https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 31 Jul 2026 08:59:21 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1955238 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 17:38:28 +0000 birdofafeather 1955238@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@kes18: @CakeLady: i would second the idea of leaving him until he gets really upset! i don't go in for her unless she's upset at a time like that. sometimes she talks to herself for a bit and then falls back on her own. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1955149 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 16:58:22 +0000 CakeLady 1955149@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: Hugs to you too :heart: Sleep deprivation is SO hard. We did sleep training when I was teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown and it went pretty well (max crying time was 20min). It is amazing that getting just a bit more sleep has made me feel like a human again. </p> <p>@ellewoods84: Sympathy does help a little, thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1955059 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 16:19:00 +0000 ellewoods84 1955059@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CakeLady: oh okay. I'm so sorry, which I know doesn't help! But it could just be that he's not a sleepy baby, like you said. If he's not acting overtired/cranky, he might just have a lower sleep need. My daughter has never slept near the recommended amount, but she's generally happy and doesn't seem bothered by it, so I'm just trying to embrace it, even though it means I am getting less sleep too! Like everything else, hopefully this is just a phase, and one that passes quickly! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1955042 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 16:12:26 +0000 Mrs. Lion 1955042@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CakeLady: I'm at the end of my rope and not far from a nervous breakdown over here, so I wish I knew!! sigh... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1955023 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 16:03:46 +0000 Corduroy 1955023@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CakeLady: I don't have advice but you have my sympathy. My LOs naps and sleep were very similar. Hopefully you didn't name your kid something that means dawn/sunrise - I think that was part of my problem. </p> <p>LO finally grew out of the 4am wakeups a few months ago. I tried for months to solve it but the situation only seemed better when I gave into it and tried to find some positives in it (sunrise, getting to eat two breakfasts, no wait at 24 hour diners). I hope you find a solution quickly. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1955008 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 15:54:31 +0000 kes18 1955008@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CakeLady: That is what I do! Leave her alone unless she gets upset. She always goes back to sleep (eventually, I think she has chattered upwards of an hour before) if it is that early. </p> <p>For us, only if she's doing it at 7am or later does she eventually start protesting and fussing and at that point I go in and figure she wants to get up for the day. But even at 7am+ I leave her chattering until she starts to fuss because there's always a chance she will go back to sleep!<br /> Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1955003 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 15:49:59 +0000 CakeLady 1955003@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Leah: I will definitely read up on that. Maybe I give the 2-3-4 schedule a try, especially since he is starting daycare soon and they are on a two nap schedule.</p> <p>@kes18: He usually isn't crying, just chattering (sometimes loudly), I usually leave him there for a bit, but maybe I can just leave him until he falls back to sleep or gets upset. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954979 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 15:34:19 +0000 kes18 1954979@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Is he crying at 4am? Or just chattering to himself? Mine wakes up sometimes and chatters to herself (usually at 5 or 6am), sometimes for 45 min. I just leave her be and she eventually falls back asleep... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954958 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 15:19:07 +0000 Orchid 1954958@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CakeLady: look up under-tired/overtired loop. At 6 months, he MIGHT do better with more awake time??? Who knows, these babies are all so different, but at 6 months I was so tired on all the short naps that I just decided to put baby on a 2-3-4 schedule with a later bedtime. Naps have lengthened considerably and he wakes at a decent hour most days. Now if we could eliminate some MOTN wakeups, it would be great. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954922 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 14:58:03 +0000 looch 1954922@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Going off Mr Bee's post above about the end of the sleep cycle, one thing you can try is wake to sleep, where you basically interrupt their cycle just before it is ending, to get them to slightly wake up and then fall back asleep. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954915 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 14:56:31 +0000 mrbee 1954915@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CakeLady: If he's sleeping the same total as he did before night training, then it's good that he's not sleeping less than before! Maybe nap training could extend his total sleep?</p> <p>Another thought: I heard that 4 am is a classic wakeup time because sleep cycles tend to be around 4 hours, and that's the end of the second sleep cycle. Is he able to self-soothe and get himself back to sleep these days? Our son used to rub his sleeves to soothe himself back to sleep. Once he was able to control his hands enough to do that, he was able to self-soothe and get himself back to sleep when he woke up at 4 am! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954897 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 14:48:32 +0000 CakeLady 1954897@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ellewoods84: He gets between 2 and 3.5 hours of naps a days... So not a ton, maybe not even enough? I doubt pushing back his bed time would help because he usually is awake for 3 or more hours before bedtime.</p> <p>@Mrs. Lion: Thanks! I just cannot wrap my head around how you deal with an overtired baby who won't sleep more - what is the solution?</p> <p>@mrbee: His naps were the same before sleep training (we haven't nap trained) and I would guess he is getting about the same amount of sleep at night it is just in longer chunks now... Before we trained, bedtime was the same and he would sleep until 6/6:30am, but would be up for a couple of hours total in the middle of the night.</p> <p>Is it possible that this kid just doesn't need that much sleep? He is generally happy, alert and playful during the day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954769 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:29:47 +0000 Mrs. Lion 1954769@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CakeLady: We are stuck in this place right now...early riser plus overtired plus daylight savings time....it's awful :( </p> <p>Every article I read about baby sleep says that short naps and waking early are classic signs of an overtired baby. May be worth looking into. It is definitely our problem over here. </p> <p>Sending hugs because truly, this sucks :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954764 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:26:34 +0000 ellewoods84 1954764@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Man, that's hard!! How many hours in naps are you getting? He's sleeping around 9 hours at night....if he's getting a lot of day sleep, he might just not be tired anymore. We never have luck with pushing a later bedtime, she still wakes up same time every day, but it might work for you. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954761 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:23:04 +0000 mrbee 1954761@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CakeLady: so 12 hours a day or so a day? Wondering if he sleeping more than that (or less) before sleep training... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954755 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:21:37 +0000 CakeLady 1954755@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: Naps are on the short side 30-45 minutes, an hour if we are lucky, and 2 hours if we are crazy and hold him the whole time (a rare event)... He is still taking 4 naps most days, which our pediatrician thinks is too many, but because they are so short, his awake time is still 2-2.5 hours. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954739 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:16:52 +0000 blackbird 1954739@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>E used to do 4am for a bit and i would just get her up for the day. bad idea! She eventually started sleeping more when 4am became a very very boring time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954737 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:16:25 +0000 Mama Bird 1954737@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wonder if moving up his bedtime would help? My son had an 8 or 830 bedtime at that age, and he still goes to bed late, wakes up around 7 or 8, and takes a long nap in the daytime. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954720 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:06:04 +0000 mrbee 1954720@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CakeLady: Yikes, we went through that with our son and it was tough!!</p> <p>How long are naps during the day? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-is-ready-to-play-at-4am-help#post-1954711 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:03:00 +0000 CakeLady 1954711@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ever since we did some light sleep training about 3 weeks ago, DS has been waking up at 4am. And I mean waking up ready to play and there is nothing we can do to get him to go back to sleep. The sleep training was super helpful with falling asleep, staying asleep, and falling back to sleep but this early wake up is not fun. I am getting more sleep than I did when he was waking every hour and needed to be held all night, but 4am is too early! </p> <p>Some details that might be good to know... LO is almost 6 months, he falls asleep on his own with little or no fussing. Bedtime is 7:30pm, he usually sleeps until around 2am, nurses and goes back to sleep easily. Then at 4/4:30 am - wide awake! Eyes wide open, wiggly, happy, chattering, wanting to play.</p> <p>Is there anything I can do to help him sleep later? Or am I just getting greedy with sleep? </p>