6 month old waking at 5/5.30am

[Mia & Scarlett's Mummy]

I don't think I've ever posted on this board because we've never had a problem with night wakings until now.  Mia is 6 months old and has always gone to bed at 7pm, woke for a bottle at around 3am (never done the df) and slept easily until 7/7.30am.

But for the last 2 weeks or so she's been waking at 5/5.30 - usually with a dirty nappy.  But once that's changed she won't go back to sleep and seems wide awake.  She spits her dummy out and just lies there trying to slip herself over.  I'm tucking her in really snug but she just seems to work on lossening the covers and working her way round the cot.

Her daytime routine is:

7.00am up
7.30am solids (no bottle - she had it at 3am and refuses one after her breakfast)
9.30-11.00 - nap
12.00 - solids&bottle
1.30 - 3/3.30 nap
4.30 - tea
6.00 - bath, bottle and bed at 7pm

The length of the naps are if I'm lucky - usually she tends to have naps of 1.5hours each and has dropped the catnap so she's only having 3hours of daytime sleep and by the time she goes to bed she has a full tummy and is exhausted.

Any ideas?  I'm at a loss.

TIA

[Katet]

There are really 2 reasons for early waking, & I have been through both with both m boys just recently... one overtired & the other needing longer awake time.

I think at 6months she really does still need the catnap at least every second day (it took us a month of doing that with ds#2)... it took us from 7 - 8months to drop the catnap. If they go to bed too tired/late... like my ds#1 had been they wake up earlier, if we put ds#1 to bed at 8.30am he wakes at 6am, if he goes to bed at 8pm he wakes at 7am or just before & he naps EXACTLY the same each time.

So my thought is that at 6months she needs to have an awake time of not much more than 2.5 hours & that could mean a catnap + slightly later bedtime or an earlier bedtime if no catnap

HTH

[Mia & Scarlett's Mummy]

Thanks Katet, I'll mull it over and give the cat nap a try again.

[Kimberly®]

I also notice that she's only having 2 bottles during the day (unless I read wrong) It looks like she's not getting the amount of formula she needs. In the AM give her the bottle first then the solids and she needs the formula more then the solids. Generally we feed the bottle and then an hour or so (depending on Kayla's mood ) we give her solids. I think nows the time to try and drop the 3am waking. I think it might be a good idea to get another bottle into her during the day. She may actually be waking because of the missing calories and because with her feeding at 3am she's wetter at 5 and may be uncomfortable.

[Mom to M&M]

Marisa (6.5 months) has been doing this for some time too. I swear she has an alarm clock hidden in there! She will whimper/cry in her sleep for about 10 seconds around 3 or 3:30 every morning (but not wake) and then wakes at 5:20 am - and I mean this doesn't vary by a few minutes. Lately, luckily she has been whimpering off and on for about 10-15 minutes and then going back to sleep for 30-45 minutes or more. Unfortunately, I usually can't go back to sleep myself! But why the same time every morning? I'm scared to try WTS because I don't want to disturb her even more and make her unable to go back to sleep (which used to be the case). I've tried later bedtimes, earlier bedtimes, longer naps, shorter naps (DD naps approx 3-3.5 hours a day with two longer naps and one catnap). When she does wake early I try not to let her nap before 8:30. Anything else I should be doing or just keep rolling with it and hope it eventually shifts later?

[Mia & Scarlett's Mummy]

Thanks Karita

We haven't been giving her a bottle at 7am because that's the bottle she's been having at 3am!  I think you might have a point about her being wet and uncomfortable at 5am, her nappy is sodden.

And I agree that we've got to crack her nightwaking.  I go back to work in a couple of weeks and work shifts and I really can't be doing with it.  What I've been doing for the last week is slowly watering down her night bottle - at the moment she's on 3 scoops to 8oz of water.  I read to do it somewhere on this site (this board I think).  Then at 7am I'm giving her a full bottle to try and ensure she gets all she needs during the day.

I'll let you know how I go - and if you've got any tips - they are greatly welcomed

[teezee]

good job - good research - good advice!! good luck with everything but it sounds like you are heading in the right direction!

[Mom to M&M]

Hi guys... Sorry to hijack this post but my 7-month old is doing this again/still too.

Basically EVERY day we hear her stir and moan and whimper on the monitor at 5:10/5:15 am. Usually she goes right back to sleep. Sometimes she talks to herself for 20 minutes or so first and then does. If she falls back asleep right away, she is generally back up by 5:45 for the day. If it takes her 20 minutes she might sleep until 6:15 or even 6:30. Once in a while she doesn't go back to sleep at all and is up for the day. Either way, we don't go to her unless she is upset and don't get her out of bed before 6 or preferably 6:15.

We stretch out her first nap so it doesn't start before 8:30. She has two naps of 1-1.5 hours and one catnap of 25-40 minutes. She is army crawling and starting to rock on all fours and spends most of her waking hours doing this.

Bedtime is anywhere between 7:15-7:45 depending on rest of day and circumstances and doesn't seem to change wake time. It can't be earlier than 7 due to logistics.

The one day she took later naps and went to bed at 8:30 pm  she slept straight until 6:30 am.

It basically seems like she just can't get more than 9.5-10 hours of night sleep, even though she is then tired and wants more. Is this just developmental and something to keep working through? Anything else I should or can do? I'm tired of course but that's OK. But she's tired too - luckily she will still take a catnap most days...

I'm scared to try WTS because although it's always at 5:10/5:15 (assuming normal bedtime), she does go back to sleep. And I don't want to wake her more fully and thus have her unable to. Do you agree?

TIA.

[Mom to M&M]

Also, if I were to take her back to bed with DH and I she would sleep for at least another 45 minutes. So it's not hunger either. But we only do this one morning on the weekend a week - don't want it to become a habit everyday!

[teezee]

could you post your routine karen??..is she maybe getting too much daytime sleep? or maybe you should try a 6:30 bedtime - more times than not if you try an earlier bedtime it will actually let your lo sleep longer in the morning than a later bedtime.

[Mom to M&M]

Thanks Tawnya.

Routine is as follows. I've tried more daytime sleep, less day time sleep, earlier bedtime and later bedtime. But due to logistics (i work from home) it's nearly impossible for me to get her in bed before 7.

Wake: approx 5:40 am/stay in crib and play until 6:15 or so
Feed 6:30 - 7-8 ounce bottle
Solids 7:45 am - fruit/veggies (usually only 2 ounces total)
Nap - 8:30-10

Bottle (usually 7 ounces) - 10:45
Play
Nap: 12:40-2 or 2:10

Bottle (usually 7-7.5 ounces) - 2:45
Play
Catnap in stroller or crib: 4:45-5:15 or latest 5:25

Solids - 5:30/5:45 - 2-2.5 ounces fruit/veggie
Quiet Play
Bottle (4 ounces) - 6:30 pm
Bath
Bottle/Stories, etc - 7:15pm
Bed - 7:30pm

Keep in mind, she's a VERY active girl and spends much of her awake time crawling around and gets herself really tired.

[Katet]

Karen, I'd say that within the next month Marisa will be ready (developmentaly) to drop the catnap... & I think if you can start shifting naptime to 9am (say 10mins later every 3 days) then you could find the wake up time gets a bit later, she should add some to night sleep & keep the naps the same but later (9.30 & around 2/2.30 seems to be normal). I had problems with an early wake up around the time we needed to think about dropping the catnap.

[Mom to M&M]

Thanks Kate!

Thing is, she's always had early wake ups - but not this extreme - used to be more like 6 or 6:15... So maybe it is the catnap issue. Unfortunately, she's just not ready to drop it yet as she's SO active. All she wants to do is practice crawling and play on floor and she's all go-go-go... When you combine that with early waking, makes it hard to get through day without catnap.

So you think maybe in a month she'll be ready to drop it?

Also, she almost never naps more than 1.5 hours. Usually the first two naps will be 1 hour 15 to 1.5 and the catnap about 30 minutes. Every once in a while she'll go two hours in the afternoon but it's really rare. But wouldn't it be easier to drop catnap if she'd take a longer second nap?

So do you think just keep working toward naps at 9:30 and 2:30? Right now we're at about 8:30 or 8:40 and 1. Will try the 10 minutes later every 3 days and see if that helps and do the same with afternoon nap? And then if we start running out of time for catnap just take her out in stroller (weather pending) and let her doze if she wants to or just relax? If no catnap we can make bedtime 7 instead of 7:30 but not usually possible to do any earlier with my work schedule (WAHM)...

Thx again.

[Katet]

Karen, that is EXACTLY what I would do & yes it was about a week or so after we dropped the catnap that we started getting naps that went past 1.5 hours... it just all takes time & transitions can be 1 step forward & then 1 or 2 back again... hey I have a sick boy & today will be 3 short naps... cos that is the way things have unfolded.

[Mom to M&M]

Thanks again Kate and I hope your boy feels better soon!