Routine for 5am waking

[james030405]

I have a 7.5mth old who is on 4 x milk feeds and 3 x solids a day.  Over the last 2 weeks, our days have started at around 5-5:30am.  while I would prefer this to be later, he is sleeping through the night, so I cannot complain.  My question is what sort of daily routine is everyone using wheb starting the day so early?  He doesn't seem to like to drink as soon as he wakes up, so our routine is sort of like this:

5:30am has been awake since 5am and plays
6am:  feed
7am:  breakfast
8:15-8:30am - nap
10am:  bottle
12pm:  lunch
1pm:  nap
2pm:  bottle
5pm:  dinner
5;30pm:  bath
6:30pm:  bottle
7pm:  bed

sometimes bed is 6:30pm if naps haven't worked out as such.  I am also wondering if I can somehow (not sure how :? ) to bring bottles in line with breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Does this routine sound okay, it just seems like he is eating/drinking every 2hrs and I wonder if this is why he doesn't always drink all of his bottle. 

Also, should I be doing set nap times ie. 9am and 1pm regardless of what time he is awake?  Currently I doing how long he is awake from him waking up eg, he usually is awake for about 3hrs, so if he wakes at 5am, I put him down at 8am.  Would I be better off keeping him up till 9 or should i put him down>

Any suggestions would be great.

Lisa mum to James my textbook/spirited koala bear

[Johno & Aurelias Mum]

Hi

Your schedule looks familiar!

I have an early riser but after a lot of work we've got to 6:30 now.

The problem is that it can be a vicious circle, the earlier they wake, the earlier the first nap etc etc which then means the following morning their body cycle is set on early.

What you could do is summon up every ounce of patience you have and try and extend that first awake time.  That would push back the 10am bottle to nearly lunchtime and keep lunchtime at about the same time.

Second nap slightly later, then mid afternoon bottle would be 3pm and keep tea at 5.  Aim for about 7 bedtime unless naps haven't gone well.

Over the period of a week or so, this should result in later wakings in the morning. 

Your questions about bottles - have you tried a sippy cup of milk yet with the solids.  The first one we did this with was the mid morning one which then went with lunch.  The mid afternoon one is a 'stand alone' bottle that just got dropped but DS does have a cup of milk with his tea.  I found that apart from the first morning and the last at night bottles, DS didn't want to lie back and be fed like a baby!  So he started refusing most of these, hence the cup.

HTH

[james030405]

Thanks for the reply Jenny.  Funny you should say about the 2 bottles during the day.  James doesn't like to lie down, in fact, hasn't like to do this for about 2mths.  He does get water from a sippy cup during meals, but he doesn't like the "sippy" part and I only give it to him out of a straight cup.  I have tried using a cup with a straw (Pigeon brand for 8mth olds) and he sort of gets the hang of his. 

I don't have anything on today, a stay-at-home day today, so Imight try and do a 9am nap time.  As I speak (or type), he is still asleep (it is 5:45am) :roll:  :roll: So maybe he might be working it out on his own. 

Once again, thanks for the reply.  Will see how it goes.

Lisa mum to James my textbook/spirited koala bear