Babies that once slept until 7am, now wake at 5am. Help!

[Nut_Shake]

My twins have been in a routine since 8 weeks old. Aside from the odd day here and there they were sleeping from 7am until 7pm.

For the past few weeks they have been waking at 5am and i cant handle it anymore! They arent hungry as they dont seem famished when i give them their morning bottle and dont have a lot of it anyway. They arent in pain from teething or anything, they are just ready to wake up at 5am and play.

I have put blackout blinds on their windows so its not the light. Their room gets quite warm but they sleep in just vests and dont feel hot at all when i go in to check on them so its not that. I bring them into my bed and they just happily make noises and roll around but wont sleep. Ive tried putting them to bed an hour later at night but it makes no difference.

I can tell its just because they now know i go in when they cry at 5am so keep doing it! I leave them when they are just babbling, but when they strart crying i go in to give them their dummies but they are wide awake and will not go back to sleep. They wake a couple of times in the night for their dummies but fall straight back asleep. I have left them to cry a couple of times in the morning but its difficult to hear them both crying, and if just one is crying they keep the other up anyway.

I dont know what to do anymore, especially as they were sleeping until 7 and now all of a sudden they think wake up is 5! Also, because of their routine, milk time isnt until 7am and its hard to keep them entertained until then, even though they dont actually even cry for their milk because they arent hungry! They just want to play!

I cant handle 5 hrs sleep anymore, its killing me, no matter how early i get into bed i cant seem to fall asleep until midnight and these 5am starts are not great!

Anyone have any experience with this and ideas on what to try? xx

(And please, no anti-cio/cc comments or debates in here, thanks)

 

[hel_5]

How much sleep are they having during the day? my LO was waking at 5.30/6am for the day (having 3 naps) then for a couple of days she decided to only have 2 naps - and woke at 6.30/7 (normal time)

 

[Nut_Shake]

They are having 2/3 short naps a day, one after breakfast for about an hour and at midday for about half an hour/1 hour. Sometimes they drift off at around 4pm for at most half an hour.

What time does your LO have her naps? xx

 

[hel_5]

When she has 3 (like yesterday - and yes she was up at 5.30 ) the same times as yours!

But when she has had just 2 naps shes not had her first til 10/10.30 and then her second at 2/2.30 and then she fell asleep at 6.30pm but didnt wake up til normal time (both naps for about 1-1.5ish)

 

[LPF]

Evan went through a period of this too. We decided 7 was 'morning' so anything before was a night waking. Unless he was crying we left him in the cot. If he cried I'd go and shush him the cot and leave etc.

After a few weeks he started waking at 5 but then taking himself back to sleep after a play in his cot and then started waking later and later, usually 6.30/7 but I still only get him up at 7 so he knows this is morning.

I did a bit of reading and it's very common and often takes a few weeks to rectify. Babysleepanswers.co.uk has a whole forum section I think.

I think this was also the time he went to 2 naps 9-10.15ish and 1-2.30.

 

[clarebear2010]

Same, around the time Sebastian changed his naps this happened. It lasted a couple of weeks, but seems to have sorted itself out mostly, although waking up is still variable. He now has a short nap in the morning and between 1 and 2 hours after lunch.

 

[buddyIV]

I could've written your post Nut-Shake, apart from the fact that I've only got the one 5.00am waker! We had a solid 7.30-7 sleep pattern, only ever disrupted twice for teething purposes. Then, for no apparent reason, about 3 weeks ago he just started waking up at 5...not hungry, not thirsty, but wide-awake-I-wanna-play-Mummy-Daddy!!! We were just lifting him out of his cot and starting the day, but it started to take its toll (I cant sleep before midnight either) on us and him (Mr Cranky-Pants in the house!). After a week or so, realising he absolutely didn't need feeding or anything else, we decided just to treat it as a night-waking. We started just picking him up, rocking him until he was calm, then staying with him until he fell back asleep. First night it took about an hour of rocking to get him from uber-excited to sleepy, but it's taken less and less every night since. I *think* he's starting to get the message that its not morning yet, as last night he slept until 7 again Fingers crossed it'll be the same tonight.

Who knows why he suddenly decided 5.00am was morning, but we're trying to teach him otherwise. I've no idea if this will be any help to you at all but just wanted to share as we're dealing with exactly the same thing! Hope you get your 7.00am sleepers back soon! x

 

[anna matronic]

Evan went through this (when he slept 8-5 lol) he has stopped now and just doesn't sleep at all

 

[brunette&bubs]

MEEEE!
It really doesn't matter how many naps James has during the day...he will still wake around the same time. It sucks!
i've tried everything from CIO, pu/pd, etc...
I just gotta bite the bullet and give him breakfast and he usually likes to take another nap 1 hour after waking.

i'm just hoping this passes soon
they do sleep normal eventually.....RIGHT?!?!

 

[punk_pig]

How much sleep are they having during the day? my LO was waking at 5.30/6am for the day (having 3 naps) then for a couple of days she decided to only have 2 naps - and woke at 6.30/7 (normal time)

I was going to say this. My LO woke at 4:45am to babble two nights ago but yesterday and today I couldn't get her to take her 3:45pm nap and although I was worried she'd be a nightmare she was actually OK and then woke later the next morning.

 

[Pixelle]

Kai's been doing this too!

I think it might be an age thing (I'm hoping so )

I do put a few toys in his cot now (up the other end, no chance of suffocating) and he'll play and babble for half an hour, but once he decides it's time to get up, he cries and screams until I get him. He won't sit in bed with me, never has.

We have blackout blinds. Nap times/length make no difference to us. Bed time makes no difference either!

I don't know what to suggest really....5am starts are killing me too but nothing I do changes it at the moment. I'm hoping he'll just grow out of it!

Hope it gets better soon

 

[Murphy98]

Ours has been doing this forever it feels like. It started as 7am wake up then backslid to 6:30, then 6:00...you get the picture. We now have a rule that anything before 5:30 is treated as a night wake up and we just offer him a bottle, his soother and put him back to bed. We don't leave him to cry but will leave him if he's just chatting and babbling.

However, I suppose another way to look at it is our son goes to bed between 7pm and 8pm so by 5:30 he's had 10hrs of sleep more or less. Its hard on us, but that is a lot of sleep.

Things I think are helpful (but not fullproof) - for our 9month old no napping past 4:00pm and sometimes earlier to bed actually is better (overtired can = less sleep).

Hope this is a phase that passes quickly for you.

 

[sophxx]

My lo went through this at the same age I used to give him supper which seemed to help but after a month he just stopped doing it x

 

[Mrs IKW]

Violet usually wakes for the day at 7.45am but I treat any wake ups before 7am as night wake ups and keep going in when she cries and put her dummy back in, put light show on etc and she either amuses herself with the toys in her cot or falls back asleep. Do you have soft toys in their cots as I think this is a great way for them to amuse themselves and play till they want to sleep again. I have found she also sleeps best when there is about 4 hours between waking from her afternoon nap and bedtime and I just adjust bedtime each evening by a few mins if needed. Last night she slept 8.15pm till 8.45am! Not sure exactly when she woke up as she could of been playing - I just heard her on the monitor moving about! Mostly she sleeps 7.30pm- 7-7.45am though with a couple of wake ups for her dummy after 6am if Im not so lucky or if shes teething

 

[lozzy21]

Niamh usually wakes at about half 5 wanting to play, she's gets turned back on her back, dummy in, covers tucked in, muslin tucked in and then I get back in bed, I normly have to do this twice and then she falls back asleep. She did it this morning and is still asleep now

 

[Nut_Shake]

Thank you all! Xxxx

So i made sure they had only 2 naps yesterday; one at about 9am, one at about 1pm, each for abour 45 mins.

This morning they woke at 5.30 giggling and playing in their cots. I didn't go in... Then they fell back asleep until 6.45! Wooooo! Hoping this carries on. Thank you all for such fantastic advice and for giving me hope that it should get better, nice to know its not just me! Xxxx

 

[lozzy21]

I find the more Niamh sleeps during the day the better she sleeps at night, if she doesn't get at-least 3 hours during the day shes a witch.

 

[punk_pig]

How much sleep are they having during the day? my LO was waking at 5.30/6am for the day (having 3 naps) then for a couple of days she decided to only have 2 naps - and woke at 6.30/7 (normal time)

I was going to say this. My LO woke at 4:45am to babble two nights ago but yesterday and today I couldn't get her to take her 3:45pm nap and although I was worried she'd be a nightmare she was actually OK and then woke later the next morning.

Spoke too soon, it now doesn't seem to matter what daytime sleep she has she is up at 4:45am to play - thing is she's grumpy too cos she is still tired. I spent a hour feeding her back to sleep this morning only for her to wake 20mins later. Changed her nappy just incase and fed her AGAIN lying down and after30mins she fell asleep and I transferred her to her cot where she got another hour....bleh