rising early - wake to sleep?

[hawaiigal]

Hi!  My daughter and I have been working on some sleep issues lately, and we are having slow progress (but progress, none-the-less).  Last week I was able to eliminate her night feedings & she was sleeping from around 8pm - 5:30 (sometimes 5, sometimes 6:30).  I decided that perhaps she was waking early because she was too tired, so I moved bedtime to between 7:15 - 7:30.  She wakes a few times a night, but I can't really get her back to sleep in her crib when she wakes at 5:30.  When I do get her up, she falls asleep while nursing over half the time.  I'm not really convinced that she's waking up because she's hungry; I think it might just be a pattern.

I really hesitate to feed her and then put her back to bed, as I fear that this will start her wanting to night-feed again.  I wondered if I should try wake-to-sleep.  Obviously, I'm afraid that waking her at 4:30 or 5am multiple days in a row will just create a new wake time.

Should I work on this, or should I just accept it as her wake time?  I think she needs more sleep, because she yawns more during the day than she should (although it not usually over fussy).  Her naps vary between 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, and she usually has 2 or 3 naps (3 naps if she takes short ones).  (We have been weaning from the swaddle).

[andibig]

W2S will only work if the awake time is 5.30 everyday.if it varies then it won't work.
How old is your LO and what is your general daytime routine?

[hawaiigal]

My daughter is 7 months old.  Our schedule varies somewhat right now because her nap times vary.  It's somewhat like this:

5:30 - Wake up

5:45 - Nurse (she usually falls back to sleep)

7 or 7:30 - eat breakfast

8 or 8:30 - 1st nap (between 45 minutes - 1 1/2 hours)

After that it really varies based on her nap.  We usually are on a 3 1/2 - 4 hour EASY (based on length of nap).  She generally has lunch between 12pm or 1pm, has dinner around 6pm, bath, then bed around 7:30.

About her wake-up time:  She generally wakes up between 5:20 - 5:40.  Does she have to be waking up at exactly 5:30 every morning to do wake to sleep?

Also, last night she went to bed at 8:30. (She had a late nap & I let her have it because she was overtired.  This threw us off of our schedule a little).  She still woke up this morning at 5:40, which makes me think that that time is programmed into her body.

Thanks!

[andibig]

Sasha used to be an early waker -5am (no i'm not joking) and to be honest putting her to bed later would not make her sleep later.
some LOs at this age will hit a period of early waking and we didn't really sort out sashas until she was around 10-11mths.
Fortunately she was happy to stay in her cot when she woke and she had a quite early bedtime (6-6.30pm).as she got older she could handle longer awake times so i could shorten naps etc.

what time does she normally have her 2nd nap?.
you could try W2S if that awake time is consistent between 5.20-5.40.maybe try 4.25.remeber you have to do it for at least 3 days to a week.

[hawaiigal]

Thanks!  Today my DD woke up at 6am for the first time in weeks, so now I'm not sure.  We'll see what happens tomorrow morning.  I suspect that we'll be back to 5:30, and if that stays consistent then I'm thinking about trying W2S.  Have you heard of that actually causing babies to just start waking up at the new time (ie: 4:25)?

I have also noticed that a later bedtime does not equal later wake up times.  Too bad! 

[andibig]

I've heard it very very occ waking babies (w2s).usually its either becuase their LOs are light sleepers or they have used too much intervention with the w2s.
basically you just do enough to get them to stir and thats it.
congrats on the lie in