how I can I deal with the 4:30am wake-up?

[porterdog]

DD is 26 months and we night-weaned approximately a month ago. It was a relatively smooth transition and we were pleased. But here we are a month later and she wakes up every morning at 4:30am, EVERY MORNING! My cut off was milk at 5am, so every morning there is crying for a minute or two while I reminder her "no milky right now." She usually settles down, or falls asleep for about 20 minutes then it's right back up at 5am for milky! I'm loosing it - and never get back to sleep after the 4:30 wake-up. Any advice?

[sarah1122]

We had the same problem with my 20 month old during night weaning, only it was 4:00am instead of 4:30am. After a couple of weeks of waking at 4am to cuddle and then AGAIN at 5am to nurse DH stepped in like some kind of taoist master (do everyone's husbands/partners do this or is it just mine?) and said "why don't you just nurse him at 4?".

Duh.

So that's exactly what we've been doing for the last month, DS gets his milk at 4am and then goes right back to sleep. I usually either fall back asleep myself or get up out of bed and enjoy a quiet house for a few hours. I find an hour of pre-dawn yoga and quiet cup of tea (alone) to be worth even more than that extra bit of sleep.

[porterdog]

Thanks Sarah. Sage advise - I think that's what we've decided here too. Another step in the road to more sleep. Thanks for your response.

[Jend1002]

Please let us know how this works for you! I don't think feeding my son at 4:30 would help. He is UP for the day. Totally awake and ready to go. I am already exhausted from all of the wakings before the 4:30 one that it really feels like a kick in the head to then get up at 4:30!!