no idea why?confused!early morning wakings....help!

[*happy*]

(hope im posting in the right place!)

Morning all!
I'm in need of advice.my 5 month old has started waking earlier & earlier in the morn...it's not a major issue at the mo (was getting her up at 7.30am...this morn she woke me at 6.30am) but i want to avoid it becoming one!!!

she has been a super night sleeper since 8 weeks-i used to have to wake her-, but naps have always been trickier. our typical easy currently is:

E 07.30
A
S 08.45 (i know she wakes during this nap coz i can often hear her shuffling but i almost never have to resettle her-she's puts herself back to sleep, even though it seems that she might be awake for 15-20 mins in between)


E 11.30
A
S 13.15 (she sleeps less at this nap, sometimes not pushing through the 45 miins, sometimes waking & chatting to herself & settling herself back, sometimes waking & giving out to me until i open curtains!)


E 15.00
A
S 16.45-17.15 (always a 25-35 min nap while we go for a walk in buggy)

E 18.00
A

E 19.00
S

Dreamfeed  22.30

i realise how lucky i am with her, but i really dont want her to get into bad habits!the EW is obviously a result of me not doing/doing something!!!!!really would appreciate advice on tweaking easy if need be, or anything else!!!!!

[becj86]

Sounds like its time to push the A times and move towards dropping the catnap! The EW and stirring during naps/short napping are the signs you need to push the A time up. Doing it now while she's saying it relatively quietly is heaps easier than doing when she's screaming it with OT from the short naps and short nights.

Are you right to do that or would you like a sample routine?

[*happy*]

can i just say yet again how EXCELLENT this site is!!!!!love love love it!!!!it has been my saving grace SOOOOOOOOOO many times!!!!have been recommending it to all my mammy friends!!!!

would LOVE a sample routine!!!!thank you so much!!!

i know it's usually the first A time that is recommened to stretch out, but i'm not too sure how she'll do with that if i'm honest. i've slowly pushed the 2nd feed from 10.30-11.30 recently,but haven't really made much of a change to her A time in the morning-she always seems to be ready to go back into the cot within an hour!i don't find it hard to get the 4hr stretch from her at this time. the following stretch is always harder to do....hence why i'm on 3.5 easy here (11.30, 15.00)

would you suggest dropping a feed too so?i'm breastfeeding,so am paranoid about getting enough into her!!!(no prob with weight so far though-in 75th percentile for weight & 90th for height)

dropping the catnap....im assuming then that you would bring BT forward a bit to accomodate?&that the 2nd daytime nap would be later?!

[becj86]

I would say her body rhythm is such she'll do best with a nap at 9ish in the morning but you do risk her tacking that first nap onto her night and refusing bedtime.

This routine is based on the natural biorhythms that tend to mean LO's like naps around 9am and 1 or 2pm:
7 - wake, BF
9 - nap
10:30 - wake, BF
(fit in a BF around 1:30 to keep the number up, just don't feed to sleep or if you drop # of feeds, just feed at 11 after ~30mins activity and wait til after the next nap before the next feed)
2 - nap
3:30/4 - wake, BF
6:30 - BT BF
7 - asleep in bed

This is what we did:
7 - up & BF
10 - nap
11:30/12 - up & BF
3 - nap
4:30 - up & BF
6:30 - BT BF
7 - asleep in bed
(DS was happy with feeds this far apart as he had always wanted feeds further apart than the typical baby and he had started tiny bits of solids around 5 months.)

Go with your gut on numbers for feeds. DS was fine with less feeds than 'normal' and I was frequently harrassed by the child health nurses to feed him more often and he was always horribly gassy and cranky when I did.

[*happy*]

thanks!have had a good look at those routines....just not sure how i'll manage to add an extra hour onto the morning routine!!!!i guess i'll start with 10-15 mins & see how it works.at the moment,we barely leave the bedroom!!!i feed her there (in nursing chair where i do all her feeds!) ,get her dressed & have a little chat on the bed...it's all very laid back!!!as i said in the other post,she will happily go 4 hours at this stage,but it's the next feed that gets tricky!she shows sleepy cues after around the 1hr 30min mark...do i just ignore them & push on for another 10-15 mins?!

just when you think you have it all figured out,they go & change,don't they!!!

[clazzat]

When they have been on a routine for a while they often show sleepy cues at the time when they are used to going down rather than when they are genuinely sleepy. I think you are right to start pushing it out by 10-15 minutes at a time until you get to a longer a first thing. I must say, though, that for all of mine the first a was shorter than the others for quite a while, so some of them do need to go back to bed earlier than you expect.

Another thing - cues start to become a bit less reliable at about this age, and what was a sleepy cue before might just be a boredom cue now. It is worth aiming to have a change of scenery round about the time lo normally goes down to see if they can cope with a little bit more.

[*happy*]

great,will def try that trick!!!the first of many deceptive tactics to be used as a parent,i'm sure!!!
fed her at 11am there & will aim not to feed till 3pm if possible.will def try to extend A time by 15 mins at this session anyway.will let ye know how it goes!x

[*happy*]

yay!!!!kept her up 2 hrs (longest yet) & jst popped her into her cot now & she's settling to sleep already,no whinges or moans (that i often would have gotten at this nap) yay yay yay!!!now to see how long it lasts!!!!thank you so much ladies!!!geniuses!!!

[*happy*]

so...here goes today's easy so far....should i aim to drop catnap today or wait?

E 7am
A
S 8.15

E 11am
A
S 1.05pm (into cot at 1pm)

it's now 2.45pm & she's still in cot!she stirred abit alright, a couple of moans,but i didn't need to resettle her,she did it herself.

now what?!?!?!
should i let her do catnap as usual, then feed at 6pm & 7pm as i have been doing?
or should i cut back on her catnap?ie wake her after 10-15 mins?

[clazzat]

I guess it's too late now, but I would not have done a cn on that day. What did you do?

[*happy*]

i didnt!!!put her in buggy as per usual-she usually falls asleep after 15-20 mins & sleeps for 25-35 mins,but she hadnt fallen asleep by 5.30,so i took her in & fed her instead.gonna do bath in a few mins & then bedtime.....keep your fingers crossed for me that we don't have a meltdown!!!!

[*happy*]

asleep in cot!poor pet was exhausted!fell asleep feeding whch very rarely happens.stirred her a bit alright so she wasn't in a deep sleep putting her into cot,but also didnt feed v much-only 10 mins (usualy would be closer to 30)....fingers crossed this works!x

[clazzat]

Fingers crossed for the night - sounds like a great day to start with, though!

[*happy*]

will post again in the morning...fingers,toes,everything crossed!!!thanks so much for the advice...i'm such a novice!!!

[becj86]

i'm such a novice!!!

We all are Having a child is a bit of a journey of discovery...

Looks like it was a good day, fingers crossed for your night!