# Twins waking at 5am wide awake



## MummyIwanabe

Please help me!

This past week my twins have gone from waking at 7/7.30am to 5 ;( if they ever used to do this we'd feed and put back to bed. Now they are wide awake and definately not going back to sleep! 

They're 9 months old nearly corrected.

They have 2 naps in day which used to be 10.30-11ish and 2.30-3.30ish then bed at 6.30. I tried dragging them out till 7.30pm but they got over tired and were harder to put to bed and then still woke early. 

Thinking of putting them in separate rooms and once fed leaving them to cry until a more reasonable time? That's what I read online, did anyone do this? Did it work? 

They've just become more active so if anything I'd think they'd sleep more?!

Btw when they wake early they're not interested in milk really so they're not even hungry they just want to play 

Any suggestions welcome thank u :)


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## Mea

Mine went through a period of doing exactly the same, and then they just stopped all on there own!! Not much help to you at the minute getting up that early is horrible, but just wanted to let you know they may just stop waking early by themselves.


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## lizziedripping

Ah, the dreaded '5am wake up call', I remember it well! All babies and children have a natural period of light sleep at around 5am hun. They shouldn't be fully awake at this point, but in a lighter sleep which then moves back into a deeper sleep again. It's a tricky time because lots of babies still don't know how to soothe the,selves back off again, try to attract some attention instead and get into the habit of waking fully.

I personally wouldn't recommend separating them, because it is unlikely that this will solve the problem - unless of course you'd prefer them in seperate rooms long term anyway? Just do what you'd do at 2am if they woke, and ignore the noises and cries if you can. You could leave them for a while, only going in after 20mins to give a firm 'sleepy time' message and retreating immediately with no interaction. It's hard at first, but the babies will soon get the message that this is sleep time still and not play time. Do you have a black out curtain? Is it still reasonably dark in their room at 5am? 

You might also try to drop their morning sleep and make the transition now to one huge afternoon sleep. They are coming to an age where this might make their day time sleep of a better quality, and you could then push their night time sleep on to 7.30. They will sleep longer in the morning and then go happily to a nap after lunch. At this age they could do 7 til 7, nap at 1 til 3pm. Initially they will be cranky late morning, but eventually they'll manage til the afternoon. You could even do a 11.30/12 lunch, bed by 12.30. 

Your babies have fallen into the trap common at this age of early waking, needing a late morning nap as a result, then knackered by tea time. Adjusting the day time sleep might help with the 5am waking too - its amazing just how much sleep patterns in the day impact on night time sleep.

These are all suggestions hun, but try to persevere - it seems impossible to implement at first, but if you can make these small adjustments it really does work. Let me know how you get on xxx


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## TTCnum2

Try cutting it down to just one nap during the day. It might take a few days to figure out a pattern that works for you and them, but it will work itself out. Maybe try putting them down around 1pm for a nap, and keeping them up til 7:30. That's where I would start off and adjust timing as needed. It won't happen overnight, with my son it was a transition, which I think is normal, but once you all fall into a pattern, it should work out better, and they'll sleep a little later. Children's sleep needs change several times before the age of 2, and sometimes it's hard to change a schedule, but you'll be fine. Just find something that works for you :o


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## MummyIwanabe

ahh thank you ladies for your help I really appreciate it :)

This morning they woke early again - I checked on them quickly then left them till 6.50am when they really cried and fed them then. A much better improvement so I will continue with that for a while and see how we go :)

Fingers crossed!!


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## niki_nichole

you could also feed them when they wake up, put them back in bed and just let them crty if they do. It will teach them that it is not time to get up yet and evenutally they will be in a system


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## MummyIwanabe

Will def do this too hopefully it will work quickly!! Haha!!!


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## Nut_Shake

Mine did this too, it will sort itself out! I pushed their morning nap later to 9.30 instead of 9 and their afternoon nap to 1.30 or 2, slowly they started to sleep a bit later. It's just a phase though. Mine have been waking between 6 and 6.30 for about 2 months now, I'm wishing they get back to 7 soon! When they were waking at 5 I was doing controlled crying with them, it did help and they started to sleep till a bit later.

I personally found that cutting their naps down didn't help, actually, they sleep longer at night when they have 2 good naps in the day xx


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## MummyIwanabe

Thank you :) its gd to know that I'm not the only one and it's hopefully a phase. Thank u for all the support xx


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## chan8180

I also went though this, spent weeks of CC on and off trying to get them out if it but all that happened is they just cried until 0630 then it was up time anyway and was shattered by 8 from alll that crying. I finally just gave in, went with the flow and when they woke just handed over a bottle and went back to bed. From that day they have drunk the bottle and turned back over until 0730-8am !! Sometimes its not worth fighting it, mine are just starting to push that first wake up now to more 6-630 :thumbup:


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## MummyIwanabe

Mine don't seem that interested in the milk just play so I've been leaving them in their cots till 7 so they're getting used to that :)


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