[Miss Kiwi]

For the last 2 weeks my 9 month old DS wakes hysterical from his afternoon nap. He doesnt want me, doesnt want to play, he doesnt know what he wants. After quite some time he calms and I can start to distract him with play etc but he is a complete grizzle bum for the rest of the afternoon.
Today he wouldnt calm at all and I had to carry and walk around with him. It is horrible!! I dont know whats wrong.

His routine is as follows:

5am - wakes (he has just started doing this as well). If I am lucky he will go back to sleep.
6.30 - was his normal wake up time. Bottle.
7.30 - breakfast
8.30 - 10.00 - Morning Sleep
11am - bottle
12pm - lunch
2.30-4/4.30 - Afternoon Sleep
4.30 - Dinner
5.15 - Bath
6.00 - Bottle
6/6.30 - Bed

Any suggestions as to why he could be doing this? He has just cut his top teeth and I can't see any others looming so I don't think it is teething.

Any tips on getting him out of the 5am wake up would be helpful too (I have tried putting him to bed later but it makes zero difference, he is VERY ready for bed at 6ish.

Thanks so much

[Miss Kiwi]

bump

[KRT]

Could he be too warm during his nap? I find DS often sleeps longer in the afternoon when it's warmer, and then wakes up grumpy. I'm the same on the rare occasion I get an afternoon nap. Sort of like I slip into the next sleep cycle then wake up all hot and dry mouthed and grumpy.

As for the 5am wake up, suggestions I've heard are an earlier (yes, earlier) bedtime, putting some toys or books in the cot, making sure the room is warm enough, just waiting and seeing if they settle... we used the wait and see method, and over a period of a week or two, DS learned to play by himself for up to an hour in the cot before I went to get him up. We also changed the timer on the heater so it came on around 3am and kept the room a bit warmer.

[Jenflea]

I found my daughter woke grumpy for, oh, at least a year or more. Sorry
Even now at 2.5 she sometimes finds it hard to wake up and wakes up grumpy. Apparently my SiL is STILL a bear in the mornings and she's over 30 so it MAY BE his nature.
Or it could be he's about to hit a milestone or 2. That can cause sleep problems.
5 am wakes ups...can he hear birds outside? my daughter went through a stage of waking with the birds at 5am or so. I'd bring her into bed with us, give a feed and she'd usually sleep until we got up at 7 ish. now at 2.5 she wakes up at 7 or 7.30

[mum201]

DH gets up at 5 and it always wakes bubba. Whack him into bed and give him a feed and he's usually back out unroll 8am

[Pssst...]

Just an idea, but could it be that he is going down for his afternoon nap too late and/or not sleeping long enough? My DD just turned 2 and she gets pretty ratty is she's up for more than 4 hours, not sure she would have coped with 4.5 between naps at 9 months. And even now if she doesn't sleep long enough she wakes grumpy for the afternoon

[RunawayPrincess]

Does he have two naps? I'd consider cutting down to one nap.

Though have you ever had a nap and woken up feeling worse than you did before you had a nap? Maybe it's something like that?

[Fanny McPhail]

My DS went through a phase of this, although I do think he was older than your son OP, perhaps 18 months old. I would cuddle and sooth and pat while being screamed at. I tried offering food and water as soon as he woke up because somebody told me is might be related to low sugar levels. I tried putting in the night garden on TV and watching it with him thinking that might distract him but it didn't. It was awful.

One day I snapped and as soon as he woke up screaming I put him in the car and drove off. He was so shocked at the change of response he immediately stopped crying and ate the little snacks I had prepared for him.

I continued to do this for the next couple of days and he stopped doing the screaming thing altogether.

good luck

[Natttmumm]

Could he be hungry?? It seems hes ready to eat straight away at 4:30. If mine wake up near food time they are hysterical and I cant seem to calm them down.

Is there some food and a drink that you could give him before the sleep around 2:15pm see if that helps. Otherwise its been over 4hours since he has had anything. I know for my kids as a general rule they need something every three hours or so - they are older but this still is the same.

As for the early wake ups again his evening meal and bottle is early on - he is already going a long time with out any solid food. My girls did the same routine at that age and it was hard to change. With DD2 I started to give her a bottle at 5am and back to bed then the routine was as follows (i cant remember the exact age that she did this but by 12 months she was on one sleep so it must have been around 9 months):

7:30 am - breakfast
9am - bottle
9:30am bed

11am - wake up

lunch at 12pm

2:30 - bottle and bed

5pm - was a grizzly time - i tried rusks etc for a snack

5:30pm dinner

7:00pm bottle

7:30pm bed

She would wake at 5ish and have about 100 mls and then sleep another 40 mins. Thats how i remember it

[Miss Kiwi]

Could he be too warm during his nap? I find DS often sleeps longer in the afternoon when it's warmer, and then wakes up grumpy. I'm the same on the rare occasion I get an afternoon nap. Sort of like I slip into the next sleep cycle then wake up all hot and dry mouthed and grumpy.

As for the 5am wake up, suggestions I've heard are an earlier (yes, earlier) bedtime, putting some toys or books in the cot, making sure the room is warm enough, just waiting and seeing if they settle... we used the wait and see method, and over a period of a week or two, DS learned to play by himself for up to an hour in the cot before I went to get him up. We also changed the timer on the heater so it came on around 3am and kept the room a bit warmer.

Thanks for your response. I did wonder about being too warm, he is down now for his avo nap and is in a singlet onesie, tshirt and summer sleeping bag. His room is 22deg so not too hot.

Re: 5am wake up, he was doing so well a couple of weeks ago when he would wake he would be happy to play and would often fall back to sleep until 6.30 sometimes 7. But now for some reason he wakes at 5 and is grizzly and not happy to be in his cot. I too wondered if he is cold, last night I tried putting a blanket but was a waste of time as he moves around too much. Tonight I think I might put him back in his winter sleeping bag seen as the weather is still up and down here in Sydney at the moment.

I found my daughter woke grumpy for, oh, at least a year or more. Sorry
Even now at 2.5 she sometimes finds it hard to wake up and wakes up grumpy. Apparently my SiL is STILL a bear in the mornings and she's over 30 so it MAY BE his nature.
Or it could be he's about to hit a milestone or 2. That can cause sleep problems.
5 am wakes ups...can he hear birds outside? my daughter went through a stage of waking with the birds at 5am or so. I'd bring her into bed with us, give a feed and she'd usually sleep until we got up at 7 ish. now at 2.5 she wakes up at 7 or 7.30

Thanks for your response.
He has started to pull himself up onto things, so also did wonder if it was developmental. I would prefer not to get into the habit of comfort feeding as I just broke out of that a while ago. I will be see how things pan out before I start offering another feed.

Just an idea, but could it be that he is going down for his afternoon nap too late and/or not sleeping long enough? My DD just turned 2 and she gets pretty ratty is she's up for more than 4 hours, not sure she would have coped with 4.5 between naps at 9 months. And even now if she doesn't sleep long enough she wakes grumpy for the afternoon

Yes! The reason I put him down so late to be honest is so that I dont have to deal with his grumpy self for too long after his afternoon sleep before he goes to bed. I put him down again today at 2.30 but will try tomorrow for 2pm and see how that goes.

Does he have two naps? I'd consider cutting down to one nap.

He is only 9mths I dont think he is ready to drop down to 1 sleep yet.

Could he be hungry?? It seems hes ready to eat straight away at 4:30. If mine wake up near food time they are hysterical and I cant seem to calm them down.

Is there some food and a drink that you could give him before the sleep around 2:15pm see if that helps. Otherwise its been over 4hours since he has had anything. I know for my kids as a general rule they need something every three hours or so - they are older but this still is the same.

As for the early wake ups again his evening meal and bottle is early on - he is already going a long time with out any solid food.

Thanks for your response. I will try and offer a snack before his afternoon nap tomorrow.