11 week old waking at 5am... please advise

[Jenna's Mum]

Hi my 11 week old daughter is on 3 hour EASY.  Her typical routine is:

7am first feed approx 2-4oz
little activity and then nap
10am feed approx 4oz
activity and nap
1pm feed approx 4oz
activity and nap
4-4:30pm feed approx 4oz
activity and nap
7-7:30pm feed approx 4-5oz
activity (bath), family time and bed
10:45pm DF approx 4oz

I dropped her 2-3am feed soon after starting the dreamfeed as she naturally transitioned to a later waking time of about 3-4am, but then one day she didn't seem to be crying very hard so I wondered if she was really hungry at 4am.  I gave her the paci and she went back to sleep.  So the next night the same happened, she woke around 3-4am and I gave her the paci and again she went back to sleep.  So at this point I figured okay she's dropping the nightfeed because of the dreamfeed, and she has started to make up for the lost food during the day.  My question now is that she is still consistently waking at anywhere between 4-6am, and sometimes I can go in and give her the paci and she'll go back to sleep, but other times like last night, she was trying to get her hands out of her swaddle and couldn't resettle.  Eventually after about the third time of going back in to her, I unswaddled one hand thinking she wanted to suck on her fingers or something.  She just kept rubbing her eyes instead which just woke her up more.  So I swaddled her back up, and tried to get her back to sleep.  Eventually she did at about 5:45am and slept til 7am.  She wasn't crying badly, just kind of whining and jostling around to get her hands free, but now I've learned that she doesn't have the coordination to get her hand in her mouth in the night time yet (she can do it in the day but this still doesn't seem to soothe her much).

So my question is... do I just keep her swaddled and keep going in when she wakes and giver the paci and try to get her back to sleep until 7am?  Or should I add the feed back in around 5am when she's waking and then put her back to bed again?  With either approach, will she eventually sleep through til 7am without waking and/or needing her paci?  I know she's not yet 3 months and I have no problem going on her schedule of whenever she's ready, but I just want to make sure I'm not perpetuating the situation by continuing bad habits or whatnot.  I'm not sure of the best approach to get her to sleep through til 7am, we're so close and I'm certain she's not hungry as she doesn't even eat that much at the 7am feed anyway.

Thanks for any advice.

[Kimberly®]

Your daytime routine is wonderful, congratulations. It looks like you've really been working at this.

For your nights if she's not crying and seems to just be fussing give her a few minute to try and settle herself first, sometimes they need to do a little fussing to learn how to sooth themselves. If need be you can always give her a Paci, if she's not waking when it falls or unable to sleep without it there's no harm in useing it temperarlly. Try to give her the paci and do pat/shush, but as I said wait and listen first, as hard as it is to sleep when she isn't, if she isn't crying she's ok and learning to settle, give her a couple weeks and she will have the co-ordination to get that hand into her mouth. Start leaving her hands unswaddled during daytime naps so she can find it and she'll learn quickly that she likes it. If she cries then go to her and soothe her.

HTH

[Jenna's Mum]

Thanks for the feedback.  So should I just leave one hand unswaddled during the day so she can get used to it? 

In the night, when she starts fussing, she's not exactly crying but she's whining and squirming about like she's trying to break out of a straightjacket!  I waited about a minute last night to see if she was getting louder or starting to settle, but I'm always reluctant to wait too long in case she starts really crying and wakes herself up more... do you think I'm going in too soon?  She'll let out a sort of feeble cry, then fuss around and whine a little, then maybe another weak cry, and by then I'm in there so maybe I haven't given her enough time.  If I wait a little longer and she does start crying, will it be more difficult for me to get her back to sleep again or not make a difference?  I'm just trying to avoid her starting her day at 5am  )

Thanks!

[Kimberly®]

Yeah start with one arm and then 2, eventually this will lead to her not needing a swaddle at all.
I think that it's possible you are going in too soon. I used to do the same, then one night I just didn't really wake up enough to get her, it took me 5-10 minutes to wake up enough to go get her bottle, by the time the bottle was ready she'd fallen asleep, the next night when she woke I waited, and voila she went to sleep by herself again, and she's been able to self sooth since. So as long as she's not crying give her a few minutes If she does cry then you can start pat/shush or PU/PD the first few nights will be hard, but once you do it you'll both be happier