Sleeping FAQ: 9-12 Months – Early Morning Waking

One of my 10.5mth twins has begun to wake early in the morning and disturb his brother

My 10.5mth twins were born at 34 weeks. We have attempted to put them on the CLB routine – bearing in mind their prematurity – but have adjusted it from 6am to 6pm to fit in with the time my husband gets up to go to work. One twin is consistently waking between 4am and 5.30am. Which is obviously too early for any of us and it wakes his twin brother. He has always woken earlier than we would have chosen but used to get to 5.30am regularly, now it is nearer 4.30am. I have cut back his first nap to half an hour (from 8.30am to 9am) and his second nap starts at 12.30pm and can be anything from half an hour to 2 hours long. We are desperate to get him to sleep 6pm to 6am.
He goes down very well at 6pm, usually talks to himself for 10 minutes and we don’t hear a peep until around 4.30am when he starts talking again and this rapidly changes to crying which wakes his twin.

The room is pitch black, not too hot or cold, there are no external sounds waking him and he doesn’t appear hungry. We try to leave them until 6am and then go in but this can be hard as they are both wailing pitifully.

He eats well during the day and drinks his first and last bottles completely, since changing his milk into a beaker at 2.30pm he has less but still drinks some.

Please help we don’t know what to try next and we are all exhausted. This is especially affecting his twin brother, who loves his sleep and would gladly sleep later if given the chance. The boys share a room as there is no where else for them to go.

They feed at 6am, 7ozs formula, followed by cereal, toast and a piece of fruit. Lunch at 11.30am is protein based such as beef casserole, chicken and pasta, lamb hotpot. My son takes about 4 tablespoons. Followed by yoghurt/fruit/rice cake. He drinks water from a beaker.

2.30pm 7ozs formula from beaker, does not always take all of this.

Tea at 4.30pm is carbohydrate based such as cauliflower cheese, pasta and sauce, cheese sandwiches. Around 4 tablespoons taken. Followed by yoghurt/fruit/rusk.

5.45pm 7ozs formula. My son weighs 20lbs.

My son naps at 8.30-9.00am and 12.30-2pm.

Towards the end of the second half of the first year a baby may begin to need less sleep overall. When on a 7am-7pm routine this may mean the baby starts waking around 6am/6.30am or going to bed at 7.30pm.

As your family circumstances make it easier to work on a 6am-6pm routine you may have to adjust to early waking if your son needs around 11 hours of sleep a night rather than 12.

You could try getting your son to take a larger tea which, being carbohydrate based, will fill him up. By this age many babies have cut out their 2.30pm feed. For several days offer him a drink of water and piece of fruit at 2.30pm, instead of his milk, and see if this increases his appetite so that you can then give him a larger amount of tea, say 6-8 tablespoons. Allowing for the yoghurt he eats, and milk used in cooking and on cereals, he will be taking the minimum daily amount of milk even if you do cut out the 2.30pm feed.