Sleeping FAQ: 6-9 months – Early Morning Waking

Since recovering from illness my son of almost 7 mths continues to wake at 6am

My son is nearly 7 months and is a very CLB except for a recent problem with early morning waking. He was sleeping 7-7 (when I would have to wake him) from 5 months old.
He then developed a nasty tummy bug at 6 months with vomiting and diarrhea and lost 800gr in one week due to only taking water for 3 days (no milk or solids on advice from GP). He is now back to his pre-sickness weight.
During his sickness he was waking during the night and early in the morning due to him being hungry and once he started taking milk and solids again he had a large appetite and I went back to feeding at 10pm to see him through the night.
My plan was to drop the 10pm feed once he was consistently sleeping through until 7 however this has not happened at all since he was sick. He has been waking at 6am for the past week although is usually not crying, just chatting and playing but starts to whinge around 6.45am when I open his door and he then plays until I go to him at 7am.
He does not seem hungry and the room is completely blacked out. The room is around 23 degrees (very high humidity though so it feels warmer) and he wears a short-sleeved jumpsuit (no legs) to bed with a 0.5 tog grobag and a single cotton sheet tucking him in (although he kicks this off in the early morning). He isn’t rolling over onto his tummy in the cot yet so I am persisting with tucking the sheet in. He doesn’t seem cold when I go to him in the morning either.
I am not sure what I am missing – I have searched all your FAQs but can’t seem to pinpoint the problem. I have been wondering whether he needs to drop his pm nap but the few days I have tried this he has been too exhausted to eat his tea and can’t drink his bottle at 6.30pm and is completely exhausted by 6.15pm.
He sleeps well during his morning nap and 6/7 days his lunchtime nap is a success – I usually have to wake him from all naps.
My son feeds at 7am 180mls

11.30am, 1-2cubes of protein, 4-5cubes vegetables, 2 cubes of fruit and 2/3tbsp organic yoghurt.

2.30pm 110mls

5.00pm, 2 cubes of carbohydrate and vegetables using Gina’s recipes, 2 tbsp organic yoghurt

6.30pm 200mls

10pm 110mls

My son naps at 9-9.45am, 12.15-2.15pm and 4.30-4.45pm He settles at 7pm.

During the second part of the first year the daytime needs of your baby begin to change. Failing to respond to these changes can be one of the reasons why your son has started to wake at 6am.

Your son will be able to stay awake longer between naps so you will need to push on his morning nap until he is going down nearer to 9.30am. As your son is at present waking at 6am you may feel he will not be able to wait until this time before having his morning nap. To help him push on put him down 5 minutes later every few days so moving him gradually towards this new nap time. This morning nap should reduce in length until your baby is sleeping for about 30minutes.

By going down later in the morning your son should begin to push on his lunchtime nap until nearer 12.30pm. This will, in turn, mean he wakes slightly later so, once he is ready to drop his afternoon nap, he will be able to do so without becoming exhausted. Many babies do go on needing a very short catnap in the afternoon and will drop it when ready. This is explained on page 103 of The Complete Sleep Guide.

Now that your son may be more active in the day this will mean he falls straight to sleep when you put him down at 7pm, rather than spending 10-15minutes chatting to himself in his cot before settling to sleep. This could be another reason for early morning waking. Try moving his bed time forward to 6.30/6.40pm and see if this means he stays awake for a while. It can take a week or more for you to notice this affecting the time he wakes in the morning but persist with it and see if he resets his body clock to wake nearer to 7am.

Make sure your son is having enough to eat at teatime. The carbohydrate meal given at this time helps a baby sleep well through the night. As your baby recovers after his period of illness you may find his appetite has increased and he can take another cube or so of his savoury meal and still manage to drink his bedtime milk.

Increasing this teatime meal should help you to drop the 10pm feed. If you feel that he is ready to drop it once you have made the changes to his day begin to limit how much you give him at 10pm and see if he continues to sleep through the night. Cut out this feed once he is down to 60mls and still sleeping well for several consecutive days.