Early waking - would co-sleeping help?

[zambooloo]

Hi everyone, my dd (5.5 months) is a pretty rubbish sleeper. She wakes between every 1 and 3hrs through the night and the gaps decrease the nearer we get to morning.

This morning she was awake at 5 with no getting back to sleep. For the past few mornings I've been getting to about 4am then getting her from her cot in her room and bringing her into our bed in the hope she will sleep more soundly until about 6 but it doesn't work & she wakes at 5 every time.

She is very alert and seems to notice I have walked into a different room and she wakes up. Her room is v dark in comparison to ours so that might be it but she does sleep for a bit so why wake up at 5?

She has good naps I think -
8.30 for 45mins
12 for 2.5-2hrs
3.30 or 4 for 1/2hr
Bath, bottle, and in bed at 7

Am I doing something wrong here?
How can I encourage her to co-sleep?
Should I bring her into bed earlier in the night so she is still really tired?

I don't want her in with us all night because it took us months to get her to sleep in her cot at all so we've made some progress there! Also I'm back to work so and been going a bit crazy in the sleep dept!

Thanks for all advice & for reading all my ramblings!!

This is so bizarre, I was just about to do a post re my 5 mth old daughter and her complete lack of sleep!! Shes waking 2 hourly from 6 pm - 6am and its killing me, I was going to ask about the whole crying it out and putting her in her own room. I have two other boys and its just so hard the lack of sleep and I feel I am taking it out on the older two which adds guilt, all fun!
Is your dd in her own room yet?

Yes she is... That's when all the trouble started! So we tried putting her back in with us but same problems, early waking & waking SO much during the night - it made no difference! That's why I'm thinking co-sleeping might help - it isn't at the moment though, feel I'm hopelessly clutching at straws!

Good luck to you!

I found that every time my DD goes through a development spurt, we get bad sleep and early wakings, then gradually after a couple of weeks of hell and usually when we are at our wits end, it gets better.

When DD was at that age I remember posting something similar and someone suggested it could be a sleep regression and recommended this site which I have found useful.

I feel for you, it is hard - my DD is now 2.5 and currently thinks 5am is the time to get up - so I am knackered at the moment too!

I've done lots of research this week and I am going to give Baby Whisperer technique a go... Heres hoping!

Same!! DD is 8mo and has good and bad nights in terms of waking. She's always easy to get back to sleep with a ssh and smooth if the hair or stroke of the arm but at 4am she wakes, won't go back to sleep so I've been bringing her into our bed. She'll then sleep until 6am. Her room is lighter than ours and I wonder whether it coincides with daybreak??

If I do get her back to sleep in her cot, she wakes every 5 mins and I'm up and down like a yo-yo. If I sit next to her cot until she's asleep and even wait 15 mins and creep back into bed, the minute my head hits the pillow she's off again. Grrrrr!

I can deal with a 5am wake and get up but 4am is just too early!!

No advice really, just wanted you to know we're in exactly the same boat!

Was considering a blackout blind. I had stopped night feeds (am bf) but I might have to consider reinstating a night feed and see if that helps.