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4:45am wake-ups in nearly 3 year old...how to shift??

694 views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  aspire2b 
#1 ·
My son will be three in March and consistently wakes up at 4:45am every. single. morning. Its killing me and I don't know how to change it...especially because a later bedtime it doesn't seem to change when he wakes. He's nursing a couple of times a day (mostly right before bed and first thing in the mornings), and I recently night weaned. Our new rule is that boobies sleep until daytime, but I have let him nurse when he wakes up at 4:45 (like clockwork...argh!!) with the hopes that he'll fall back to sleep (he does sometimes). He goes to bed between 6 and 6:30pm and even a 45 minute nap will reset him enough that its hard to get him to bed before 8 even though he's exhausted. Is this a phase? I feel like he's not getting enough sleep but there's no way we'd be able to get him to bed much earlier than 6 (my nearly 5 year old sleeps 11-12 hours a night). Thoughts and suggestions welcome!
 
#2 ·
Probably not very helpful, but we got it to stop by going to Australia for vacation :) The radical time change seemed to reset him (though by reset I mean from 4:30 to 5:30). Maybe a light box would be able to get you some sort of help though?

Oh, and I imagine somebody will suggest that not nursing when he wakes up might help, but it didn't with my ds (though this was all shortly after turning two, rather than almost 3).

If you think he's actually hungry, what time is dinner? Maybe a bedtime snack with lots of fat (I've heard ice cream is good for this)
 
#3 ·
wow - i have an early riser myself ....i gotta say - im liking the idea of an extended vacation to Australia! lol - ive never been out of the country (well except Canada...) before.... and this is really as good a reason as any!
:love


of course i was gonna suggest the early bedtime - you are already doing that ....maybe even go a little earlier - like 6pm promptly every night - and is LO getting a lot of physical exercise?

my son was 3 in August and has been up between 5 - 6AM his entire life....occasionally sleeping in as late as 6:15 - and occasionally getting up at 4:30 am - we nurse in the AM too - but he is UP and spares no time wriggling free and taking off for the living room.....

we live in NY and its been super cold here so we have been inside a LOT and i think its worse when we dont get some physical activity ....when he does nap - he will sleep for two full hours - then he is up until between 8 - 9 PM ....still up at 5 though.....

for a while i had him on a nice schedule - up at 5...no nap - bed at 6. Of course - we cannot leave the house in a car....be around other children after 2 pm ....and i live in fear of him nodding off at the dinner table (at 4pm)

OK - so real insight - other than to commiserate - and to second that Australia idea!
 
#4 ·
We have the same problem, although not any suggestions. Our almost 3-yr-old always wakes up around 5:30, no matter what time he goes to bed and no matter if he has a nap or not. He also won't go to sleep until 8:30 or 9. Mornings have been rough. He's so tired. Not sure what to do. Wouldn't really mind if he was up at 5 if he was asleep before 7:30. The over-tiredness really worries me.
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by motherhendoula View Post

we live in NY and its been super cold here so we have been inside a LOT and i think its worse when we dont get some physical activity ....when he does nap - he will sleep for two full hours - then he is up until between 8 - 9 PM ....still up at 5 though.....

for a while i had him on a nice schedule - up at 5...no nap - bed at 6. Of course - we cannot leave the house in a car....be around other children after 2 pm ....and i live in fear of him nodding off at the dinner table (at 4pm)

OK - so real insight - other than to commiserate - and to second that Australia idea!
Bolding mine, but its this that drives us nuts....basically him falling apart between 2ish and bedtime, and doing everything to keep him happy but also not falling asleep! Gah! It sucks for my 5 year old too because her brother's miserable and all activities have to be tailored around keeping him awake and not subjecting his misery onto others. I'm going to try for a 6pm bedtime tonight. That was my goal last night, but we failed.

Not that I want others to have this issue too, but its nice knowing we're not the only ones. See you in Australia, ladies?
:p
 
#7 ·
Hi there, for the past 3 weeks my 25 month old son has been doing the same. He used to be an all night nurser until we gently night weaned at 22 months After night weaning he started rising at 6am instead of 7-7:30am. However, for the last 3 weeks it's been 5am and often resisting sleep until 8:40-9pm. He's tired which is so frustrating. I'm hoping it's a sleep regression phase... Might this be a factor with your LO? Also could it be linked to your recent night weaning do you think? It's such a guessing game I find.
 
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