save Our Sleep and the SleepEasy Solution were very helpful.
Otherwise, I agree with the other posters - warmer room, darker curtains and tweaking the bedtime might also do the trick. |
Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 25 April 2010 at 12:47pm
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Well we moved the bedtime to 7pm and changed the nappy at the 1pm feed.
She woke at 4:20. Last night she woke at 4am again 
We'll try pushing it out to 7:30pm bedtime tonight and see if it helps. Also I'm going to put a heater in her room. She seems warm enough but it's worth a shot. (she wears a merino nightie and a merino sleepsack at night) Thanks guys. Even if things don't work it's so nice to have people trying to help us. It's lonely at 4am -------------
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Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 25 April 2010 at 4:18pm
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How many day sleeps is she having?
Is it time to move from 3 to 2??? (I cant even remember when Jake dropped the 3rd nap....) -------------
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Posted By: tiptoes
Date Posted: 25 April 2010 at 7:04pm
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Aggghhh!!! That sucks so much. Crossing fingers that the heater makes a difference or one of the other ideas as you must be tired getting up at that time for the day. ------------- http://alterna-tickers.com">
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Posted By: CarrieMum
Date Posted: 25 April 2010 at 10:31pm
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My DS is 11 months old & always been an early riser. Usually now it's 6am but a few months ago it was always anywhere from 5-5:30am. His bedtime has always been around 6:30pm.
I was very grateful that he slept through til early morning so I never wanted to complain but it was a pain. We also tried moving his bedtime to later but it made no difference. I do think blackout blinds is a good idea to try. What I did was make a decision that I would not start the day before 6am so I would go in & try to resettle if that didn't work I'd put some toys in the cot for him to play with & I'd turn off the monitor, leave both doors open & go back to bed until I could hear his chatter get louder & usually it was half an hour or so later by then. You might just have to have early nights yourself until she moves out her wake up time ( hopefully soon). Good luck. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 26 April 2010 at 8:21am
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if she is waking and happ to lie there then just leave her... she may go back to sleep.
in my house any wake ups before 6 were treated as night wakings, so a cuddle and feed and a clean nappy then back to bed! and if she want sto lie there and gurgle to herself and stay awake then thats fine too. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: Peanut
Date Posted: 26 April 2010 at 8:48am
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Bobbie, not much help to you as I tried everything to get Mac to sleep later than 5.30am and it never happened. Even now he still wakes at that time. We do get the occasional later week when it will be 6am.
I think he is just an early riser. |
Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 26 April 2010 at 11:20am
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Yep pushing her night routine out doesn't seem to have worked. Last night we were at a friend's place and she dropped off for an unexpected nap at 5pm so we decided to try really pushing out her night routine. So she went to bed at 8:45. She woke for her feed at 3am (so an hour later than normal) but still woke at 4am.
We do have blackout curtains in the room but it's dark at 4am anyway. I was thinking of maybe getting up around 4 and sitting in the room and seeing if there is a car or noise at that time that might be waking her. She usually wakes up grizzling and while she's happy to play after she's initially been tended to she rolls onto her stomach and gets stuck and then gets upset. However we do have a safety sleep coming which I'm hoping will help. She has about 3 day sleeps currently. She is up for 3 hours at a time and then usually sleeps for 45 minutes to an hour 15 . I am pretty sure she can't go down to two yet as she's pretty ratty and sleepy by the time she's had her night bottle. I fear you guys may be right and it's just her normal wake time. The issue is 5am would be fine but 4am is just too early for us. We have been going to bed at 9pm which gives us an hour and a half after Rowan goes down but even that doesn't feel like enough sleep really. I think the issue is that our body clocks are just not able to manage functioning at that time. -------------
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Posted By: Peanut
Date Posted: 26 April 2010 at 11:59am
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I feel for you and its sooo hard as you try all the advice possible and they still wake up. I tried keeping Mac up until 10pm for a week and he still woke at the same time!
Frano is the same so I figure both my kids are early risers. Since Mac is up at that time anyway I haven't tried a whole lot to make Frano sleep later as I may as well be up with them both. When Mac was little I would lie on the couch with him at 5am and then we would both doze a wee bit. I would usually put a kids DVD on so at least there was something to "distract" Mac while I cat napped. I agree that 4am is too early to start the day. Does she settle in bed with you at that time? |
Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 26 April 2010 at 12:28pm
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Sometimes after about 30 minutes I can pop the boob in and she will settle with us but it doesn't usually work as she's not at all hungry. -------------
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Posted By: ElfsMum
Date Posted: 26 April 2010 at 12:39pm
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ugh hugs to you... Ethan did this for a while both as a baby and as a toddler and it was hell so i can sympathise.. we didn't do anything special except cuddle him he never ever will sleep unless he wants too...I'm lucky Liam so far is much better night sleeper but awful in the day..he's a 'sleep is for pansies' person:)
anyway no ideas but i know how it feels so hugs! :) ------------- Mum to two amazing boys! |
Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 27 April 2010 at 8:58am
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Last night we put Morgan down at 8pm. She woke at 11 and was up until 12 but DH settled her and we didn't feed her. Then she slept until 4:30. We gave her the normal night feed and changed her and she went back down until 6:30. I feel so much better! (despite waking at 3:30 and not being able to go back to sleep until after I fed her).
We tried to squeeze an extra nap in a 5pm but she only went down for 20 minutes. She seemed pretty awake and happy though after that so maybe we are just trying to do too many naps in the day. -------------
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