5 month old waking at 5am

[Kellyjs]

Are those for both of the naps? Could you pst what yesterday looked like for me in easy format? Remember it will get better ok? I will help you work through this xx

[kfields]

HI, Yes that's for ALL naps. I have to be honest I am so tired of feeling like all I do is battle naps all day. I don't even get to enjoy my day with my baby. It's very upsetting. In the 14 years as a nanny I've experienced anything like this. Everything just moved along seamlessly.

Here is our EASY the last few days. Though it has defiantly not been easy!

Monday:
woke up at 3:24am - 4:30am (playing and talking in crib)
woke up at 6am - 6:45am (playing and talking in crib)
up for the day at 7am
E - 7am
A - 7:15-8:40
S - 8:43-9:12 (happy so I left her to try to go back to sleep, she did not)
A - 9:40-10
E - 10:05
A - 10:20-11:15
S - 11:24-11:51
A
E - 1pm
S - 1:39-2:27
A -
E- 4pm
S- down at 4:20 wouldn't nap
E- 6pm
A- Bath and bedtime routine
S- in bed at 6:40 asleep at 6:48pm (down for the night)

Tuesday:
woke at 6am left her playing till 6:35
E- 6:45
A- 7-8
S- 8:17-8:49
A-
E- 10am
A-
S- 10:38-11:34 (this nap was in the car, I had to get out of the house yesterday)
A-
E- 1:15
A
S- 2:05-2:50 (this nap was in the car)
E- 4pm
S- 4:55-5:36
A
E- 6pm
A- Bath and bedtime routine
S- in bed at 6:45 asleep by 7pm

Wednesday:
woke at 6am up at 6:30
E- 6:40
A- 7-7:40
S- 7:56-8:26
A- 8:30-10
E- 10:10
S- 10:26-12....She woke at 10:55 back to sleep from 11-11:17 back to sleep at 11:23-12
A- 12-1:30
E-1:35
S- 2:17-2:52
A-
E- 4:30
S- tried for another nap at 5 but she wouldn't settle into it, dozed on and off for 30 min, waking up crying. (She never does this)

This is where we are now. I plan to feed her again around 6pm followed by bath, bedtime routine and bed by 7.

I am seeing that she is consistently waking at 6am. I'm thinking I need to just go with it. I am not a morning person at all but I feel forcing the 7am with her is not working and just messing up our first awake time and nap. That's the confusing part for me...She wakes at 6 but I don't get her up till 7, well she's already been up for an hour so she should be ready for her first nap at 8. (since that would be 2 hours of her being awake) Thoughts on moving the awake time for her to 6am? I am not seeing any changes in her sleep except for today with the 1.5 hour nap, but Im not sure why she took that. The awake times were the same. Im completely lost. My husband and I are almost to the point of hiring someone to come in and "fix" this for us. What am I still doing wrong?
OH and another thing, she needs to eat at least every 3.5 hour. I noticed today that she is spitting up a lot when fed at 3hr but not as much as when she eats 3.5 hr. Also when I fed her at 3 hr because she was fussing she drank an ounce and started to play with the bottle so I stopped, then the whole ounce came up. Ive called the dr about a stomach virus but her stools are normal so they don't seem concerned. I don't think I have mentioned she has reflux, which we are on Nexium for...She has never showed any signs of pain from it though. We started the meds because she was spitting up so much. That's why I didn't mention it as it seems to have no effect on her.

[Kellyjs]

Hmmm I wonder if the reflux is having something to do with this. When was the last time her dosage was checked?

I too think you might have to go with the 6am wu for now. Remember you're putting her down for bed around 7pm so 11hrs ONS is completely ok and just all what some bubbas are capable of. Mine included. Once we get a stable routine on the go and find what works, we can always shift the whole day so BT at 8pm with a wu at 7am later down the line, so all is not lost ok?

I also think you're getting towards the 3-2 transition. This is a time when LO's increase their A time pretty rapidly. Remember, you have been working on low A times for her age and considering she's sleeping so well at night we do need to look at her total overall sleep in one day yk?

All these early morning NW's are screaming UT at me, especially as she's happily chatting away. She may well be getting OT by the end of the day, but again there's no NW's where I'd usually expect them if this were the case.

Ok, so plan. Let's do wu at 6am. Leave her for around 15mins (I always think that it's nice to have that wu time on their own for a bit). Then let's move all A times to 2hrs 15mins for the rest of the day from 6.15am. So first nap at 8.30am, etc etc. Then I would use w2s around 25mins after she falls asleep. Have you done that one before? Did I mention it?

I know you're finding it difficult atm, we all do from time to time, but I'm here to help and I promise it will get better. We have to keep pushing that A time some more I believe to get rid of all these silly cat naps xx

How to address habitual wakings (w2s and other methods)

[kfields]

Sounds good to me. I do believe she is moving towards the 3-2 naps as well. I read a little about it this morning and feel that's where we are headed. I have tried the w2s with her and she doesn't do well with interference, just seems to upset her even more. I started her wake up time at 6am today. I'm going to go with that for a bit. As far as her daily overall sleep shes getting a little over 13hrs in a 24hr period. I'd like to see her get more like 14-16 but that will come when we get these naps fixed. She is sleeping solidly from 7pm-6am and that's a good 11hrs. I believe as well that she is developing fast right now. It's almost like everything has just started to click and she's very busy. Play time is very exciting for her (and for me). I will keep her A times at 2 15 for all and see how she does. So far today she's only napping 25-30 min each time. I will keep trying. Thanks for your help. 

[Kellyjs]

You sound a bit more positive! At least you are getting good nights 

She's doing really well on that little sleep, I want to keep with it but I have a little suspicion she may be LSN as she doesn't seem to crash out and take good naps or more ONS. But time will tell.

Keep me posted ok? Xx