Not a big problem in scheme of things, BUT....

[MrsMong]

...one (or two!) wee things I'd like to resolve

DD is almost 8 month, and a happy, healthy baby.

First (minor) issue - sleeping (now I do appreciate that many people have it much much worse!) but...

From about 5 weeks til 4 months she slept through and then stopped. She regressed to 3 night wakings for a couple of weeks but after a very very short spell of controlled crying we reduced this to one waking at 5am from about 5 months.

She's still waking at 5am. She starts making quiet noises and if I leave her they get louder and louder til she cries. Once she gets worked up it's impossible to get her back to sleep. One a couple of rare occasions I have managed to cuddle her back to sleep but mostly if I pick her up she thinks it's time to play and wriggles around like a mad baby!! So what I'm doing is feeding her at 5am and then she goes back to sleep usually til around 7am (but sometimes 6.30 or 8am).

Any ideas how to get rid of the 5am waking?

Second minor issue - feeding

Our routine is as follows...
5 - BF
8.30 - Brekkie (yogurt) - hardly eats anything, usually one petit filou and nothing else
10 - BF
12 - Lunch, usually eats well (e.g one stage 2 Ella's Kitchen plus a tub of fruit / or home made equivalent)
3 - BF
5.15 - Dinner, usually eats well (as above)
7 - BF and bed

I'd like to cut down to 3 BFs a day so want to cut the 10am BF but not sure if DD is ready, and if so, how to do this. Do I just try one day, and hope she "lasts" til lunch? Should I wait til she eats more at breakfast time?

Thanks in advance ladies.. xx

Meant to add...

Daytime naps - not a great fan, but will have 30mins in morning at 10ish and 30-40mins at around 2.30. Occasionally will have another 10min around 4.30 / 5 if we're in the car.

I'd love her to sleep longer in the day as well, but priority is sorting the 5am wake up!

Cheeky bump!! Please?

I hope someone will be along soon who knows more about this but I did read on a sleep thread here, about something called 'wake to sleep'. The idea being that you basically wake them up an hour or so before their usual time, and rouse them just enough so that they have to settle themselves off to sleep again.

The theory is that you then start a new lot of sleep which will last beyond the 5am.

I wish I'd known about this with ds, who was another v early riser - I would certainly have given it a go. Yes it means setting your alarm to wake you at 4am or something but i think it sounds worth a try.

Thanks slowreadingprogress

Cheeky / hopeful bump for some other opinions / ideas

I must say, it sounds as if you're doing brilliantly!!

The sleep thing - having tried all things myself, I am a huge fan of just getting up and feeding them and them going back to sleep rather than starting the day too early for themselves. It will all change again at some point (possibly in a few months time or earlier if you're lucky). Just go with it for now.

Removing BF thing - she may well need an extra 30-60 mins after waking before attempting brekkie - have you tried offering it to her at 9ish or half past instead? Either way, I would just take the BF away and offer a snack instead - finger foods act as an activity too, so all the more fun! I find my kids have only ever eaten 1-2 good meals per day and I don't think they've ever managed 3 good ones!!