Help! 6 months and waking up at 4am!

my boys all of a sudden started waking up at 4am for the day! they start cooing and playing in their cribs and won't go back to sleep!

i'm exhausted and need some sleep!

they go to bed at 7:15pm and wake up at 4 now - they used to sleep until 6:30am!

i cant put them to bed later bc they are literally falling asleep by 7pm AND they barely nap! they hate it! help!

Re: Help! 6 months and waking up at 4am!

I have been using the Sleep Sense Program because my twins were a sleeping mess at 6mo (they are 9mo now). She says two things about babies waking up super early (my daughter was doing the 4am wake up also!). 1. You can try putting them to bed earlier because they may be overtired, which actually makes sleeping more difficult. Since you are already putting them down around 7pm, and they aren't waking throughout the night, that probably isn't the issue. 2. This is going to sound nuts, but it works... Their internal clocks are probably off. So, you can try going in 20min before they have been waking up and rustling them just enough for their eyes to open a bit and then clode again. This puts them into a different cycle of sleep, so they will sleep longer. It could take up to a week for this to work, so give it time.

Good luck! I know how awful it is to try and care for two babies while being totally exhausted!

Re: Help! 6 months and waking up at 4am!

oh my goodness thank you so much!

I am DEFINITELY going to try that! at this point, i would try anything!

i dont know what is happening, but all of a sudden they both have gone nuts! getting up early and barely napping throughout the day - the perfect schedule i had is gone! lol

thank you so much, i'm going to try it this weekend when i have DH's help!

Re: Help! 6 months and waking up at 4am!

I feel your pain! But, try not to stress too much. 6 months seems to be the time when sleeping goes a little haywire. I had to change our schedule too... A few times! Mine seem to go through cycles with their naps. They will go weeks sleeping twice a day for two hours and then, all of a sudden, they will barely sleep an hour at each nap. Teething doesn't help, either!
Good luck... I hope you are able to get more rest soon