Please can I pick some brains for my 5 mo old...

[Bryony]

... my own brain is too tired to work very well!

My lovely LO Katie has usually slept really well at night - she dropped the night feed at 3 mo, sleeping from 7pm through till 7am with just a dream feed at 11pm.  She would generally wake up around 4am, shuffle around and talk to herself for an hour and then go back to sleep - I would just ignore her as she seemed happy enough.   However in the last few weeks she has woken up at 4am or so, and shuffled around playing with her feet (!) till around 5:30 or 6am, then start grizzling on and off - but still not sounding particularly upset.  I worry that if I leave her not getting any more sleep, by the time I get her up at 7am she will be exhausted!   So the last few mornings I have fed her around 6am, she then goes straight back to sleep till we get up around 7 or 7:30am.  However she's not interested in any more milk at 7 (not surprisingly!).

She has also started waking early (around 10pm) for her dream feed (which is now a wide-awake feed!)

So....  my question is: do you think I should carry on doing what I have been doing, OR just feed her at 4am so that we both get a bit more sleep (but sounds like introduicing a bad habit to me) OR leave her till 7am as she doesn't seem to be particularly unhappy?

Any ideas anyone?

Is it a growth spurt?  May also be teething?  We haven't started solids yet.

Our routine is something like:
7am get up and feed
9:15 ish nap  - usually 1.5 hrs but sometimes 45 mins (we have an intermittent 45 minute nap problem!)
11am feed
when tired - usually 2.25 hrs after getting up - nap - anywhere between 45 mins and 1.5 hrs
3pm - feed
4:30pm ish catnap
6:30pm feed
7pm bed
11pm dream feed (or earlier if she wakes for it)

Her A times are around 2.25 hrs

Thanks 

Bryony

[linfran]

Hi Bryony

Is she showing any other signs of teething - red cheeks, drool, constant chewing, nappy rash?

Some of the other guys are much better at this than me but I think (fwiw) that it's been going on too long to be a growth spurt and if she's waking up at the same times each night it could be a habit.  My hv advised me when ds did something similar was to try and water down the feed but ds was formula fed and I'm not sure about your lo.

Also, could it be that she's getting more mobile and is getting a bit antsy in the cot at night?  DS also did that about the same age as he was starting to roll about a bit and it unsettled things for a while - it was a case of just riding it out.

Sorry I'm not much help!

[Bryony]

Thanks Linfran....

I'm BF, so can't really water down a feed...  I did try just giving her a few minutes on the boob last night but she wailed when I took her off so I ended up giving her the rest of it 

She does have reddish cheeks from time to time, and is drooling for Britain (although she has always been a drooly baby...). No nappy rash.  So yes it could be teething that's stopping her going back to sleep.  I have been putting teething gel on for the last few nights but doesn't seem to have made any difference!

B

[_newmom_]

Have you thought about doing the DF earlier, for examply @ 10.30pm?  My DD is 5 months this week & her routine is similar to your DD's except we do the DF at 10.30.  When we did the DF at 11 & she would often wake at 4 or 5 am and talk to herself for a while, but eventually go back to sleep on her own.  When we brought the DF forward to 10.30, she stopped with those wakings.  We brought it forward by 10 mins every 3 nights when she was 4 months, and it was really smooth.   

However, if my DD hasn't napped well during the day, she'll wake and babble for a while at 4 or 5 again, so it could have to do with your DD's naps if she's still sometimes doing 45 mins..?  Unless, of course, it's the teething..?

To answer your question, introducing a 4am feed daily at this stage is probably not such a good idea since it's something I assume you wouldn't want to continue with..?  You may need to do it once off if your DD is ill/teething/hasn't fed properly during the day/hungry/going through a growth spurt etc until the temporary circumstances have passed. I'd wait until 7am to feed if that's the routine you want to stick with.  I went through a couple of weeks of doing an early feed (6am) and letting my DD sleep in a bit more before starting the day, and it messed up our days since a 7-7 day works best for us, so I wouldn't suggest doing that unless it's something that you want to continue doing.   

[Bryony]

Newmom - thank you, that is really helpful! I had wondered about moving the dream feed earlier, and your post has completed my resolve to do so!  And yes it may also be the naps - I will have to have a look at whether the 4am is waking is worse following a bad nap day.  Yesterday was a good nap day, and she woke at 4am but quickly went back to sleep on her own, and then woke to start the day at 6:15, which is much better. So it could be this too. 

I will start doing an earlier dream feed from tonight and see how it goes...

Bryony

...introducing a 4am feed daily at this stage is probably not such a good idea since it's something I assume you wouldn't want to continue with..? 

No, not really...!