16wk old waking at 5:30am

[BabyBurtie]

Hello there! I was just wondering whether anyone has any suggestions to help my dd sleep beyond 5:30am.  She is 16weeks old and if following 7-7 routine.  She has a nap for 30/45mins at 9am and then 2/2:15mins at 12 and then 30mins sometime between 4 and 5pm.  We start the bedtime routine at 5.30 with nappy off and then bath bottle book and in bed by 6:45 with her usually asleep by 7pm. 

She is bottle fed (cows milk intolerant and on ranitidine and domperidone as has reflux) and currently has 5 feeds a day one of which is a dream feed at 10:30pm.  The last 2 feeds of the day she normally consumes 6.5oz and otherwise can vary between 4-6oz.

She occasionally wakes around 4:30am but manages to resettle herself.  We have had a couple of nights where she has managed to resettle through to me waking her a 7am but she tends to wake at 5:30 and then attempts to resettle herself but by 6/6:15 I have to go in and try and help her.

I know she is not hungry at this point as have tried feeding and whilst she will drink she then refuses the 7am feed.  I've also tried water and she is not interested.  I've persevered with PU/PD which has helped with her resettling during the day and dropping the 4:30am wake up but does not seem to help at 5:30am when she seems to then be unable to drift back to a deep sleep.  The other morning she was awake off and on through until 6:30 when I brought her downstairs and started the day.

I know she is still tired when she wakes at 5:30 - this morning we attempted for 40mins to go back to sleep with her fussing and working up to a mantra cry before I gave in and brought her in to bed with me when she then slept like a log and had to be woken at 7am.  I know that this is not the answer and don't want her to get into the habit of coming into bed with us -likewise I know I am lucky that she sleeps though until 5:30am!

Is there anything I'm missing here? Any way I can help her sleep through to 7am?

Her bedroom is as dark as I can make it with blackout blind, venetian blind and curtains. I've tried using white noise at night as it seems to help block out noise during the day for her to be able to sleep but she still wakes. She has a cushki and bunny rabbit as a lovie but does not seem fussed if they move down the cotbed.  She did have a dummy but has been dummy free for the past 2weeks both day and night.

During the day awake time is playing with toys, gym mat, bouncer chair, walks, baby massage class and socialising with other Mums and babies.

Any help or suggestions gratefully received!

[Shiv52]

I know she is not hungry at this point as have tried feeding and whilst she will drink she then refuses the 7am feed.  I've also tried water and she is not interested.

Honestly I think it's hunger. At 4 months very very few babies are doing a full night without a feed. The fact she isn't resettling and going back into a deep sleep would suggest to me she is genuinely hungry. I would feed then just delay the first few a bit. If you can feed and get her back to sleep quickly your days are going to be much better off anyways if you aren't starting the day after unsettled sleep from 5.30 IYKWIM?

[BabyBurtie]

I'm not sure that she is hungry as very often she will not take a full feed at 7am from having a dreamfeed at 10.30/11pm.  Do you think it's worth dropping the dreamfeed and waiting for her to wake for food?

[Layla]

You could try not doing the DF and see when she wakes on her own and see if that takes her through to wake up hour but as Shiv said, it sounds like hunger and my LO had up to 2 night feeds at that age too. I didn't DF and she would usually wake up around 11-12 and then again towards the early hrs of the morning. What I used to do was offer one side at the early morning feed and the offer the other at wake up and then count my Es from there. So in your case you could do a smaller bottle feed and the. Do a top up feed whe. She wakes. I personally would prefer to feed mine and have her promptly return back to bed for more zzzz than play around with resettling, especially at that age. I don't think you'll be creating any bad habits as she's still quiet young and 2 night feeds at her age are not unrealistic 

Let us know how you go

[BabyBurtie]

Hi again! Well I did the dream feed last night at 11 and had a bottle ready to go if she woke but she slept through to 6:40am?! Will do the same tonight and see what happens. I've managed to get more milk in her during the day today so hopefully she'll be sufficiently tanked up!  Will let you know how I get on and thanks for all the helpful advice