4am...tips?!

[ValiantJoy07]

Anyone have major sleep troubles with your LO at 4 in the morning?? DD wakes a LOT at night (I don't even bother to count it would depress me, but most nights lately it's some where up near 8 or 9+ times a night) she usually settles right back in as soon as I latch her on or rub her back. But 4am hits and NOTHING settles her, I have to put her in her swing for an hour or so to get her stay asleep, some thing she used to love but now she wakes up every 20 minutes because she wants to be with me (but she won't be still and no one is sleeping)...I don't know what it is about that time of night.

Is there any thing I can do to help her sleep better (in bed with us?) any tips on helping her resettle in bed with me when she won't nurse and starts to stand up and climb on us??

Oh she just started walking and she's cutting 2 teeth (possibly 4 she just cut her first last week...at 11mos!)

What can I expect as far as "sleep ettiquet" goes from a just turned 11mos old? She desperately wants to sleep with us and gets very anxious when we're not there, but she is miserable at 4am. :yawn

[~yogamom~]

no specific tips, just :hug

it sounds like the co,bo of her learning to walk and teething is making sleep too difficult-- i think this one falls under the "this too shall pass" category. :heart

[filmgirl2911]

I don't know that I can offer much by way of advice, but I can tell you that I am there with you at 4:00 a.m. I'm not sure what it is about that time either except that I remember reading somewhere that as morning / wake time approaches, babies tend to sleep lighter and lighter, so that may explain why it's more difficult to resettle them - we experience the same thing here. My little one just turned 9 mos on Thanksgiving (something for which we could give thanks :yes), and many a night I *dreaded* the 3:30 / 4:00 a.m. time frame because what works with Smee overnight does not seem to work at that time. I tend to have to get out of my warm and comfy bed :yes2 and bounce my sweetie back to sleep on an exercise ball or sway / bounce her to sleep on my feet. It can take longer than I would like, but she eventually goes back down. She, too, likes to sit up and come to almost a full wake so sometimes I like to try and pre-empt her waking by getting her at the first stirring at that time. Nursing and / or trying to resettle her in the bed just doesn't work - she either gets too awake or she gets too upset.

If you have other things that work for helping her to sleep - like for naps or earlier in the evening, when first putting her to sleep - maybe you could try that at the 4:00 hour. It does get better - her 4:00 a.m. wakings have gotten fewer, at least right now :yes

hang in there :hug2