11 weeks old - waking @ 5:30am - advice needed

[little_hoss]

So my lil one is 11 weeks old and an EXCELLENT sleeper.
We started EASY yesterday and she's already loving it.
Last night's routine looked like this:
E 7pm
S 7:30pm
Dream Feed 10pm
Waking crying at 5:30
Gave her a paci @ 5:30, 5:50, 6:30 and finally got up with her at 6:45.
(No need to shush/pat because she calms down immediately with her paci)
E 6:45am 3oz
S 8:30

SOOOO here is my question - should I be feeding her at 5:30 or should I continue trying to stall her waking until around 7am?
Clearly she wasn't famished at 7am because she only ate 3oz (she will probably eat 5-6oz when she wakes from this nap since she was pooping during her first AM feed  )
AND prior to implementing dream feeds, she was sleeping from 8-5:30 and waking at 5:30 as well.
So I have a feeling that her 5:30 wake is out of habit...

[Buttonbobs]

Hi and welcome

I assume you are formula feeding as you have mentioned oz but if you are giving EBM then let me know as it may change some of my advice.

There are some additional thoughts here, When can I stop feeding at night?

11 weeks is very young and most LOs would still need a night feed on top of the DF at this age. I would therefore probably feed on the WU at5.30am and treat it as a night waking. A good rule to have in mind is if you get a wake up after more hours than would lead to a feed in the daytime then you should offer a feed. Ie if you are on a three hour pattern of feeds in the day this WU is clearly more than 3 hrs after the dream feed so you should offer milk.
When she feeds at 5.30am, is she taking a whole feed?

Another thing you could try is W2S,wake to sleep. I am trying to find a link for you so will pop back when I have found it.



But I think probably at this age it is normal to have hat extra feed and if she's taking it all she probably wanted it.

[Nickie18]

I also have a 12 week old that sleeps from 8pm-8am, but wakes once at 5:15am. I feed her a few ounces to not ruin her morning feed (like 2-3 ounces) and put her back to bed and she will sleep until 8am. I am hoping it is the right thing to do:) I read on my baby sleep guide that she recommends this as well. Hopefully one day she will just sleep through...

[little_hoss]

Thank you so much, ladies!
I'm a first time mom and I felt silly asking, since I know I'm soooo lucky with how Juniper is sleeping.
But I think you guys are right, 5:30 is a blessing and she is probably hungry. I tried doing a Dream Feed for a few nights, but it didn't seem to effect her AM waking. I guess she's one of those babes that it doesn't do much for... which is fine with me.
As of today, we've started the 5 days of more "clock-watching" EASY to get her on the routine (as suggested in the books), so I'll see if that has any effect on her night wakings.

[Nickie18]

We also tried the DF and she still woke at 5am. So, we will keep the 5am feed up too (I think hunger is the main cause, and habit).. But we have other problems now like OT and short naps...

[Buttonbobs]

do keep us posted once you've tracked your EASY for a few days. Don't feel silly asking honey, nothing is a silly question

[little_hoss]

okay - so now it's getting worse!!! 

This was our day yesterday:
(again, i'm trying to do the 5 days of "watching the clock" to get Juniper on the routine)
Stirring refers to her crying, me giving her her binky and her drifting off to sleep

E 4:30am 4 oz
E 7am 2 oz
S 8:30am (stirring @ 8:38, 8:56)
E 10am 2 oz
S 11:20am (stirring @ 11:36, 12:20, 12:35, 12:50)
E 1pm 1 oz
S 2:30pm (stirring @ 2:40, 2:48, 2:58, 3:15, 3:18, 3:23)
E 4pm 5oz
S 5:20pm (stirring @ 5:30, 5:35, 5:44, 6:02, 6:12)
E 6:30pm 0oz!
Bath 7pm & wind down
E 7:15 5oz
S 7:20 (stirring @ 7:29)
DF 9:45pm 5oz (AND SHE WOKE UP!!! ) (stirring for about 15 minutes after DF)

Awake at 12:30, 1:30, 3:30 & 4:30!
E @ 4:30am 4oz

and then awake at 7am today

ISSUES:
She's eating lil bits in the morning. She simply won't take more, I don't want to force more, as she'll spit up!
Lots of waking during naps. (Does this get better??)
Waking after Dream Feed (is it even worth it??)
NEW waking at night! She used to just wake up SOMETIMES at 2:30 - I would give her a paci and she'd doze til 4:30 or 5:30)

THOUGHTS?!?

[little_hoss]

OH! AND! i mean, this may be a red flag.
she's been rolling over in her sleep onto her tummy - so I have a feeling that this is waking her up and freaking her out.
soooo - that may be another reason for this more erratic waking.
motherhood, the need to over analyze everything!

[Buttonbobs]

Anytime a baby or child learns a new skill it can totally turn their world upside down for a bit, and his really affects sleep. You can give her lots of practice at rolling in the daytime and this will help the stage to pass quicker.

Has she always stirred so much at night/naps for her dummy?

[Nickie18]

My LOs naps have been crazy since she started rolling over in bed 5 days ago. We had to get her arms out of the swaddle asap to be safe for her and she has been taking 30 minute naps since then. Just today she finally is taking a long nap (after a disasterous 30 min nap this am), but I am sure that rolling and the swaddle change made her naps and entire schedule crazy. Hopefully that new skill of hers will settle out in a few days. I am hoping too:) You may want to wean the pacifier...

[little_hoss]

Yeah - I think it's the rolling that's freaking her out.
I'm also trying to be less anal about the times that she goes down and stays down and more in tune with her behaviors. It worked just now when I put her down for a nap. Just like BW said, it's much easier to get them down for a nap when they show the first signs of tiredness rather than when they get themselves all wound up.
I'm not TOO concerned about the paci because when she falls asleep with it, it drops out of her mouth and she stays asleep. It says in the book that is a good sign. It's just when she's falling asleep, she sometimes spits it out from frustration.