my 5 month old waking at 4:30 am

[allyson]

I have a 5 onth old and for a while she was doing 7-7 straight without a feed. now for some reason she is waking at 4:30 am for two days in a row. I know it takes 3 for a habbit so I need to figure this out. not sure if it has something to do with the clocks changing or what?? Ond day I left her and she woke up more and then I rocker her back to sleep without feeding her and it took 45 min. today I feed her becuause her last feed was 7 the night before. she went back to sleep until 6:30. what do I do? why is she waking up like this now??

she is on this schedule
e 7
a 7:30
s 8:45-9:30 (tried extending naps did not work wakes up happy)
and so on and so forth the rest of the day
takes 3 45-50 min naps
to bed 7ish

[Katet]

5months old is still really young to be doing 12 hours without a feed. While she has done it there is no guarantee she will always be able to do it & at 5mo 9-10 hours is considered a great stretch to be going between feeds.

it could also be developmental, although you can't pinpoint that until you rule out hunger.

With my 5.5mo he goes anywhere between 9 & 12 hours & if he wakes after 3am (7.30pm bedtime) I always feed him no questions. Until she is probably about 7mo & established on solids I personally would recommend giving her the benefit & feed her  - Tracy Hogg authorof BW recommends a df - around 10.30 until babies are firly established on solids at around 7-8months & all other litereature I have read says one (or 2) feed between 7pm & 7am for babies 4- 8 months old is very normal.

Although I'm not personally pro solids before 6mo, if you thought your lo was ready & the 7-7 sleep is really important to you, you could try intorducing them, but then there is still no guarantee that will work
I think you (like me most of the time) have just been very lucky in your dd doing it fairly regularly at such a young age.

[allyson]

thanks I will try a dream feed tonight and see if that helps if not I will feed her and put her back to sleep. I have been lucky, I got spoiled.

[Critter]

There must be something magic about five months old, because all of a sudden, my son (who is 5 months old TODAY) is waking at 2 and then again around 4, and then 5, but then will stay down until almost 7.  He has a paci, and he only uses it when he sleeps.  If he wakes up and we go in and give him his paci, he falls right back to sleep.  My question is, when should we let him cry it out and soothe himself?  I am torn b/c I don't want him to cry so much that he really wakes himself up, you know?  What do I do?  He eats5 6-oz bottles and does a dream feed, so I kow he isn't hungry

[Katet]

amystoker, I could never recommend letting your little one cry it out, it will break the trust. he is crying/waking up for a reason & it may be hunger/thirst as there can be a growth spurt (or lots of small ones) in the 5-6month age group. I would try upping his bottles in the day & even giving him a feed at night... if he takes 2oz or more then he does need it at least for now

[Critter]

Thanks, I have considered adding to his bottles, but the little guy has reflux and we've just gotten to a point (with meds) where he doesn't hurl his entire bottle after every feeding.  I might try adding to his evening bottle and dream feed to see how he does.