Baby Waking At 4.00 Every Morning...help

[proudmary]

Hi all, my little grandson is 9 months old and mum is having an awful time during the morning, she is so tired I hoped someone on here might have some advice. After a couple of weeks controlled crying he now goes to bed awake and happy, he has never been the best sleeper and has two or three half hour sleeps during the day and always awake by 4.00 a.m., I have suggested as long as he isnt hungry and is dry she tries to leave him so he has another hour or two but that isn't working, does anyone else have any suggestions?
Thanks x

[anneasquith]

what time does he go to bed at night. may he still be hungry ?

[roslyn251254]

Try keeping him awake all day?

[Sqad]

So......he wakes at 4.am.....what is the big deal?

If he cries....then let him.

[proudmary]

Thanks both, he goes to bed about 7, if he is kept awake he just cries becasue he is so tired, he has a bottle and rusks with warm milk before bed x

[anneasquith]

sqad,,,,,,,,,,,,how long would you let the child cry for ?

[Sqad]

anne.....until i got up at 6.a.m.

2 hours........what is the problem?

[sandyRoe]

But how could you sleep with all the noise?

[anneasquith]

delay his bedtime for an hour until he sleeps his 9 hours, and wakes up maybe 7am?

[Sqad]

sandy.....put it in another room and close the doors.

[sandyRoe]

You're not a follower of Dr Spock, then? ;-)

[jourdain2]

Unless he has a problem (my 2nd daughter was mucusy and choked and turned blue sometimes when screaming, so I'd usually check on her when she stopped yelling) I'd just ignore him. Try keeping him awake more in the evenings & put him to bed a bit later, he'll be grumpy but it should break the pattern.

[Sqad]

sandy.....Dr Spock? wasn't he the fellow in Star Wars..a guy with big ears?

Naaaah!

[Prudie]

7pm to 4am is not a bad length of time to be asleep for the baby. Has she tried waking him at her bedtime, maybe 11ish with a bottle so he may sleep again until a bit later in the morning?

[Sqad]

I really don't understand the problem here......either get up and feed him or let him cry..................have women suddenly started having babies?

[Sycamore3House]

Make sure he is in his own room. Don't let him sleep after a certain time in the afternoon & delay his bedtime. If he is in a cot have something for him to play with if he wakes. Have a bottle to hand to help himself when he wakes.

[jourdain2]

Thanks Prudie, you've reminded me that I used to get the babies up about 11p.m. and give them a top-up feed. They then went through until 7-ish fairly quickly.

[EDDIE51]

7pm to 4am is 9 hours ! how long do you expect a 9 month old baby to sleep for at a time?
We had 5 kids and now we have 12 grandchildren we would have been happy to get 9 hours rest a night. Either get your daughter to go to bed earlier or put the baby to bed later. I would gradually change the baby's bed time to 9pm or even 10pm. As others have said try waking him at 10 or 11pm and give him a small feed to settle him for the night. You say he goes to bed awake and happy, I would leave him until he was really tired and then put him to bed.

[bednobs]

well rather unusually i find myself agreeing with sqad - i can't see what the problem is - just put him to bed later 9 hours is a fantastic sleep for a 9 month old! I have friends with older babies that can't go for more than 5 hours at a time. If she's tired, she should go to bed earlier

[Retrochic]

proundmary wrote:
'After a couple of weeks controlled crying he now goes to bed awake and happy'

He should be gong to bed tired. What is 'controlled crying'? Keep him up as long as possible until he gets fractious then give him a warm bath,milky drink and straight to bed.

[corylus]

Could he be hungry, what is he being fed at 9 months, my son was up and walking at that age. (That's another story!)