7 mo ALMOST sttn - early waking - what to do?

[dkmom]

My 7 mo is almost sttn now - we had a 4 am feeding in there that we just eliminated (pretty easily) a few weeks ago.  She still gets a dreamfeed at 10:30 or so but she is waking up anytime between 5:30 and 6:45 - I'd really like to stretch her to 7:00 - or do I just have an early riser?

When she wakes up, she is not terribly hungry (although she will definitely eat if offered), but more just awake.  She cries until I take her out of the room and walk around the house, go into our room and talk to daddy or the dog or other simple entertainment.  I always hold out actual feeding until 7am.  I have tried pupd at this time, but she really just screams, I think she's just awake.  Once I got her to fall back to sleep for about 15 minutes while I was holding her though, so that isn't a good solution. 

I have tried feeding her about half a normal feed if she wakes up around 5:45 and she'll sleep then until I wake her at 7:30 to keep her on a schedule.  BUT I'm trying to get rid of the early am feeding, so this is probably a bad habit.

Here is her daily schedule, its pretty much the same every day:
7 or 7:30 E
8:00 A
9:30 S
11:00 E
11:30 A
1:30 S
3:00 E
5:15 CN
6:00 A
7:00E
7:15 S
10:30 DF (she usually wakes up for this and then I feed her?)



Would love any advice on what do do in that early hour before 7!

Thanks!

[Tweakster]

Hi there, normally by 7 mths they are doing 2 hr 45 - 3 hr A time by the end of the month into 8 mths.  And no CN.  I don't think she is getting enough a time.  And also too much day sleep now with the CN, they only need around 3 hours.

I would start to increase her A time - start with morning and slowly work out from there, keeping her good 1.5 hour naps intact.

What do you think? 

Also Tracy mentions in her book about the DF starting to disrupt night sleep but I would start with A time first and see how you get on.

[Mom to M&M]

Totally agree with Wendy about both the A times and DF. I'd probably work on extending A times/dropping the catnap first and then once that is settled work on dropping the DF. So you might want to start working toward:

Nap: 9:45-11:15
Nap: 2:15-3:45
Bedtime: 7pm

[dkmom]

Interesting - sounds good, I will give it a try starting today!  The DF is interesting because she has started waking up for it now - she used to sleep through it, a true "dream" feed.  Now she wakes up crying anytime between 10 and 10:45 and really wants to eat.  She is pretty much sleeping exactly 8 hours (if she wakes at 10 for dreamfeed, she is up at 6, etc) - Do you think that might just be how long her little tummy can go without food?

Either way, I will start with increasing A time and dropping the catnap - thank you so much!

[dkmom]

Okay, so I dropped the catnap (it was very easy to drop - thank you!) and have extended A time to 2.75 hours.  Everything is going great during the day, she is still napping a total of 3 hours, solids are going okay, bedtime is good at 7:15 or so, she falls asleep by herself and she gets her DF around 10:30.  I know I shouldn't expect changes overnight, but she is still waking up at 6:00 every morning.

As I keep adjusting her daytime schedule, what should I do with her at 6 am?  She isn't starving but will always eat (if I feed her, she will sleep for 20 minutes and then is just plain old awake!), she cries until I walk her around the house and really be "awake", playing, etc.  Should I hold off feeding until 7am and if so, what do I do with her during that hour?  Should I let her cry in her crib (probably not, since that is a long time) or do I just be awake with her?  Should I give her toys in her crib? Should I hold her and try to get her back to sleep?  Pu/Pd?  I just don't want to start the habit of being awake at 6?

Sorry, just hoping someone out there has some advice!

[Mom to M&M]

So she's getting almost 11 hours of sleep at night? I'm sorry but that's truly fantastic!

[Tweakster]

Hi there, yes sorry but I have to agree with Karen.  A huge proportion of LO's are doing 11 hours.  Some even less. I don't know that many mums on here that have LO's doing a full 12 hours - there are some but not as many as would like hehe. So I think she's doing great.  She's not in a habit, she's probably just had enough sleep :-) 

If she's happy to self-entertain in her crib when she wakes it is a great time for her to learn to do some independent play and I would put a few cuddly toys and soft books in there for her.  You can try to resettle her but usually PU/PD doesn't do that much when it's not a true EW.  They are just too rested to go back to sleep.  The only time we have had luck resettling is with some APOP - either a bottle or rocking.

As her A time increases you can slowly push your day out to get a later bedtime and hopefully a slightly later wake time.