early wakeups and how to extend

[Sabine]

My 7 mo old seems to wake hungry at 5 am.  Even though he is taking a full 7-8 oz at dreamfeed and 30 oz EBM during the day plus two good solid meals.  HIs schedule is as follows:

5am Wake and BF then back to sleep
600-630 am wake and up for day--top up BF
730 am solids --2-3tbsp cereal and 1-2 tbsp fruit
830 nap (1-1.5hrs)
1030 bottle EBM 4-5 oz
1230-1 nap (1-2hrs)
230 bottle EBM 4-5oz
500 bottle EBM 4-6oz
600 solids 5tbsp cereal and 3tbsp veg
630-7 bedtime

I give his evening bottle before solids as I am afraid he won't take his bottle if full.  He is one of those babies that when he is full--that's it no more getting anything in him.  I have tried not to feed at 5, tried PU/PD w/o success.  Any suggestions as to how I can extend the 5am time?  He will take a full feed but then will w/u again 1 hour later so I am thinking he could probably sleep until 6 but I don't know what else to do.

Sabine

[vmcdonald28]

My suggestion is to adjust your schedule slightly, so your ds eats later in the evening, and goes to bed an hour later. If he wakes at the same time each morning, it seems that he's had enough sleep (or he's had long enough since he was fed). You'll probably find he'll still sleep the same length of time, thereby giving you an extra hour in the morning.

A friend of mine puts her dd to bed as late as 10pm, so she will sleep till 7am. They are gradually bringing her bedtime forward by 10 mins or so every few nights, and it seems to be working a treat!

[Florencia]

I'd say this is a pretty cool schedule if you could get rid of the df. HAve you tried that one? i cut my ds's dreamfeed about that age. HE still wakes for milk at an early hour and sleeps for 1+ hour after that. SOme kids are just like that, have a problem keeping an empty stomach for long periods.

30 oz + solids is the average intake for your ds's age. All i can think of is feeding a heavier dinner to tank his tummy and start making the df lighter and lighter until it's gone.

[zelkad]

Okay...I think I'm going to throw a wrench into things now.  What if your lo is waking out of habit because he knows he will be fed at 5 am.  Habitual waking is just that, a habit, not hunger.  Even though they're eating, they've learned to be hungry at this time.  It sounds like he needs the early bf to go back to sleep not for calories because he's definitely getting enough during the day.  He obviously needs more sleep if he falls back immediately.  There is no reason why you should have to bf at 5 am(I know...easier said than done)  I think this is an example of accidental parenting.  We fell into this often because it's soooo easy with bf.  Also, how much do you think he is really getting at this time?  Do you think it's a full feed?

I have learned through the advice of the wonderful people on this site that letting your lo eat and go back to sleep only exacerbates the early waking problem because your baby thinks....."hey, I can wake up early because I get fed and I get to go back to sleep right away because I'm still tired and it's so easy to do this on the breast"   The hard part is getting your lo to go back to sleep at 5 am without the breast because that's what they are used to and it's so cozy with mom.

Another thing is, your first nap of 8:30 may be a bit early. Do you think you can stretch it to 9 even in small increments if necessary?  I only suggest this because it may help cut the early waking.  Often early wakers are a sign of overtiredness.   If he went down at 9 am he would wake later so then his second nap would never occur before 1.  This would be great because then he may have a longer night sleep.  According to your schedule he's up sometimes from 2-7 which may be long.  (Check out the thread I posted under Night Wakings a week ago or so entitled "early waking 10 1/2 month old"  I got some amazing advice that I think you could benefit from and we're back to 7-7.   I do think putting him to bed at 7 is still great ....anything later you may need a late afternoon cat nap to keep him up for and I don't think you want to start this at his age.  But that's just my experience.

Otherwise, it sounds like you have a great schedule that needs a bit of tweaking....like I said, check out the thread I mentioned....it really helped us.
I hope things work out soon!
Zelka

[Sabine]

My suggestion is to adjust your schedule slightly, so your ds eats later in the evening, and goes to bed an hour later. If he wakes at the same time each morning, it seems that he's had enough sleep (or he's had long enough since he was fed). You'll probably find he'll still sleep the same length of time, thereby giving you an extra hour in the morning.

A friend of mine puts her dd to bed as late as 10pm, so she will sleep till 7am. They are gradually bringing her bedtime forward by 10 mins or so every few nights, and it seems to be working a treat!

Thanks for the advice...could you please post a sample schedule I could follow to try this??  You are right...he always wakes at the same time 5 or 530.  I have tried to keep him up later but seems he still gets up at that time.

I'd say this is a pretty cool schedule if you could get rid of the df. HAve you tried that one? i cut my ds's dreamfeed about that age. HE still wakes for milk at an early hour and sleeps for 1+ hour after that. SOme kids are just like that, have a problem keeping an empty stomach for long periods.

30 oz + solids is the average intake for your ds's age. All i can think of is feeding a heavier dinner to tank his tummy and start making the df lighter and lighter until it's gone.

  I am reluctant to cut out the df.  He is hungry when he wakes in the morning and takes a full feed.  I don't want him to start waking at night.  I tried this one night and that's what he did

Okay...I think I'm going to throw a wrench into things now. What if your lo is waking out of habit because he knows he will be fed at 5 am. Habitual waking is just that, a habit, not hunger. Even though they're eating, they've learned to be hungry at this time. It sounds like he needs the early bf to go back to sleep not for calories because he's definitely getting enough during the day. He obviously needs more sleep if he falls back immediately. There is no reason why you should have to bf at 5 am(I know...easier said than done) I think this is an example of accidental parenting. We fell into this often because it's soooo easy with bf. Also, how much do you think he is really getting at this time? Do you think it's a full feed?

I have learned through the advice of the wonderful people on this site that letting your lo eat and go back to sleep only exacerbates the early waking problem because your baby thinks....."hey, I can wake up early because I get fed and I get to go back to sleep right away because I'm still tired and it's so easy to do this on the breast" The hard part is getting your lo to go back to sleep at 5 am without the breast because that's what they are used to and it's so cozy with mom.

Another thing is, your first nap of 8:30 may be a bit early. Do you think you can stretch it to 9 even in small increments if necessary? I only suggest this because it may help cut the early waking. Often early wakers are a sign of overtiredness. If he went down at 9 am he would wake later so then his second nap would never occur before 1. This would be great because then he may have a longer night sleep. According to your schedule he's up sometimes from 2-7 which may be long. (Check out the thread I posted under Night Wakings a week ago or so entitled "early waking 10 1/2 month old" I got some amazing advice that I think you could benefit from and we're back to 7-7. I do think putting him to bed at 7 is still great ....anything later you may need a late afternoon cat nap to keep him up for and I don't think you want to start this at his age. But that's just my experience.

 I have thought about this being a habit thing...but, I have tried for 2/52 to leave him in his crib and feed at 6 everyday.  This didn't work, he didn't go back to sleep and I ended up with a cranky baby all day who took short naps.  He is also a big boy---20lbs and 75 cm tall.  PU/PD also doesn't seem to work.  I can't keep him up either b/c I need to sleep since I get up for work in the am.  Any suggestions as how to extend the 5 am wakeup despite what I have tried already?

 Prob with extending naps...tried this and he will routinely wakeup after 45min.  This makes him even moretired and cranky...HELPP!!!

[SophieB]

Hey - just a suggestion from a very non-expert.  Other mums on this site suggested putting my LO to bed EARLIER to get over this problem.  Yep, I know it sounds wierd, but it worked.

Is it worth trying a bed-time of 6.15 for a couple of nights, with a good wind-down period, and see how that goes.

(Mind you, that was after I'd dropped the df, but it seemed to help.)  Good luck.

[vmcdonald28]

how about trying the following - just a slight adjustment to what you do already.

6am wake and up for day. BF
730 am solids --2-3tbsp cereal and 1-2 tbsp fruit. top up BF.
8 or 830 nap (1-1.5hrs)
10 bottle EBM 4-5 oz
1230-1 nap (1-2hrs)
300 bottle EBM 4-5oz
500 bottle EBM 4-6oz
600 solids 5tbsp cereal and 3tbsp veg
730 bedtime

This is the schedule i have - I always put him to bed straight after a feed, as he's usually sleepier then.

7 or 730am - up, dressed, nappy changed etc
8am - bottle formula
activity time
10.30 weetabix and some juice/water
nap (2 hours)
1pm lunch and juice/water
3.30 bottle formula
short nap (30 mins - 1 hour)
6pm dinner and juice/water
8pm bottle formula.
Bed by 830.

Let me know how you're getting on.
x

[Critter]

I am in the same boat.  My 7 1/2 month old is waking up at 5:30, religiously.  Some days he'll talk to his animals and play with his aquarium for an hour until he's really mad and wants to eat.  We still do the dream feed b/c, but we're working on cutting that out right now.  He's just gotten over a double ear infection and RSV  so I know that might have thrown a wrench in the plan.  He used to wake up at 6:30 or 7.  Oh, I want those days back!  He usually goes to bed about 6:45 and keeping him up longer than that is awful.

He dropped his feedings from 8 oz to 6 oz while he was sick, so maybe that's also part of it.  We're gradually adding back his daytime ounces.  That might help the df issue as well.

Oh, so many issues.  HELP!!!!!!