6 week old wakes an hour early

[erin122]

Hello,

I was reading another post who had an early waker at 9 weeks.  Just wondering any suggestions to think if I'm in the same situation.  My little one is 6 weeks old and is on a 3 hour EASY.  Since we brought her home from the hospital she would wake every morning at 7am which was perfect for our EASY routine.  Now for the past 4-5 days she is waking at 6.  I try to keep her in bed as long as possible as she just is fussing but then she starts crying so i have to pick her up out of bed.  After I've settled her down I cuddle her back to sleep like 20min later.  I know she can't be hungry because she wakes up twice at night between 130-2 and once between 4-5.  And then when i pick her up out of bed she falls asleep so I know she is still tired. 
She suffers from reflux, however I think we have it under control because when she wakes up in the middle of the night its only to feed and no issues of reflux.  Any suggestions how to get her back on her 7am waking?  Mom misses the extra hour

Her routine goes as follows...
6pm and 8pm cluster feeds.
Then usually 10-1030 a dream feed.  Then she wakes around 2ish for a feed and another time between 4-5.

Thanks!
Erin

[*Ali*]

She may be having the 6wo growth spurt. Does she take full feeds at the NFS? Of does she fall back to sleep quickly? Is she eating more in the day?

What time does she go to sleep at BT?

[erin122]

See I was wondering if it might be because she wasn't taking in full feeds during the night.  Ive been trying to tickle her a bit so she might wake up a but more so she'll eat.  She is quite sleepy, and goes right back to sleep.  I haven't found she's eating more in the day.  Every 3 hrs and then the cluster feeds.  And naps are always under 2hrs.

The other thing I thought maybe she's cold. Because Monday she woke up at 730 and she didn't get out of her swaddle that night.

Her bedtime is about 830 after her clusterfeed.  But sometimes closer to nine if I cant get her to sleep.

[*Ali*]

Ok so she is doing a short night of 9hrs or thereabouts. What time is her last nap before BT? Is she doing A time between the cluster feeds or just getting up to eat?

I can recommend the Woombie if you want a swaddle she won't escape from.

[erin122]

Her last nap is between 7-8 in between the 2 cluster feeds.  Though maybe 1/4 of the time she won't fall asleep in between because it can take her sometimes quite a bit to fall asleep.  As we will feed her around 6ish, burp her and then change and then try put her back to sleep.  So I guess we don't give her too much activity just the diaper change and then right to cuddle time to get her to have a quick catnap.  Do you think I should keep her up during this time?

We got a wrap quite like that not sure the brand we have but she'll still tug quite hard to get out unless she's real sleepy and that was the morning we slept in

[*Ali*]

No I think she needs that nap between the feeds. Does she wake for the 8.30 feed or do you wake her? I expect she would be ready to go down for the night much earlier around 6 or 7pm. Could you try that and just feed her the 8.30 feed as a NF or wait until 10 and just do a DF? The latter would probably have to wait until after the 6wo growth spurt.

It can be hard to get them to sleep at this age even when they need it. Many LOs do become less sleepy and more efficient around 6-8wo which will make it easier to have distinct NFs, naps and night sleep.

[erin122]

Thanks I will try that tonight to put her to bed earlier.
She does wake on her own.  But I can try and see if putting her down earlier would work.  So I feed her next at her 4pm feed then I'll try putting her to bed at 6-7.

Let's see if I understand correctly.  So then would her feedings be thenthe 6pm cluster feeding and then at 830 and then no DF around 10? 
Just thinking then she'd be waking at 12 to feed again.  Or do I have the feeds confused?

[*Ali*]

No sorry I meant keep the feeds you have now at 8 and 10 until after the 6wo GS and then maybe you can drop the 8pm cluster feed and just do the DF after BT. Sorry I was confusing the 8.30 BT with the 8pm feed. So the only thing you are changing is the 8pm feed would become a NF instead of a day feed because she would be going to sleep earlier for the night. Does that make sense?

[erin122]

Okay so I'm not sure if the extra sleep made her more awake today or if it's with the growth spurt.
So 6pm was her feed, then her A time was until 630-645.  She fell asleep just after 7.
For her NF about 810 I woke her to feed and put her right back to sleep. (note she only ate for like 6min as she was so sleepy)
Then at about 1030 woke her for DF.  She ate till 1100 and then put her down.
She woke up at 130 and 430 for feeds and then awake at 630 fussing. (note NF's were all full ones except that 8pm)  I picked her up to calm her and she fell asleep again for another 30min.

Now today I haven't been able to get her to have one nap.  She's sorta half asleep, but no napping.  So I'm one tired momma after the short lengths of sleep.

Do you think I should go back to later BT?  Or any other suggestions.  I guess if she's waking early its better if i can get her to sleep longer stretches, which she's not either.  But maybe with that she'll sleep till 7.

[*Ali*]

I would give it at least 3 days to let her get used to it.

[erin122]

Thanks for your advice 
We've been trying the new bedtime for a couple days now.  I think you were right she did need to go to bed earlier.  We're still trying to work on things though as it can take her forever to get to sleep.  So sometimes its not so much 7pm she goes to bed. Like lastnight it took until her 8pm NF to fall asleep from 630.  I think after a couple more days she'll be more used to the new routine though.  She is now waking for the better part between 630-7am which is fine for us as anytime between there is great.  Now the only time she'll wake up earlier like yesterday is when she has bad gas.

Though too after her 8pm NF and DF at 1030/11ish, she's still waking at 130, 330-4ish and then up between 630 and 7.  Do you think it will just take some time until she gets a bit bigger before she'll just wake around 2ish for one NF?  She is a small 6 week old (well 7 weeks now), she only weighs about 9.5lbs, 10 at the most.  So I was thinking maybe she is still small and needs to feed more at night and just wait it out until she's bit bigger.  What do you think?

[*Ali*]

I think a DF and 2 NFs is perfectly normal for any 7wo, even a 3mo tbh, especially if small.

I would stick with what you are doing and see how it goes. sounds like you are doing great

[erin122]

Yay! 

Thanks.

[erin122]

I don't know if this is a post for naps or here because it happens both at bedtime and naps.
My LO still has some trouble waking up a bit early but I think it's now due to AP because I bring her in bed and we sleep for an hr.  My DH read on here that at this stage is when they're starting to learn those things and wakes up habitually at same time now because I cuddle her.  Plus about 3/4 of the time she wakes because of a poopy. 

So the problem we have now is she doesn't want to go to bed at her new bedtime at 7pm.  We've been trying now for awhile and maybe 1/3 of time she'll fall asleep by 715/730.  Other nights like lastnight it was 9pm.  so 2hrs of shh/pat.
And on top of that issue she won't nap.  We've been trying shh/pat and 4S.  But as soon as we start she knows its time to sleep and just screams.  After shh/pat her to sleep in my arms I put her in her bassinet and she awakes or if i miraculously get her to sleep its only 30min for naps.  Bedtime no problems.  Feeds twice and goes right back to bed.
So right now I've tried holding her while she sleeps so she can get a decent nap finally and to see if that's the problem.  Sure enough she's been sleeping for 1hr 30min in my arms. 

any ideas where to start? my DH and I are stumped and feel bad for DD who isn't getting her sleep and then gets grumpy because she's not sleeping.

[*Ali*]

Have you tried wake to sleep or holding through the jolts (httj) instead of picking her up and holding her? This link has info on how to do it with a couple variations. How to address habitual wakings (w2s and other methods)