Early wakings and weaning?

[Wiki]

Hi there,

Well, I've posted just about everywhere else in an attempt to solve my son's early wakings, but they are getting worse and as its been over a month now, and he's nearly 20 weeks, I'm wondering if its time for some food.

Basically, from 11-15 weeks, he was sleeping pretty much through. Sometimes up at 6.15.
Then he started to wake any time from 5am to 7am, but mostly around the 5.30-6.30am hour. He is up and ready for the day, and will drink a whole bottle (we are now on 9oz 5 times a day) about 20 mins after waking. I have tried everything, shorter naptimes, blackout blinds, more food in day, stretching to 3.5 EASY...but the last two days have been 5am, and I'm running out of ideas. His dad works late and so we only see each other about an hour at night and in the morning. At this rate he never sees Caspar as he's in bed when he gets back from work, and in the mornings he's up with me and then back in bed by 7.30-8am.

Has anyone found that giving a little bit of baby rice or similar can do anything about early wakings?
I really wanted to wait until 6 months but we are exhausted!

Vic

[brightside]

When you say 'stretching to 3.5 EASY'. Does that mean you are not quite there yet? Does your lo cry for food before the 3.5 hour mark? Do you do a dreamfeed? If you don't, that would probably really help with him waking early if its for food.

I was told that if your baby needs to be fed more often or starts waking in the night for food after sleeping through or wakes earlier and earlier, then it might be time for solids. 9oz x 5 also sounds quite a lot and would also suggest that your lo might be ready for a bit more.

I would definitely try a DF first though if you aren't doing one already. Also check that your lo is genuinely hungry when he wakes up. My DS often wakes in the night but can be resettled without food. He is more than likely to take a full bottle at that time because its a while since he's been fed but it doesn't always mean that he actually woke up hungry. Have you tried resettling first? Apparently if they settle and then wake up within the hour, then it was hunger but if they last longer then it wasn't hunger.

I also think that at this age, its quite common for lo's to wake early. In my birth club, many of us are going through the same thing and its happening to some who are giving solids and some who aren't so solids might not solve the problem. It could just be that your lo has had enough sleep-they have about 15 hours in total at that age.

In short, I'd rule everything else out first, especially as you were really keen to wait until 6 months.

[Wiki]

When I say stretching, he can do 3.5 hours in the morning no problem, it just doesn't seem to work out later in the afternoon. Its like the extra 30 mins combine and catch up with him.

I have been thinking about reintroducing the dreamfeed. We did it up until 11 weeks when we left it one night and he started sleeping through. I mentioned it to DH today but he wants to try and get in more food during the day...rather than go backwards to the dreamfeed as he sees it...but maybe that's not the way to go.

We haven't really tried resettling. We leave him when he wakes (sometimes he does go back to sleep, but rarely) and he will chat to himself for 10-15 mins. We go in when his calls turn to more like cries, and change him. Yesterday we tried giving him some water first - he had been awake for 40 mins then - but he went nuts and wanted the real deal, which he drank. Pat/shhh doesn't work on him any more and it only used to when he was tired, he's WIDE awake when he gets up, so no chance of him dozing off. I wanted to try Pu/Pd today, but as my DH works such long hours, he wanted to go back to sleep, not listen to Caspar cry etc. Maybe we can try it on the weekend when we can catch up on the sleep during the day.

My only remaining option apart from dreamfeed is wake to sleep, and I don't fancy getting up at 4am as I'm afraid he will too - but I guess I can only tell if I try...

[Mom to M&M]

I'd definitely try the dreamfeed before introducing food early. If his digestive system isn't ready for it you risk tummy problems and even more wakings. I wouldn't see it as going backwards at all - he's young and Tracy recommended the DF until solids were firmly established - around 7 months or so. Maybe try a DF around 10 or 10:30 with 5 ounces and see if that helps?

[brightside]

A dream feed is not really like a night feed, plus its prefereable to feeding at 5am. If you feed so early in the morning, it will mean he is likely to take less during the day, especially at the next feed. Remember that feeding more often doesn't mean that he will actually take more, they tend to just take less at each feeding until they reach their quota. My DS has slept through from about 8 weeks and the two occasions I've fed him in the night since then, he has taken that amount less during the day-amazing!

I've also done w2s for habitual wakings and it worked brilliantly so you might want to try that if he's waking at the same time each morning.

[*Natasha*]

Totally agree with Stacy on this one, even though i generally do 
Your baby does need to be on 4hr EASY to start solids otherwise you won't have enough time for naps.
Also a DF is a much better idea to get some more calories into your baby rather than solids.
Alot of people make the mistake of thinking that solids will help their babies sleep through the night and alot of times it doesn't.
Also you could try clustering feeds in the evening before bed to get a bit more into him.

[Wiki]

Thanks guys, well, I am trying. I seem to be OK with him on 4 EASY for the first two feeds, but back to 3.5 hours for the next two, and so then it ends up about 2 hours between the last two, as it gets close to bedtime. So I don't know if that counts as clustering or not?

He actually woke an hour later (yay!) at 5.50am today, so we'll see if his 6am wakeup comes back - am wondering if the last week in particular has been a growth spurt, as he hasn't been interested in finishing bottles today like he did a few days ago. Or maybe teeth?

[Wiki]

Just a quick update on me...we had a rotten day yesterday with him up at 3am and then again at 5.30am. He ate 7oz at 3am and 7am. Then terrible short naps all day with screaming etc. So, I thought, right, dreamfeed is needed to get him to sleep better and catch up on his missed naps.

He was out cold at 6.40pm last night.
Went to bed at 8.30 and got up at 10.30 and fed him - he took 7.5oz!
Was so strange doing it as the last time was 9 weeks ago.
He slept until 6am, and I got him up at 6.30am.

Not keen on his bottle this morning though, 5-6oz only. He kept opening his mouth, drinking some, and then turning his head away and moaning. I can only think its hurting him, as he had 7oz at 3am and 7am yesterday no worries.

[*Natasha*]

Sounds like the dreamfeed worked which is great 
5-6ozs in the morning is a good quantity to give good luck with it all and keep us updated if you have anymore questions especially when you start on solids over the next 3 weeks.

[Wiki]

Well, he had 29oz yesterday, so 10 short of normal. Would only take 5oz DF, and the woke at 3.30am, and had another 5oz...then he decided he was up for the day, so I am too. He's only had 4oz since but seems happy, he has no temp, no red cheeks, little drool - I guess its probably teeth but I'll have to ride it out...

Shame its tonight I'm taking my H out for his 30th birthday, on 13 hours sleep in 3 days!