What to do if EASY goes out the window before we get out of bed?!

[Pigeon]

Hi, DS (13 weeks tomorrow) seems to want to start his morning at 6. He's perfectly happy, cooing away, but is wide awake and will not go back to sleep. Now, I really don't want to give him his first feed of the day at that time, because a) he just isn't hungry - he still has a feed at 3 am and b) I don't want to give him the signal that its ok to start the day that early. I've been feeding him at 6.30, but then of course our EASY day is out of sync before we get up! This morning, for example, he did E at 6.30, tired by 7.30, slept 90 mins till 9, but was perfectly rested and wouldn't go back to sleep for another half an hour. He's currently still on 3 hour EASY, although will happily go 3.5 hours if I feel he needs to catch up on naps. We are only just back on track with nighttimes after a two week holiday from hell (sharing a room with him!), his bedtime routine is bed at 7, df at 10.30, on a good night he sleeps till 3, when I feed him, then awake 6 am onwards.
Any ideas? Do I really have to start my day at 6?

[Grace's Mom]

Hi 

Some los are just early risers. No matter what we do our lo is up at 6am and ready to start her day and has always been like that and we just go with it.  However your lo is still quite young so you may be able to adjust some things and see if the wake up time can be moved some.  Can you post your routine?

Our lo also aways woke before we did the first feed and does even to this day.  We just adjust accordingly.  Or, you could just feed at 6am if that seems to be your los wake up time and go from there, which ever is easiest for you.  Since he isn't interested in a feed at 6am you could always offer less at the 3am feed in order to give him a good start to the day with a full morning feed. 

-Melissa

[Pigeon]

Hi, here is our routine for the last week or (ever since it has become impossible to put B back to sleep at 6)
6 am - wake
6.30 - feed
7.30/7.45 - sleep till 9/9.30
9.30 - feed
11 - sleep (will generally sleep 45 mins, but then is easy to resettle for another hour)
12.30 - feed
2 - sleep. This is where the trouble begins. He will only have 45 mins now, so is awake for an hour before his next feed.
3.45 - feed
4.45 - sleep (generally for 30-45 mins)
6 pm - feed, bath, top-up and bed for 7 pm

AT night - dream feed at 10.30, if we're lucky he then sleeps till 3, when he has another feed, then awake at 6.
I KNOW his nap cycle is back to front, ideally I'd like him to have his great nap after lunch, rather than first thing in the morning. Problem is, we've got ourselves into a bit of a cycle that I can't seem to break.
PS: I also think he's ready to transition to 3.5/4 hour EASY as he really isn't hungry after three hours....

[Grace's Mom]

Your routine looks great  and he is getting 11 hours at night which is perfect.   Not all babies need 12 hours of sleep (most don't) so when he is waking at 6am he is waking because he has had enough sleep. 

If you would like the 2nd nap to be longer, maybe try waking him from his first nap earlier and then he might actually sleep longer for the second nap.  It may not work, but you could try it for about 3-5 days and see how it goes.  If it doesn't work then you could just keep things as they are. It's OK if they have some A time before a feed or before every feed.  It's all about following your lo's cues and not all need to sleep until their next feed.
***45 minute naps usually mean your lo is in need of more A time.  If you are thinking of going to a 4 hour EASY your lo will need to be able to stay awake 2 hours each A time.  You may want to read the links below to see if you lo is ready to transition.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=84884.0
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63161.0

-Melissa

[vadensmommy]

You know part of me wonders if he isn't finishing out his nighttime sleep in that first nap of the morning since it is so long?  Have you ever tried feeding him and putting him straight back to bed?  What happens?  Has he always woken up at 6? 

Whenever my dd wakes earlier than I like I try to put her down about 30min earlier than the usual bedtime that night and that often helps- especially if she has had stinky naps in the afternoon.  Overtired for us tends to mean even earlier wake-ups.  In the 4amish range , but our wake-up is 6am due to working.  A lot of people are hesitant to put their lo to bed earlier for fear of an earlier wake up time, but whenever we do that she almost always sleeps at least 12 hours, and many times 12.5hrs!  And then I am pretty sure we're dealing with a good night's sleep and a well rested baby for the next day.  Something to think about at least!  Good luck!

[Pigeon]

That IS something to think about, thanks! I seem to remember having the same trouble with DD, and getting the same advice. That being said, this morning he only had 50 mins nap after waking at 6. We haven't tried feeding him and putting him back, mostly because I'm fairly certain he wouldn't go through until his next feed 3 hours later (and TBH, we're an early rising house because of work/pre-school, so everyone else gets up at 7 anyway.) So a 7am wake up is what I'm aiming at.
Ever since he's been born he's woken between 6 and 7. We used to be able to get him back to sleep until 7, but now seem unable to do so....
Will think about putting him down earlier...Just out of interest, how old is your LO?

[NiknLily]

Something else to think about, I read that LO's body's will start to wake up 30mins before there feed time so if his body is used to a feed at 6.30am it will start to wake at 6am.  Don't know how you change this but if he will hold out till 7am for first feed it may be worth giving it a go, I imagine it will take a little while tho for his internal clock to adjust to the later feed in the morning.  It may have no effect st all or it could help stretch him upto 6.30am wake up.

[vadensmommy]

Our lo is 19wks, but was a week overdue, so does that make her 20 weeks adjusted age??   We too have been dealing with an early wakeup-anywhere btwn 4-5 this week.  Stinks doesn't it!!??  Work and a sitter is what we deal with in the am and then I am home in the pm which is nice.  DD had an ear infection two weeks ago, but puked up a ton of her antibiotics.  Doc says the ears look fine other than some fluid which can be normal for a few weeks after they are over it.  But she is just not right - fighting bottles, etc.  But this thread isn't about me, but I hope maybe I can glean some info as well!  Hope you get a little more sleep tomorrow morning   Good luck.