maybe you want to try and get lo to sleep a little earlier (maybe an hr or so) for a little while to get her caught up on sleep and so she is not overtired as that may be a cause for the early waking. i think her naps look fine three hrs seems like enough at this age imo.
how is she going to sleep specifically?? feeding to sleep?? i think it is very important to have a bedtime routine after the bfing...ei bf then do the singing and/or story.
mantra cry - is easier to tell when they are little - kind of like a rhythmic wha wha wha - when they are older they seem to change - i would say that if lo isn't doing the 'I NEED YOU NOW MOMMY' cry then see if she will settle herself first before going in. sometimes lo's need to 'cry themselves to sleep' in order to settle themselves again (esp if overtired) but also it may escalate into the cry that sounds desperate and that's when you would go in. i would suggest not nursing to get her to go back to sleep in the early am as that will just reinforce the waking and may make it a habit. do whatever you can - i know i had this trouble with my dd for a time (although for different reasons - she wasn't overtired but getting too much sleep...ahh - if it's not one thing then it 's the other
) and i too thought if she just played for a bit and went back to sleep i would be happy! but she only wanted to play with me in the room ggrrrr! anyway, i just made the time as low key and as unappealing as possible..no talking eye contact, etc. and when i started adjusting the naps it started falling back into place again - as i am sure it will with your dd when she catches up on her sleep as long as she hasn't developed a fond association of being fed at the early waking...if so then you will have to do some sleep training if you want to resolve this (pu/pd, wake to sleep...)
again, once caught up on sleep if she doesn't start sleeping better on her own - do try and resettle in the crib and if the crying escalates or continues - don't just pick her up and hold her, rock her, etc. at that point you will probably need to resort to pu/pd which in the wee hrs of the morning can be unbearable as it is hard work (even harder when you can barely keep your eyes open
)but will be well worth it after anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks when she is sleeping to the 'normal' wake up time. 'normal' wake up times can also change - my dd used to sleep in till 8 or 8:30...ahh those were the days - not it's more like 7:30 since the early wake ups but i can totally live with that and wouldn't complain! like i said before you could also try wake to sleep if you aren't too keen on trying pu/pd and use pu/pd as a last resort if the other doesn't work (after getting caught up on sleep).
depending on how long you have been feeding her back to sleep early in the am, you may need to wean her off of those feeds. you may want to start by giving her half a feeding and then comforting and soothing til she's asleep, and then slowly eliminate the amount of feeding time by minutes until it is not 'worth' it for her to wake up at that time anymore and then she will take her full feeding at the normal waking time.
the blanket isn't a prop - unless it is something you control - kwim? ei - a paci only becomes a prop when the lo needs YOU to put it back in her mouth...if she can replace it herself or doesn't wake up and need you to replace it, it is not a prop. seems to me that your lo does have a lovie (the blanket)!!
good luck - pls get back to me if you have any questions - i know there is a lot of info i wrote and i hope to not overwhelm you with too much at once...
