hi moms, i need help again.
my 16 month old daughter is sleeping through the night now (YAAAAY!)but has recently been waking up at 5am on the dot. when she first started sleeping all night, just maybe a month ago, she was waking at 6 am. for the past three mornings it's been 5 am, first i tried letting her go back to sleep but no. then i brought her from her crib into bed and nursed her and after over an hour she fell back asleep and we slept for another hour or so which was great, and showed me that she really needed more sleep. this morning she nursed for over an hour until i finally had it, and i had to get up for work anyway! but she's tired and i know she needs a couple more hours of sleep. WHY is she waking at five and not going back to sleep, even after nursing in bed, in the dark, for over an hour???? i'm thinking of tomorrow not getting her from her crib if she wakes up before 6. but even at 6 she wakes up still quite tired (she goes to sleep around 8 pm). i feel like if i just give up and get up and out of bed at 5 am, she's going to be hungry and tired and grouchy, but i can't stand lying in bed for an hour nursing her (very uncomfortable for me) not knowing if she is going to fall back asleep or not. i'd prefer to give her real food instead of an hour of breastmilk, because needless to say she's not too interested in breakfast these days.
any ideas moms? this is driving me nuts.
I don't have a solution, but wanted to say we're going through the same thing. I was hoping to get some ideas from folks here. I am torn because part of me loves the snuggle time in the morning before work, but I think he's tired and needs more sleep. Well, good luck and maybe if you find something that works, re-post!
Hi R.,
We're struggling with a similar problem with our 11-month old. No solution yet, but Marc Weissbluth suggests an earlier bed time. Sounds counterintuitive, but we're about to try that.
As the other mommy wrote, please let us know what ends up working for you!
And good luck, hang in there. :)
H.
I had luck getting my son to sleep 12 hours by putting him to bed earlier. 8pm sounds a little late and that saying "sleep begets sleep" has proven true in my home. Don't worry, every mom I know has struggled for a solution to the 5 am wake-up hour. Good luck!
Hello,
My children never went to bed before 9 or 10 pm at that age then slept until 7 in the morning, so I think she could stay up another hour or so....
Have you tried a snack at bedtime? By snack I mean a protein based food, ice cream, cheese, warm milk... If the child needs to et up to nurse at 5 maybe hunger is an issue??
A.
