Could EW be a habitual NW??

[*Kara*]

DD is 6 1/2 months old and has been waking at around 5 am for the last 8-9 weeks.  I thought it was related to being night weaned but she is hit and miss with taking a bottle at that time so I don't think it is hunger... It started before the weather got nice and her room is blacked out with a loud ticking clock that she has had since 3 months for white noise.  Generally a good napper, unless the OT cycle gets her from the EW.  She works best with set nap times each day and has longer than average A times.

Typical day:

5am - wakes (have tried feeding/have tried postponing with minimal effect - sometimes eats less if we postpone, like she is past hunger yet doesn't fuss if not fed... weird!)

E: 530am (bottle)
E: solids at 745am
A: until 815/830
S: 815-10am
A: 10 - 1130am
E: 1130 (bottle), then I eat and then give her solids at 12noon
A: 1215 - 1pm
S: 1pm - 3pm (sometimes 330, but I will wake her at 330 if still sleeping)
A: 3 - 345/4pm
E: 345/4 (bottle)
A: until bathtime

Bath is at 630, bottle at 645, into crib ~7pm and sleeping on her own within minutes.  Rarely if ever wakes during the night, and then we are back to the EW time of 5am!

Could this just be a habitual NW that I am mistaking for an EW?  It is shortly after the time she was waking for a night feed right before I weaned her at 4 1/2 months.  She has never taken a DF so we have never bothered with it.

Suggestions?  This momma would love just a half an hour more each morning... 6am would be divine!

[skatty]

This really isn't my area but I am wondering if that last A time is too long and could be effecting her EW, it might be a good idea to post your routibe on the EASY board 

[*Kara*]

I have tried putting her down earlier with a terrible result... she isn't tired enough and tends to take an hour to get to sleep... then continues to wake for a few hours after each sleep cycle...   I think she might have low sleep needs but am grasping at straws that I can somehow magically get her to sleep in until 6am!  LOL!

[skatty]

It is really hard tweaking routines so that you can get a later wake up, have you tried W2S? If not then maybe go in around 4am and just do something that will help DD stir, I used to take my dd's dummy out her mouth a bit or stroke her arm, hopefully she will move and it will reset the sleep cycle and she will sleep past 5am. Just remember routines and sleep are changing all the time at this age so it doesn't mean she will always be an EW 

[creations]

So many people are complaining of EW at 5.00 - 5.30am (including me up until last couple of days which have been bliss at 6.00 and 6.30am), I wonder if it has something to do with the seasons changing, lighter mornings, dawn chorus or something???

[skatty]

That's a point Creations, even with black out blinds light often creeps through, we pin black material up around the windows too!

[Jen114]

Are u doing a dream feed? As I think she is just that little bit too young to make it to 7 from 7 with no milk. Both my children had df at 10 until 8 months this would guarantee to keep them till 7 am. Another thing I have heard people say is wake to sleep method? What u think?

[*Kara*]

Thanks Jen - she has never taken a DF... I have tried quite a few times and she refuses it or just wakes up annoyed with me.  I know she can go 7pm-6am without a feed as she has done this on occasion when she has had a bad nap day or isn't feeling herself. 

As for the blackout - we have a blanket covering the gap above the curtain rod and I have clothes pegs to keep the curtains together... it's totally dark in there!  Of course, I can't start target practice with all of the chirping birds!  They might be to blame!  Buggers.

The past two days have been quite the disaster!  I took her on a playdate that conflicted with her afternoon nap and hoped that she would nap in her stroller - she did, for 35 minutes only.  Ugh.  Had her in bed early and she still woke just shy of 5am... then yesterday's afternoon nap was a complete disaster!  We live in a townhouse and are quite far north so we had to have the sand/gravel from the winter months cleaned up - they use a small bobcat tractor with a metal roller attachment... that was so loud that I don't think a baby 5 miles away could have slept through it!  I APOP'd that nap hoping that she would get enough sleep in, but of course, when she woke after 45 minutes and saw me - she was up and at 'em!  So off to bed early again last night and she slept later... but was restless from 10pm until 1pm with 3 quick wakeups/hollers... she did drift back off on her own, but her sleep was obviously disrupted.  I have to say it was bliss to wake at 545 this morning though!

[skatty]

We use white noise all year round, it blocks out the noise of us in the house but even better it blocks out the birds in the early morning, they are so loud 

It is good you got a later wake up  I found that it just wasn't worth doing stuff at my dd's naptime because we would pay for it for days!

[*Kara*]

I did pay for it for a few days!  Funny how a day or two can get them so of course!  I found that her A times needed an bit of an increase as well.  And teething is always in the mix!

The later wake up was a one time thing!