Hello to all the wonderful moms out there
My DD has just turned 6 months and 1 week. We recently unswaddled her and she has learned how to transition from being swaddled to unswaddled during sleep but I've noticed that this past month she has been waking earlier and earlier in the a.m. She doesn't cry, just plays and talks to herself for the entire morning until my husband or I can get out of bed around 6:15 or so, but her wakings are getting even earlier now, sometimes 4:50 a.m.!
When she wakes before 6 a.m., I usually nurse her and put her back to sleep; however, where she used to fall right back asleep, sometimes she wakes up when I set her back into the crib and it may take her an hour or so to fall asleep. If she does fall back asleep right away after nursing her at 4 a.m or so, she would used to go back to sleep until 7 a.m. but now wakes at 5:30. She doesn't fall into a deep sleep anymore until 7 a.m., rather, she will wake and sleep and wake and sleep until we get her at 6 a.m. or even 5:30 sometimes...This has made for a very sleep deprived mommy =).
The problem is that because she wakes so early, I have to take this into consideration when putting her down for her morning nap. When she used to wake at 7 a.m., I could put her down at 9 am and she would have a nice 2 hour nap. But now if she wakes at 5:30 a.m., I need to put her down at 7:30 a.m. or else she will have a horrible nap and wake up after 45 minutes! The problem is is that this makes for a very weird day because everything is pushed earlier so I end up putting her to bed by 6 a.m. at the latest in order to prevent her from being OT by bedtime.
Here is my EASY schedule when she wakes early:
Awake: 5:30 (let her play in her crib)
E and A: 6:30-7:30 a.m.
S: 7:45-9:30 (we put her down at 7:45 because she has been up since 5:30. I thought that I didn't need to take her A time in crib into consideration, but she will be OT if I don't take it into consideration as part of her overall A time)
E and A: 10:00-11:30
S:11:45-1:45 (on most days. Some days she has 45 minute naps)
E and A: 2:00-4:30
S: 4:45-5:15 (approximately but she always takes a 30 minute catnap)
Eat, shower, bed: 5:15-6:30. (bedtime is usually by 6 or 6:30 because she has such an early wake)
I would apprecaite any insight you can give me. I am so tired and always sick because I don't get enough rest. She used to sleep until 4 a.m., but now she wakes at midnight and at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. and then at 5:30 so I feel like I am always waking. We are starting her on solids this week so hopefully that will help sustain her.
Thank you so much!!!
