Different wake up times - when to start the day?

[hulababysmommy]

I need some advice about early wake ups and the feeding that goes with it: My 5 1/2 month old has different wake up times. She goes to bed between 6 and 7 pm. I don't dreamfeed (never have.) Some mornings she'll wake up between 6 and 7 am. If that's the case, I BF her and start the day. But sometimes she'll wake up between 5 and 6 am. In that case, I BF her and put her back to bed. She will fall back asleep without any problems. I just don't know if I should wake her up if she's still asleep at 7 am or let her be and wait to see when she'll wake up on her own.
Also, when should I feed her again (she eats every 4 hours.) 4 hours after her very early morning feeding, or after I wake her up at 7 am?

[sara_derek]

Hi there,
When she wakes up between 5 and 6, you might try to get her to go back to sleep with an alternate method rather than breast feeding.  Those last couple of hours should be part of her night sleep (until 7 atleast).  Then I would choose a consistent awake time each day, 7 sounds natural to her, and then stick with it.  If she's still sleeping at 7, Tracy recommends waking her to keep her day on a consistent schedule.

Hope that helps!

[hulababysmommy]

Thanks for helping Sara!

- I've been trying to pat/sh her back to sleep, but that only upsets her terribly. She doesn't take a pacifier or bottle. I don't know how else to get her back to sleep. Any suggestions?
- Since she always takes a full feed whenever she wakes up, don't you think she would be really hungry? With a bedtime between 6 and 7 pm, that's a long time without food?
- So if I do feed her between 5 and 6 am, when do you suggest should her next feeding be?

[Katet]

If she isn't feeding between bedtime of 6 or 7 then yes I would feed her at 5am, that is a long time & actually going that long is amazingly good & she is probably ready to start the day too. If you want her to start her day a bit later, you may need to shift bed time to about 11 -11.5 hours from your ideal day starting time.

[hulababysmommy]

Thank you Kate! I appreciate the advice! I will definitely give that a try!
But I think it is going to be hard because my baby girl is a horrible napper. She takes two 45 minute naps: 1 early morning, 1 early afternoon and no nap anymore after that. (She just started refusing an afternoon nap a couple of days ago.) Anyway, at 6 pm, she is done for the day and goes to bed without a peep. I am very happy and thankful for the good nights of sleep I get, but I really wish she would be better at napping too. Do you think it's going to be a matter of time?

[Little Bear's Mum]

Hi, if it's any consolation, I have the same situation with my son. He's 6.5 months and goes to bed at 6.30pm and wakes between 5-5.30am. I feed him, cos he'll scram the house down otherwise, then put him back to bed until about 7am. He often wakes just before that. If not, I've just started setting my alarm to get him up at 7am.

Unfortunately after finally sleeping thru the whole night without waking for a few nights, he's just gone back to waking about 3am for a feed.    If only I could eliminate that again. I would love for him to sleep until at least 6am, but I"m not sure when / if that will happen.

So, I can't offer advice, but yes, others are out there doing the same.