7.5mth waking for feed

[james030405]

I have a DD (8mths on the 30/9) who is a great sleeper, is able to put herself to sleep and naps really well.  Over the last few days, she has beenwaking around 4/4:30am.  I have been tryign to resettle her,but we have found that she is hungry.  She drinks 240ml.  This is roughly our schedule:

4:30am waking for having a feed - goes back to sleep
5:30am waking
7am breakfast
8:30/9am: bottle then nap
10:30 awake and
11am morning tea
12pm lunch
1:pm bottle
1:30 nap
3pm awake
3:30pm afternoon tea
4:30 bath
5pm dinner
7pm: bottle
7:30pm bed

We have no night wakings and goes to bed easily.  She doesn't always want to finish her 7pm bottle and I was wondering if I should re-introduce a DF.  I know the routine may seema  bit strange, but it seems to work for us.  She hasn't got any teeth, but I think they maybe on the way.  I don't want to get into the habit of feeding at 4:30am, but at the moment that is what she needs.  She eats quite a bit duirng the day and each bottle has 180-240ml.

Just wondering if someone can look at our routine and see if this maybe a sleeping issue or hunger (because she is hungry at 4:30am).  She naps for 1.5-2hrs x 2 everyday and 10-11hrs at night.

BTW, she can handle a 3hr A time at the moment and not get overtired. 

Thanks for your help

[meltown]

I have a couple questions for you.  when you feed her what do you feed her? are you BFing or Bottle feeding??  if bottle feeding how much is she getting during the day and when are you giving it to her?  Also is the 5:30 wake up time normal?  is it the time you want your LO up? 

Also how long has this been going on? 

[james030405]

Melissa:  thanks for getting back to me.  I finished bf at 6mths and she has been on reflux formula since then.  this has been going on for approximately 4 days now.  To answer some of your questions:

- she gets 4 x 180-210ml bottles approx every 4hrs
 - 3 x solid meals

She use to wake around 5:30am and have a play but since she turned 7mths, she has learnt how to stand up in her cot and cruise around.  I think the problem may have started a couple of weeks ago as I tried to change her over to normal follow on formula as her reflux is pretty much under control now.  She then started to wake around 11:30pm, drinking approx 180ml and then around 4:30am again drinking 180-210ml.  I have been wondering if it is now a habit rather than try hunger.

Today she woke at 4:30am, I gave her 180ml. DH got up to her after about 15mins of fussing and she drank a further 120ml.  She ten went back to sleep at 5:30am and slept till 7am.  i tried to give her breakfast, didn't want a lot of solids, so tried to give her milk. She drank approx 120ml and I topped her up at 9:30am just before her nap. 

Our routine has gone out a bit as I am trying to give her more food in the hope that this will fix the problem.  No, I don't really want 5:30am her wake up as I already have a 2.5yr who wakes at this time or earlier

Thanks again for your help

[meltown]

so you havn't started solids yet?  this is normal for babies that are getting hugrier.  I would try to give a morning meal about 45 min after the bottle and see if that helps.  Also I would try to not feed at 4:30 and see what happens.  if your LO will take a paci and your ok with that you could try that instead and see if she just goes back to sleep.  I am really thinking it is probably time for starting solids.  My lo did the same until I got him more established on solids.  if that doesn't work or you already started them we can look at a few other options. 

[james030405]

Sorry Melissa,I think you have misunderstood. She has been on solids since she was 4.5mths due to reflux (as per her paed).  She sucks her thumb as a paci.  Today her naps have been 2 x 2hrs and I a about to wake her from her 2nd nap and I will try moving dinner and bottle and bed to a slightly later time as she will be waking later this PM>

Sorry to have mislead you.  thanks for your help

[meltown]

I just noticed you have no cat nap.  I would suggest either doing a short one or moving bed up just a little.  like 30 min to 1 hour.  just until she could handle a bit longer A time in between naps so bed time can be extnded.  this wake up could be due to being overtired.

sorry I misunderstodd.  I went back and read it again and I missed where you said the whole solids part. 

[james030405]

thanks Melissa,  yesterday, she didn't wake from her nap until 4pm and I put her to bed at 7:30pm.  today, she needed a catnap at 5pm and she had 40mins and then went to bed at 7:30pm.  I am just wondering though, this morning she woke again at 4am and drank 240ml, the day before she drank almost 300ml.  Every morning she has had at least 240ml. If this waking was because of overtiredness would she really be drinking this much?  OVerall, she sleeps about 15 out of 24hrs so is it really overtiredness?  When she wakes at 4am, she then goes back to sleep between 6-7am.  Should I reintroduce the dreamfeed?  Please move this if this is in the wrong forum. Sorry

[meltown]

I never bottle fed.  so let me get a bottlefeeding mod to look at this. just to be sure abotu it.  If she is drinking that much it may not be hungar.  the other thing that could be happening is she is not getting as much milk during the day because of solids, but you said her amounts during the day havn't changed right?  I'll see if I can get another mod who is momre familiar with early wakings to look at this as well.  I'll have to look at your routine again and think about if I have any other suggestions.

[andibig]

I can really sympathise here as i had an early waker for about 11 mths .
I think the early waking is possibly "learnt hunger" and has developed into a habit.basically if shes fed at that time then her body will expect it at the same time.
The problem with the early btl is it seems to be impacting on her appetite later in the morning.i think you said that shes not that interested in solids at b/fast time.
so i think you either have to start cutting down the amts in the morning btl.so if she has 7oz then offer 6oz.or some mums have diluted the night feed to eliminate it so aftera while you are just offering water.
when she wakes in the morning (4.30am) what is she doing?is she just fussing etc.We used to leave sasha as long as she wasn't crying until the desired awake time.sometimes she'd fall asleep other times she'd talk to her self-LOL.
will write more later but got to go to bed (on early shift)
HTH
Andrea

[* Paula *]

You said that you have recently changed your lo onto a normal follow on formula - do you think this could be affecting your lo in any way, and that it is irritating her reflux and she is drinking these amounts of formula during the night to soothe?

Also do you think she is going through a growth spurt?  She could quite possibly be hungry and this is why she is waking too.  You could always try offering 4 bottles during the day, and see if this cuts out the 4am bottle i.e.

7:00am -Bottle, followed by breakfast 4 mins or so later, or even straight after if your lo will take it.

11:00am - Bottle followed by Lunch at 12:00

3:00pm Bottle - after nap

4:30ish - dinner followed by a small pudding of fruit or yogurt

Bathtime routine a little later around 6:30 ish

7:00 - Bottle

7:30 Bed

This way she is getting 4 full bottle feeds during the day, and my not wake at 4:30 for that extra feed.

What do you think about this?

Paula

 

[james030405]

thanks guys for your help.  I did have her on follow on formula, but changed her back to the reflux one when she started to wake twice a night .  She is getting 4 bottles per day, but is so active that she won't take them in one sitting (too busy looking for her 2.5yr brother).

Paula, over the last coupleof days our routine has been looking like the one you posted so at least I know I am on the right track  .  She went to bed last night at 7:30pm and didn't actually wake today until 5:15am.  We gave her a drink and she went back to sleep and it is now 6:50am and she is still asleep.  I have a feeling she is going through a growth spurt (she is cruising around the furniture) and maybe it is coming to an end now as she slept a little later. 

Thanks again everyone for your help.  I guess after having a DS (who is now 2.5yrs) who has been an early waker since he was ths age, I was hoping not to have another one  .  I know that is not very fair of me .

Anyway, thanks again for your help.  You have all been so helpful

[* Paula *]

It could quite possibly be a growth spurt as well as developmental with her cruising etc.

Hugs things will get better 

Please keep us posted on how things are going.

[maisy]

Hi there,  from looking at your routine I think she may also be overtired. Yes she is getting a good amount of sleep but her A times are out due to the early waking . Maybe you could try an earlier bedtime maybe 6- 6.30 for a bit and hopefully this will help her to catch up with herself and once she is starting to sleep in a bit later you can start to gradually  move her bedtime later. By maybe 15 mins at a time.

I agree with Sasha's mummy about the 4.30 feed being a habit, my DD loves her night feeding habits   still likes to occasionally slip into them at 18 months! I think you may be dealing with 2 seperate issues, the 4.30 feed and the 5.30 waking

Also what was her routine like before the early wake up? What were her A times? What was her usual wake up time?


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