Wake to sleep pointers

[Ev0411]

I would like to try wake to sleep for my DDs 5.30am waking. Can u remind me what to do / give any tips?

The background is this: 4mos old, ebf on one side dd who sleeps well swaddled; we use a paci. Her bedtime is 7pm. No reflux, no major issues. She was an independent sleeper but at 3.5months it all went to hell as she re-discovered the world! Lol. It's not that bad but definitelly regressed. Her EASY is 2.5hrs because of her developmentally short naps (30-45mins). I've tried everything and it obviously has nothing to do with being ut/ot. Her A time is about 1.30. We go by cues so sometimes 10-15mins shorter, sometimes longer. She used to fall asleep in her crib on her own, now I have to go back to holding her for a few minutes. Not too bad.

Now at night she feeds at 7, then wakes from hunger anywhere b/w 1.30 and 3.30. For the past 1-2weeks now though she also wakes at 5.30ish. She'll feed but usually is more alert, needs to burp, poo, often change. Ugh. Then she's up for an hour and a half! Basically her regular A time. Ugh. I don't want her to get the impression that we get up at 5.30 but obviously after an 1.5hr it's 7am... If she falls asleep then I go back to bed and we wake up for the day about 45mins-1hr later, always before 8. I just feel she's not that hungry at 5.30 since she just ate at 3.30.

I'm writing this in paragraphs but it's on my phone so it might all smush together, sorry. What do u all think? Should I just ride it out? Wake to sleep? If so how many days do I try before I can say it worked or failed? Tia. Ev.

[Erin M]

There's some info on W2S here: How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

You have to give it a good week to see if it works.  I would also encourage you to keep working on A times -- while short naps are developmental, increasing your A time will help her get over that developmental hurdle sooner.  Also, tired cues do become somewhat unreliable at this age -- sometimes they start to yawn/look sleepy more out of habit than necessity. 

[Ev0411]

Thank you. I've been writing down the night wakings times to see a pattern. Maybe wake to sleep isnt right after all. Tonight she woke at 1.30, 4, and 5. Ugh. That's getting more frequent. At 5am she's just up for the day though, clearly! She's all happy and talking to herself; won't keep a paci in. Maybe increasing her A time during the day is the strategy? It will be hard because she cries at about 1.30 or so when she's tired. Better fight that during the day than this early am crib party here! So frustrating.

[Erin M]

Maybe increasing her A time during the day is the strategy?

Yes, sounds like it.

Our babies get into the habit of sleeping at a certain time, after the same amount of A time -- sometimes we just need to push them through that and they'll sleep better.  And yes, definitely better to deal with grumpiness during the day than in the middle of the night.

[Ev0411]

Hi. I just wanted to say thank you. I have extended A times to 1.30min in am and 1.45-2hr for all others and not only has it helped with the night waking but also her naps. Duh! Also I have changed my strategy for the one night feed - made it a proper feed: unswaddle, long feed, burp, change as needed, resettle, burp. I was trying to keep her feeds short and keep her more or else asleep but it never worked for us before as it creates all these gas issues. I remembered now so we do better with one long proper feed. Thank you again, and I'm sure I'm not entirely out of the woods yet

[Erin M]

Glad you're seeing progress!
We're here if you need more help with the rest of it, but it really sounds like you're on the right track!

[Ev0411]

Bad night again. Dd used to sttn except for one night feed at 3.5 mos. now 2 weeks later she's waking up way more often. What a cruel joke! Last night she ate at 2330, 330, 5, 6; up for the day at 7ish. She falls asleep after each time so at least increasing her A times during the day helped in that there aren't any long night wakings. When should I expect this stage to pass?! I'm so tired after a week+ of this newborn like state. So hard to accept this regression... Is it often better at 5mos? 6mos?

[Erin M]

Is she taking big, full feeds at all those wakings or just enough to get back to sleep?  Still nursing well during the day?  It could be a monster growth spurt -- there's one right around now.  Could also be some developmental/wonder week type stuff.  If it is one of those, I'd expect that she'd be through it in a week or two.  Any sort of discomfort a possibility -- teeth, illness, etc? 

[sarahabreu19]

HUGS! I don't have any suggestions-just empathy! my 4.5mo dd is going through the SAME THING!! however, there is hope! Recently her nights have been better-going down at 7:30ish, WU at 11:30 to eat, down again until 3:30-however she ALWAYS has this 30-45 minutes of awake time after her 3:30am wu. sometimes she is happy-often gassy, pooping, has wet through her clothes and needs to be changed etc. but she will always fall asleep again and sleep usually until 7:30am.

I am right there with you-just late last week she was up every 1.5-2 hours or so. also, our day times look very similar too. She took a longer (1 hr 45 min) nap today on her own!! There is hope!!

[Ev0411]

Huh. It's good to hear some of this is just a phase because it feels like it and I should just ride it out for now. She's taking full feeds all the time. Must be a growth spurt b/c it's been approx a week of this. But then also - good guess! - today she has a fever. Huh. So there u go. Growth spurt plus discomfort. Poor baby.

[Erin M]

Poor sweetie, lots of cuddles for now and worry about the rest of it later.