Early waking

[emmajack87]

Hi,
My just 6month old has been waking earlier and earlier this last few days. She was waking at 7am, then we have had 6:30am, 6:00am and 5:45am today.

She's in bed for 7:30pm and doesn't have any night feeds. Anyone recommend an earlier bedtime? x

[FATEdestiny]

Is she waking in the night or sleeping through uninterputed?

What is her daytime sleep routine going?

Is she weaning? How has this affected milk intake?

[emmajack87]

@FATEdestiny thanks for taking the time to reply!

She is sleeping through, which I know is good and I probably shouldn't be complaining!

She's weaning and is on 3 meals a day, veg and dairy. We are yet to introduce protein; this week we will probably try some.
She has had reflux issues in the past hence the full steam ahead with weaning.

She's taking 4 feeds a day, about 24/25 oz in total.
She's never been a milky baby as it caused her so many problems.

I've just called my health visitor with regards to that amount of milk and she said it's fine. My other thought was to try and sneak another one in and see if that helps? What are your thoughts?

I know she's getting a really good stint of night sleep so I can't moan but wakings seem to be getting earlier xx

[HT85]

Hi OP

That is over 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep if she wakes at 5.45, so I think that's normal, albeit probably exhausting for you to wake so early!

X

[emmajack87]

@HT85 yes I know it's lucky isn't it really! Shouldn't complain (I know I am but hey). Lots of mummy friends have worse nights!

My health visitor just said to treat anything before 6 as a night wake and try and get her to sleep one more sleep cycle? X

[FATEdestiny]

Full steam ahead with weaning is exactly how i did it too! But I'd also keep up milk, at least initially. Until portion sizes are bigger and all food groups covered (in particular protein and carbs) the baby is likely to benefit from the easy calories of milk.

As an aside, I assume you've talked to you HV about foods that can irritate reflux? There are some fruit and veg (citrus and tomatoes spring to mind) that can give reflux symptoms.

Anyway, that's an aside. The biggest factor affecting wake up time now baby is sleeping through will be bedtime. And bedtime is directly affected by nap timings. So what's your daytime sleep routine like?

Another idea to consider is a sleep reset in the night, when you go to bed. The idea is to wake baby up, say 11pm ish. Wake baby properly with a nappy change. Then give a feed and resettle. The idea is that it resets the body clock like at the start of the night. It also means by morning babysbaby's nappy a little more comfortable and tummy a little less empty. Plus it gets a bonus extra bottle into baby.

That said, this is only feasible if you have an established and easy way to resettle baby back to sleep. If waking baby could result in a battle to get back to sleep then try something else.

[HT85]

Definitely give it a go! No harm in trying unless she gets distressed obviously. Sometimes my daughter wakes early and just gurgles to herself for a bit and then drops back off x

[emmajack87]

@FATEdestiny day time routine is a little bit all over, trying to get a routine going with regards to feeds and sleeps.
Usually she has milk at 7am, sleep 2.5hrs after waking, milk around 11am, lunch at 12pm, milk 2:30pm/3:00pm, tea at 5pm. Bath routine 6:30pm and milk around 7:00pm and asleep for 7:30pm.

If she has a short sleep or really early wake it obviously sends us off course!! Bit like what's happened today xx

[usersos]

Room dark enough/warm enough/nappy wet? Rule out these things first.
I just go to bed early to deal with the 5am starts! X

[FATEdestiny]

usersos makes a good point i forgot about. Blackout blinds are a must for my children and the room temperature can drop in the night or early morning.

Regarding routine, I think going with the flow is no problem when baby is little. But once sleeping through, that's when baby is developing a more solid circadian clock - so consistant sleep times, night time and meal times become more important.

Within reason obviously - there's always going to be times when it sleep or meal times are all out of sync (illness, holidays, special occassions etc). But regular day to day life could do with being more of a regular cycle over 24 hours now baby has an established day and night and is sleeping through.

While waking early I'd suggest a 9am nap, waking at 11am if not already awake. Then 2pm, waking at 4pm if not already awake. Then an 8pm bedtime which aims for a 7am wake.

Overnight sleep is about 11h average, with a range of 10-12h all being normal. So an 8pm bedtime will give you an expected wake up time from 6am onwards.

[emmajack87]

@FATEdestiny
@usersos

Thanks for both replies! We have been using the gro stick on black out blinds which are fab. Also I've tweaked the heating a tiny bit tonight to see if that helps or makes a difference.
She only had 40 mins nap this morning and was then crabby so went down again 2 hours after waking. She slept for 2 hours then and another 40 min nap later in the aft.

I'm desperately trying to get a routine established! Would set nap times be a better idea rather than looking at awake times?

X

[usersos]

I was pretty strict with nap times from about 4 months onward but it's not for everyone....
Until theyre on 3 proper meals a day and follow a routine did I really see a difference in nights.....he still wakes up between 5.30/6 but is asleep by 6 so that's fine by me at the moment.....
I'm hoping that when the clocks change I'll try to get those both a bit later.....

[emmajack87]

@usersos the meal times are definitely adding more structure to our day, which is good.
She was asleep for 7:30pm last night, had a little cry in her sleep at 4am (she still had her eyes closed) and slept until 6am. She's had milk and breakfast and went for a nap just after 8:30am this morning and she's still asleep.
I'm recording feeds, food and sleeps to see if a pattern is emerging.
2.5 hours roughly of awake time seems about right. It just gets messed up if she doesn't sleep for long as it clashes with meal times x

[usersos]

I created a pattern for my baby to (selfishly some people may say) help me...so I would wake him up after 45 mins sleep in the morning and then after 2 hours after his lunch. You may want to be less structured than that but that's what helped me get through "the baby stage" knowing when I'd have a breather! X

[emmajack87]

@usersos
Yes I totally know what you mean about the "breather!"
I think we will develop a set nap time as she gets a little bit older. Over this last few days I've noticed she gets tired between 2/2.5 hours after waking as she starts cranking. I've just been putting her back to bed and she seems to be doing ok.

With regards to early wake yesterday was 6am and today was 6:30am. Better than 4:50am!!
Xx

[FATEdestiny]

Once you can predict nap lengths as well as awake time, then I'd definately the time to set nap times.

It would be no good, for example, I say "Baby baby will sleep at 9.15am and be woken at 10am then sleep at 1pm and be woken at 3pm" if half the time baby is waking at 1.30pm or dropping to sleep at 8am after a 5am wake up.

You need that consistancy to form up the consistancy. That said though, second or subsequent children are often born into a family which already exists in a structured routine. My youngest two children had to fit around school and nursery runs and estsblished meal times from the moment they were born. This meant I had to (it wasn't really selfish, just necessity within the family) manipulate baby's naps to fit with what worked.

[usersos]

I think you just choose what suits you and if you find something that works for you then roll with it

I'm not sure fate I understand your post fully but maybe that's just the way I've read it!

Good luck op. Keep going. A lot of mums would kill for your nighttimes! X

[emmajack87]

Thanks
This morning was 5:15am but managed to get her to dose a bit more after a small feed.
Like you say, think I just need to accept it and roll with it for now.
Also keeping up with early bed for me just incase of an early awakening!!

[usersos]

We have been having 4.30's the last few days......shit!
I'm in bed by 8pm though. Rock and roll! X

[emmajack87]

@usersos shit indeed!!!
Rock and roll here too. Never know what I want more of an evening; food, shower or sleep.
Possibly a nice glass of wine tonight!! X

[emmajack87]

@FATEdestiny @HT85 @usersos
Lots of early wakings lately!!! And fussing with bottles and moaning in the day?!
Argh!

[usersos]

Teeth?!

[emmajack87]

@usersos .... our thoughts exactly x

[usersos]

Every time you think you've cracked it something else puts a spanner in the works! X

[emmajack87]

@usersos
Yes tell me about it!! She's loving food which is fab, struggling to fit bottles in and trying get her to nap. Now she's fussing on the bottle and it's all change!! Long days at the mo!

[usersos]

We just do a bottle first thing and last thing now ......both of which are drained! It's meant that he's much more into his meals and now introduced snacks as burning off more energy with his "dry riding" action in attempt to move......not a pleasant sight! Stick in doll - it'll be just another phase! X