5am wakings yet again

[corrina01]

My DD is 18 weeks old.  She has now started to wake again at 5am or 5.30am and stays awake.  Her feeds are at 7am then 10.30am and then every 3hrs.  I know I should I have her on a 4hr easy but this is a problem.  When she wakes up she can only stay awake for 1.20hr - 1.30hr, she really fusses to go to bed at the 1.20hr stage but I can sometimes stretch it to 1.30hr - 1.35hr when she really starts crying.  I think she is having to much daytime sleep (about 4.30hrs -5hrs).  How can I keep her awake longer so that she doesn't wake at 5am. 

She is now starting (and hopefully continues to be) a great napper.  She wakes at the 45mins mark, wakes up totally and then goes back to sleep within 20 - 30mins of waking.  She rarely cries she justs talks to herself in this 20 -30mins.  I have stopped going in her room, as when she sees me she smiles.  I just stand in the doorway and watch and she doesn't see me.

[newaussie]

How long are her sleeps? 

If you are trying to cut down on total sleep time then perhaps you shouldn't be trying so hard to keep her up but maybe consider waking her from her naps if she is napping too long.  That might gently coax her into the routine that you are after.

Personally I think if you know your baby is tried after 1.2 hours there is no point in keeping her up past that time.  You are lucky to be able to get her to nap and also to be able to recognize when she is tired. 

I haven't used the EASY routine myself because I only read the BW book after I had already gotten my DD on another routine which worked.   

I would definitely love to know if you find a solution to your problem.

Good Luck!

[corrina01]

She is sleeping anywhere from 1.30mins to 1.45 mins. 

Her schedule is like this

7am Get up and feed, sometimes she wakes at 5am or 5.30am and won't go back to sleep.
8.30 - 8.40am sleep 
10.30am Wake up feed
11.45am- 12noon Sleep
1.30pm Wake up and feed
2.50pm - 3pm Sleep
4.30pm Wake up and feed
5.45 Sleep
6.15 Wake up and bath (she loves it)
6.45 -7pm Feed
7pm - 7.30pm Bed
10.30pm DF but she wakes as soon as the bottle is in her mouth, and she awake till about 11.30pm even though I put her back into her cot straight after her DF.

I always have to wake her for her feed, so that is why I am still on a 3hr EASY.

[newaussie]

I took a look at your schedule.  If your DD cannot stay up longer than 1.5 hours you might not be able to do much about this.  In fact I know someone who is doing the EASY routine who has a wake up at 5:00am.  Keep in mind that as your DD gets older (within a few weeks) she will be able to stay up longer and so you will be able to adjust this routine a little more.  It might be easier to work around it than to change it and introduce another problem.  By the time she is four months you may find that none of this is a problem.

However you might be able to keep her awake longer if you take her out on a walk.  Also you might find that if you wake her from her first nap at 10:00 instead of 10:30 that she can stay up until 12:00.  I find that at different times of day babies have a diffferent ability to stay up.  For instance I always found that Paige was tired two hours after waking in the morning but she could stay up three hours after her afternoon nap.  No idea why.  I found that was the stretch that increased more than any of the others.  That may have something to do with the fact that I got into a habit of going out after her afternoon nap.  I used that time to do my shopping or get other things done.

When she does wake at 5:00am do you feed her or do you wait until 7:00am?  Is she good at playing by herself or does she need you to stay with her?  If she plays by herself you might try to encourage her to stay in her cot and play.  Also does she wake up crying?  Is it possible you are going to her too soon?  I know I did this and then I realized that sometimes she was quite happy on her own.  I had the tendency to think that if she was awake I had to go and get her out of her cot.


Well let me know how it goes.  It sounds like you are doing a fantastic job so far.

Judy

[corrina01]

She is 4 months 1 week. I will try tomorrow getting her up at 10am but I don't think she will feed at 10am maybe 10.15 - 10.30.  She plays quitely in her cot, I don't go in until I hear her crying, and thats only for the dummy to be replugged, then she will try and go to sleep, spits the dummy out when she can't, plays quietly or talk and laugh at the toys, another 30 mins will pass. Then she crys just when I getting off to sleep, I replug the dummy and she tries to go to sleep.  Then we have the same thing again until she gets up at 7am.  When she does get up, she is all smiles and laughs when I sing "Good Morning, Good Morning to you".  I always leave her in her cot till 7am.

I know that if I do the 4hr EASY she can handle it but I can't increase the A time. 

She doesn't want to feed.  The 7am bottle she only takes 4oz but the rest of the day she takes 5-6oz so I know its not a hungry thing.

[shem2005]

My DD is about 21 weeks and is on 4 hour EASY, she will not eat any sooner that 4 hours and sometimes this is even a struggle. She can not stay awake 2 hours yet and the 4 hour EASY works for us cause she sleeps more - it has not effected her night sleeps, she sleeps 7-7am. Her schedule is:
7am feed
8.25-8.35am nap
11am feed
12.45pm nap
3pm feed
4.30pm nap - this nap we only let her sleep till about 5.30-5.45pm
6.30pm feed

Generally all naps we wake her from or she will wake slightly earlier. If she wakes at 10.30am i generally try and keep her up to 12.30pm. I think now that she is a little older she can cope with me stretching her out.

I have struggled with naps on and off since she was 6 weeks old and i think now we are starting to do really well, she sleeps more than most babies her age but that is what she wants.

I know it is hard entertaining them but maybe try going for a walk or visiting people. My DD seems to be able to stay awake a lot longer if we have visitors, somedays she just wears me out trying to keep her occupied and i think i bore her in the end.

[corrina01]

Thanks for that, I will give a go at the 4hr easy then.