6 months old, new early waking problem. HELP!! :-(

[MemmaJ]

My little boy is 6 and a half months old, and is weaned on 3 meals a day and 3 bottles a day (morning, mid afternoon and bedtime).

Up until a couple of weeks ago, he went to bed between 6 and 7pm and slept till around 6/6.30am. He hasn't had a night feed for a while now.
In the last couple of weeks though, he's decided that 5am is a great time to wake for the day..!
If he occasionally woke up that early before, I'd just go in and give him his dummy, and he'd generally go back to sleep for another hour.
Now nothing works - he's awake and that's that. He's not hungry when he wakes, he's not waking for food - he's just awake! (He still doesn't want his bottle until around 7, when he's always had it).

Which wouldn't be so bad, if it didn't affect him so badly..!
Since he's started waking that early, he's incredibly 'whingey' ALL day (I hate that word but it's the only way I can describe it!)
I assume it's because he's tired - but he doesn't cry, he literally just whines all day no matter what he's doing. Even after a nap, while he's eating - anything!

Daytime naps are a nightmare now too: he used to self-settle brilliantly and now it's a massive battle with me going backwards and forwards to him, and him screaming for at least half an hour until eventually giving in and going to sleep.

He used to be such a happy and content baby and since this early waking, he's the complete opposite (apart from at 5am, when he's full of smiles..!)

We are moving house in 6 weeks so I'm really stressed anyway, and this is really getting me down. And it's become impossible to get anything done (packing etc) because he's just so unhappy all the time and I'm constantly holding/carrying him (and he still whinges!)

He's always had a bedtime routine, I've tried earlier and later bedtimes, he's in his own bedroom to reduce disturbance (he was already in his own room before this started).
Daytime nap-wise, he doesn't have any more than 3 hours (it varies now depending on how long he battles with me for, but it's never more than that). I've tried ignoring him (he'll generally just gurgle away and play with the toys in his cot, he won't go back to sleep)
He eats well, and I can't see or feel any teeth coming.

Can anyone offer any tips, tricks or advice..? Please?!

 

[KylasBaby]

Mine did that too. She used to wake up at 7. And then 6. And now 5. Nothin had changed that's just when she gets up. We tried earlier and later bedtimes and we could put her to bed at 10 and she will still wake at 5.

3 hours is great for nap! I'd kill for 3 hours. We usually get anywhere from 1.30-2.45 with occasionally hitting 3 but not often. Have you tried increasing the time between naps? DD used to always cry and scream when put down for a nap until I increased the wake time and now she doesn't make a peep and is asleep in 3 minutes.

I can't complain abou 5am really. She sleeps 7p-5a which is pretty good even though 5am sucks for us.

 

[MemmaJ]

Yes - well he kind-of starting doing it on his own to be honest! He'd usually only manage to be awake for 2 hours but he started fussing loads when I tried to put him down after 2 hours so it's gradually stretched to more like 2.5 to 3 hours between naps - which has meant the actual sleep time is probably a bit less now (because he'll fight it and scream for a while before actually going to sleep, but still only sleep until around the same time!). I don't wake him, I just let him wake up when he wants - so his total nap time is probably more like 2 and a quarter/2 and a half hours now generally, unless he sleeps for ages on his morning nap - which he has done twice (slept for 2 hours in the morning and seemed much happier for it!)

It's horrible isn't it. I'm not complaining either as he's quite happy at 5am and I dont tend to go to him (like I said, he'll quite happily play) - and I'm alright as long as I get a cup of tea fairly swiftly, haha! But it seems to be having a really negative effect on him for the whole rest of the day, which in turn is having a negative effect on me. That's why I'll try anything at the moment to change it!

 

[donnarobinson]

I feel ur pain my eldest two both went try a stage of waking at 5am it did pass dreading Cruz going thru the same X

 

[Willow01]

My 7 month old started waking at 5am when she turned 6 months too, what is with this witching hour lol! At that time she started teething and learning to roll that's all I can think that contributed to the difference

 

[MemmaJ]

Does your LO still do it Willow..?! Please tell me this doesn't last months...!

 

[KylasBaby]

We're almost at month 4 of it here. Probably more actually. That's just her wake up time now.

Best to embrace it lol

 

[MemmaJ]

Oh Lordy.... It's not even the early wake up that's the hard bit (it's amazing how much I can get done before the school run now, haha!), it's the all day (tired?) whining that comes with it!

 

[sil]

We had a similar situation, just pushing it all by an hour. DS goes to bed at 8. He used to sleep til 7. At around 8 months he started waking at 6 instead and now at 10 months he is still waking at 6.

 

[mac1979]

There is a six month sleep regression, you just have to weather through it. Like everything else, this too shall pass.

 

[KylasBaby]

We recently played around with bedtimes the past week or so. 7pm wakes at 5:15. 8pm wakes at 5:15. 7:30 wakes at 5:15 lol. Now she's screaming when we put her down at 7 so 7:30 it is. One day she'll be old enough she can play in her room when she wakes up and let us sleep! Though by then there will probably be a sibling who doesn't haha

 

[MummyKP]

My LO tends to wake around 6:30 but sometimes it is earlier. Going away from his wake up time, do you have the wonder weeks app? My lo is only a couple of weeks older than yours and we've just been through the longest whingey period yet! I thought it was tiredness too, but it's not because even after a nap she'd do it. I swear by this app now and think it is so precise. She would whinge if sat playing on her own, on me, anywhere! It was whining all day long. We've just come out the other side of it, so it does end I promise!

 

[KylasBaby]

There's hope! Took a few months, but there's hope!

6:20am and she is SILL sleeping!! She's been slowly lengthening her wake up time. It was 5:15 for months! You know, if she made it that long. We played around with bedtimes a bit. It was 7. We tried 8 and she still woke at 5:15 so we went back to 7 and she just screamed so we settled on 7:30. Then she still woke at 5:15. Then 5:30...5:45...5:50...6...6:02....and now she's still sleeping! Do I dare hope my little sleep hating baby is learning to love sleep?!?!

 

[Sinead82]

No advice - just that We are in this club too my wee man is 7.5 months and wakes at 5 every morning without fail. We've just had to embrace and be glad he sleeps straight through from 7. But it drives me nuts!! he slept 7-7 from 8 weeks old and then at around 4-5 months it all went to sh*t for a while, he was up several times a night, so that when he first started waking at 5 I was delighted lol! But I'm over it now - if he would even make it to 6 it would feel more like a 'normal' wake up time.

On the plus side he did go through the whinging stage for about a week there and it passed again, so there's hope!