Early waking

[Roisin n]

Hi,

Hoping to get some advice as I am exhausted! I have been thrown off shedule completely and I don't know where to even begin to get back on track.

My 4.5 daughter has been waking at 5:50 everyday this week. She is wide awake and won't get back to sleep.

I usually don't feed her until 7am but at that point she's usually getting tired so I put her down for 1st nap at 730/7:45 as she's getting so tired.

She also doesn't nap (ever) for longer than 40 mins. I have been trying (for over one week) to pat her through the transition for 20-25 mins at the 30 -35 min mark, it does work but after patting for 25 mins and leave the room she usually wakes after 10 mins.

Her activity time is usually 1.45 - 2 hours. She usually has to have about 4 naps per day otherwise very tired and grouchy by bedtime, which is usually 6.30/7pm.

She then wakes about 9:15/930 - I usually do a feed then before I head off to bed. I do dream feed at 10 if she's not awake by then.

She then always wakes at 1:30 and 4:30am Should she be this hungry at 4.5 months. I've tried prolonging the feed and after shush patting she usually goes back to sleep but only for 20mins. Could I drop a feed?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

[jessmum46]

Could you post a whole day for us in EAS format?  Just makes it a bit easier to see what is happening   My guess would be though that you may need a little adjustment in A times and if possible trying for 3 rather than 4 naps as at some point too many naps becomes counter-productive.  Another thing you may need to do is push that first nap a bit later regardless of her early waking as too early a nap can cause the early starts to persist.  I'd also say that if she is in bed 6.30/7 and waking at 5.50, that's actually an 11h night or so which isn't an early waking in the true sense - my DS was a standard 11h night man for a long long time.  It may be you need to work towards a later bedtime to get WU to where you want it to be - but seeing a whole day's routine would help. 

I'm assuming she is breastfed?  In which case I would say 3 feeds per night is well within the realms of normal at this age and I don't think I would be advising trying to actively drop one at the moment.  Does she settle herself off to sleep at other times without a feed e.g. bedtime or naps?

[Roisin n]

 Thanks for your reply.

I am currently trying the wake to sleep method to encourage her to nap  longer than the 30-40 mins mark, so she doesn't need the 4 naps a day.

Ah yes understand what mean about bedtime - we will try and push it back 45 mins or so.

She does  settle herself sometimes, not always if she's O/tired. She is breastfed, but she does struggle to get back to sleep if she's not fed.... I think it's habit which is am trying to break. She seems to fall asleep during the night feeds whilst eating which is also a problem as she wakes 2 hours later. Do you have any tips to keep them awake so I can put her back down drowsy?

Our routine at the moment is:

W/u : 550
Eat : 7am
Activity:745 (trying to long it out)
Sleep:40 mins (occasionally 1.15)

W/u - 9
Activity -10
Eat - 10
Sleep - 45 mins -1.5 hour

W/u - 11
Activity - 12:30
Eat - 12:30
Sleep- 45 mins

Wake up - 1.15
Activity - 3:30
Eat - 3:45
Sleep - 45 mins

W/u - 4:45
Activity - 620
Eat - 630
B/t - 630

W/u for feed 9:45
Sleep
W/u - 1:30 for feed
W/u - 3:30 for feed

As you can see it's all over the place at the moment because of the early wake up and short naps. 😫

[Fisher001]

My 5 month old is pretty much on the exact same schedule, except she has started dropping her afternoon nap so goes 3 to 4 hours before bed time. The early WU is brutal.
X

[jessmum46]

Hi again, I'm just having a little trouble seeing what times she actually sleeps?  (Sorry if it's me being a bit stupid!!)  I'm trying to see what sort of A times you are doing and I have a feeling they may be on the short side at times, but could you possibly just write it out really simply for me with just morning WU time, and what clock times she sleeps and wakes?  Something like:

WU 5.50
S 7.45-8.30
S 10-11 etc

As a guide at her age I would expect her to need a 2h-2h15 A time as an average, possibly a touch shorter after a short nap but if you are having awake times much shorter than that then gently extending them may well help.

Am I right that she is feeding to sleep at all nap times?  If that's the case as well as thinking about her A times I would start to work on teaching her to get to sleep by herself as a feeding prop can also be a cause of short naps. 

[Roisin n]

Hi, yeh sure. The routine has changed over the last week as her naps have improved a lot and I've tried giving her slightly longer A time, especially before 1st nap.

WU 550/6
S 8:45/9 -10:20

S - 11:30 - 1pm

S - 330 -4:15

BT - 7pm

do you think the last A is too long? Should I try and prolong the A before 3rd nap?

Thanks

[jessmum46]

Is she sleeping through on that routine?  If so then I'd say it looks ok for now, though ideally when morning WU (hopefully) gets later she will be more rested after the first nap so you can do a proper A time before the second one.  At the moment it is quite short isn't it?  I wouldn't push the A any more before the 3rd nap I don't think as it's already on the higher side for her age