Early Morning waking 5 mnths old

[Maloney]

hello! My little girl is 5 months and has started waking at 6 ish hungry every day, i want her to wake at 730am, i think it is since I started trying to not feed her as much in the night (she was having 2 bottles in the night)

her routine is

9am nap in cot 45 mins
11am milk and solids
12pm 2 hour nap (walked about in pram)
2pm ish milk 70z formula
430pm nap (she would sleep longer but i wake her before 5)
5pm play on mat etc
6pm bath
615-630 knackered and asleep

she used to last til 7pm and woke later in the morning but now she can hardly make it to 630pm

i stopped breastfeeding at 3 and half months, she sometimes has a dummy but doesnt want it all the time

i've worked really hard to to get her into this routine (ex partner thinks i am a nazi mum!) but shes happier in routine i tell him! I just need more than 2-3 hours of kip at a time as i'm sure you ladies understand!

Any suggestions? last night i tried wake to sleep at 530am (she normally awake at 6am) but she must have been in a very light sleep and just opened eyes and that was it didn't go back to sleep after i left room... eventually after trying all sorts i gave in and fed her at 640am so only abit off the 7am start i want.... we went back to sleep to 740am....

she will go back to sleep if i feed her at 5-6am when she awakes hungry  but then she wont eat at 7-730 am

so confused! - in the night i feed her at 10-1030 Dreamfeed (but i'm now thinking this makes her wake during the night) before i did the DF she slept twice from 7pm til 5am!) amazing! hasn't doen it since tho! then she awakes twice before 7am, usually anywhere from 1 to 3am and then 5-6am

she naps for 3 hours 15 mins in day altoghether and drinks roughly 7 0z at each feed 5 times a day,

any suggestions anyone? thank you!!!!!
[/color]

[Colin Macs Mom]

A couple of thoughts for you... if she's going to bed at 6:15/6:30 then waking at 6am makes sense as that's nearly 12 hours. I think part of your problem is the morning nap - it should be longer than 45 minutes, preferably an hour or longer. 45 minutes is not long enough for a LO to recharge so to speak, even if they wake happy. By the end of the day she's likely overtired at least a little.

Can you explain the night feeds a bit more - I'm not clear on if you're feeding between the dreamfeed and the 6am. At her age she will surely need a feed in between.

so confused! - in the night i feed her at 10-1030 Dreamfeed (but i'm now thinking this makes her wake during the night) before i did the DF she slept twice from 7pm til 5am!) amazing! hasn't doen it since tho! then she awakes twice before 7am, usually anywhere from 1 to 3am and then 5-6am

About this - the dreamfeed doesn't work for every LO. Sometimes it can actually make things worse by messing with LO's sleep cycles and therefore causing more wakings.

[Maloney]

hello thanks for replying, she usually wakes before midnight for a feed usually between 10-1130,

and  yes she wakes to feed after midnight usually twice, maybe 1 or 2 then maybe 4 or 530am, since i am trying to soothe her back to sleep at 530 am without a feed she wont go back to sleep, before i would feed her and she'd sleep til 8 if i let her (but then not nap as long at lunch) do u think i should just feed her at 530am even if it does put her off a 7am feed? i dont want her to get used to being awake at 530am....

[Colin Macs Mom]

Actually, I would try and get her to feed at 3 or 3:30 so that she could last until 7. Do  you think that's something she could handle? If not, you can offer a very small feed at 5:30 and slowly reduce it. That should help iron it out.