5am hunger waking wreaking havoc on rest of day

[AnnaBenwell]

I'm no expert but think you have to do this for a week(so she gets the idea) Sorry things are not getting any better! I thought if babies were over tired they were more likely to wake in the small hour! Thats only what i think i know. And if she was hungrey, then shorly she would just keep crying till you have fed her. Sorry not much help, just thought i would post to give you some support.

[Grace's Mom]

The random wakings could also be from teething (my daughter had 2 teeth at 5 months) or from being overtired. 

I would give what you are doing at least a week before determining if it is working or not. 

Have a great night.

Melissa

[Pacified]

Teething... hadn't considered that possibility. I just felt around in her mouth and couldn't feel anything. I'm sure they could still be under the gums and not popped out or anything. I can see two white bumps on the bottom gum, but I've been able to see those bumps since she was 2 months old.

[Pacified]

Back to the topic of what to do when my dd wakes at 5:00am hungry... I just thought of a piece of information that I definitely should have mentioned earlier in the post. My lo has reflux. She is on Prevacid to reduce her stomach acidity so that her esophogus (sp??) doesn't burn as she spits up. When she wakes at 5 hungry, I feed her of course, and I have tried feeding her again at 7am to start off her day, but she just starts puking like crazy. Is it worth it for me to attempt feeding her again, just for the sake of keeping the routine? Should I just do sh/pat at 5 hoping to get her to sleep a little later? She has slept later of several occasions, so I know she is capable of doing it. I just don't know.

[Grace's Mom]

If you know she doesn't need the feed that I would go with tyring to break the habit of waking early. However, you are breastfeeding her and may want your dh or dp to go in and help her go back to sleep.  Even if she isn't hungry she can smell the milk when you come in the room and that will trigger something in her and she may want to eat even if she isn't really hungry. 

If you need to feed her at 5am, maybe give her a half a feed and then finish at 7am. That is what we did.  Actually while we were trying to wean that waking, we would have 4oz of water and use only one scoop of formula so that she was still hungry at her morning feed as that one is important as well.  And, just make sure before you go into her at 5am that she is really crying.  If she is fussing, just leave her and she may go back to sleep.  Mommy knows best so do what you think she needs.

I am sorry that your lo is having a hard time with reflux.  We dealt with the same thing but once we were on prevacid and had the right formula we thankfully didn't have too many problems.  I hope things get better with that.

[Pacified]

I wonder if I were to pump some milk tonight, maybe only 2oz and dilute that with water to be 4 oz total if I could feed her that at the 5am waking. I have pumped fairly regularly so I can go out once in a while and dd takes a bottle well. What do you think?

[Grace's Mom]

I think that sounds like a great idea.  If you aren't sure how much she drinks you could start with 3 or 4oz and then dilute the bm and do that for two days or so and then go down to 2oz for a few days and then maybe just water.  Soon she will figure out it's not worth getting up for, kwim.  Good luck tonight! 

-Melissa

[Pacified]

I was so tired that I forgot to pump before going to sleep... but when I woke to crying at 5am I remembered that I was wanting to cut down on the amount of food she gets at that time. I fed dd for only 5 minutes, instead of 10 or 12 and put her back to sleep. This morning, I fed her for only 4 minutes. Is this going to work the same way as if I was diluting breast milk?? I figure I could go down to 3 minutes tomorrow and then after that I should be able to just do sh/pat? Does that make any sense or do I have the wrong idea here??

[mich0902]

Just up-ing this one to see if you had any success?  I'm dealing with the same issue and it's killing me!  She won't eat at all at 7-8 AM after the 5 AM feed.  Cutting the feed short (I'm BFing) just has her crying for what seems an eternity (10-15 minutes) and pat/shh doesn't really do it anymore.     I wonder if I just need to wait for things to get better or cut the entire feed all together.

Tell me what you think!

Michele

[AnnaBenwell]

Michele, your baby is the cutest i have ever seen! Sorry not any help, hope things get sorted for you soon. Anna

[Pacified]

I'm not quite sure what happened, I'm thinking maybe dd is having her 6 month growth spurt a little early (she'll be 6 mo in 2 weeks??) but for the past 3 nights she has been waking up somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30 and she is just famished.... it's always something different!

Michele, I still haven't got this problem cured as you can probably tell... but after this growth spurt is over I am going to start working on it again. I think I am going to be diligent about pumping (I BF also) and slowly give her less and less milk and more and more water. I just hate pumping so it will be tough for me. Have you figured anything else out???

I'm scared to cut out feeds in case I am reading cues wrong and she really is hungry at 5am. If you decide to go that route, I'd really like to know how it goes!

[mich0902]

Well, our night last night went great, but we started solids last friday and I found out that baby is HUNGRY!!!!  She eats way more than what's recommended in books.     I don't know if I feed her too much but last night she had a feed at 7PM, was asleep at 7.30 and she slept until 6.15 AM!  So obviously, something is working...  Knocking on wood, but I sure hope we're on to something here.

I'll let you know in a couple of days if it lasts...

[Grace's Mom]

mich0902:  Congrats on your lo sleeping through.  You must feel so rested!  Some babies do eat a lot more than the 'average' and that's ok (for there to be an average there has to be some on either side of the scale, kwim .  My daughter is the complete opposite and eats quite little for her age but I think as long as they are happy and healthy things are just fine.  Hope you have many more nights like this 

Pacified: los can go through their growth spurts at different times.  Grace's never happened right when they were 'suppose' to happen.  She always had them earlier or later.  I would definitely try adding some more oz to your day but if she is truly hungry during this growth spurt in the middle of the night than go ahead and feed her.  It should be over with in a few days.

[Pacified]

Grace's mom: I have been following the steps to increase my milk supply, but I also started solids recently. I started dd on rice cereal as per my pediatricians advice and she also wants to eat way more than the "reccommended" amount. When do I cut her off though??? I started with rice cereal 2 weeks ago and then added mashed avocado last week and squash this week. She is wanting to eat like 3 or even 4 tablespoons at each meal. Is that normal?? (Is this topic going to get moved to the solid food forum??) I also BF about an hour after she eats and she seems to be taking a full feed there too. This whole solid food situation has me confused!

[Grace's Mom]

Pacified:  I think as long as her milk intake isn't dropping (too much) than you are fine.  Right now solids are just for practice and milk is still the most important meal for them.  I think as long as she isn't getting all her nutrients from cereal, fruits and veggies than you are fine.  Once you start adding proteins than you will notice a decrease in how much milk they get and that is ok (just not be a HUGE amount).

Mel