Talk

Flip

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler.

Sleep

16 week old waking at 5am but not hungry

6 replies

rocked · 08/08/2015 20:06

My 16 week old DD is a pretty good sleeper at night - she usually goes to sleep after her bath at around 6.30 or 7pm, depending on what time she wakes from her last nap. We then give her a dream feed at around 10 or 10.30 and then she sleeps until 5am. However she isn't hungry when she wakes at 5, I usually just give her a quick cuddle and settle her back to sleep. She then usually sleeps until around 7 (sometimes even as late as 8) when she has her first bottle.

I'm not sure why she's waking at 5, is this normal? Is there anything I can do to encourage her to sleep a bit later? I don't think she's being woken by anything like noise/light (we have put blackout blinds up).

I know she's sleeping very well compared to many, but 5am is very early for me to start the day (I never manage to get back to sleep after that), so any tips to help her sleep a bit longer in the morning would be much appreciated.

OP posts:

Report

FATEdestiny · 08/08/2015 22:53

Its pretty normal. At least you manage to get her back to sleep, many parents find 5am (or whatever ungodly early hour baby wakes) marks the start of 'awake for the day'

My suggestion would be to drop the dream feed. It would mean embracing a night feed, which you've not done for a while. But the idea would be that maybe you get 7pm-2am-7am (for example) and so break the early morning routine.

Report

rocked · 09/08/2015 12:56

Thank you for your reply. Good to know it is just normal, I had suspected that was the case, just wanted to check I wasn't missing something obvious. We'll try your suggestion of dropping the dream feed and see how that goes

OP posts:

Report

rocked · 14/08/2015 10:04

Thank you for your fantastic advice - we tried stopping the dream feed and DD has slept straight through all night for the past 3 nights! Wasn't expecting that!

OP posts:

Report

PotteringAlong · 14/08/2015 10:07

Bloody hell - she sleeps from 10.30 - 5am and you're moaning?! You've got a dream sleeper right there!

And google the 4 month sleep regression - it might be about to come and bite you!

Report

ghostspirit · 14/08/2015 10:10

my baby is same age he sleeps from about 7-8 until about 11-midnight. then wakes me every 2 hours! then he wakes up at 5am all lively like he wants to have a party. then he kind of dozes wakes everytime i breath form then on.

Report

rocked · 14/08/2015 10:27

No wasn't moaning, just asking if it was normal for her to wake at 5 as i wasn't sure why she was waking at that time when she wasn't hungry.