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Sleep

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Original poster

6MO wakes up at 4-5am every day, HELP!!!

15 replies

LadyLotty · 31/01/2012 21:04

Please please please can someone tell me what i'm doing wrong/how i can improve our sleep deprived situation. We are breaking down ...

This is my routine with my 6 MO:

4-5am she wakes up and demands attention (if we ignore she shouts non-stop)
5.30am -7am sleep
7am - BF (hardly any) & breakfast
9.30 - sleep 30 min
11am - lunch
11.45 - bath
12 noon - sleep for 1- 1.5 hrs
2.30pm - BF (hardly eats)
4pm - sleep for 30 min
5pm - dinner
7pm - BF, I wake her, put her to bed to sleep (she's almost always almost asleep).
10.30pm - BF (she drinks a lot!)

She has no probs settling herself to sleep and is really exhausted by 6.30-7pm.

Oh and I bathe her in the middle of the day because my toddler is in nursery then and I'm not sure how to bathe both and put both to bed by myself in the evening - its all hectic enough as is!!

So I don't understand why she is waking up and not settling herself back so early in the morning. What are we doing wrong? what should we be doing?

OP posts:

kd73 · 31/01/2012 21:14

Hi,

I always fed at 5am when they first woke and went back to bed until a more reasonable hour. Otherwise I ended up awake just listening them holloring!

I also used to express at 5am whilst feeding, as the milk is at its best

forward · 31/01/2012 21:29

I'm afraid I just used to get up and start at 5am. I'd often be hanging the washing out by 6am, best part of the day

Then I used to go to bed after the 7pm feed and let DH do the 10:30 (was mixed fed by 6m)

It was my DS1 who was such an early riser and that hasn't really changed. When he was a toddler I started taking him into my bed around 5:30 and we'd read quietly until DS2 was ready to get up, once he started school we'd get spellings etc done in that time. Now he's 10 and will read on his own / listen to music with headphones, so I can stay in bed, but his light is on by 6am most days. It does improve, but it takes a while! sorry.

Original poster

LadyLotty · 31/01/2012 22:51

Oh dear.... I'm doomed lol!!!! So not an early morning person...!

OP posts:

reddaisy · 31/01/2012 22:54

I remember being at the park with DD by 6am some days just because we had to get out of the house because I needed something to do to occupy her. She now sleeps until 7am if that helps and she is 3 but at Nana's she sleeps until 8am!

reddaisy · 31/01/2012 22:56

And I'm not a morning person either, I was trying to organise meeting a friend this weekend as we were both trying to find a time to squeeze in a quick coffee and I suggested Sat at 9am and she said she would still be in bed and I was thinking I will have been up for at least three hours by then! Oh how life changes

thehairybabysmum · 31/01/2012 23:11

I would feed more in the day, 9:30-2:30 seems a long stretch...is she on solids as well?

As other poster says I would feed her on waking and try to put her back down then?

scottygirl5 · 01/02/2012 05:56

My nearly 5 month old DD is the same and has been for nearly 2 months. 4-5am wakings every day but we're not as lucky as you,she will have already fed twice during the night by then and won't go back to sleep after the 4am waking. Sometimes naps around 7-8am,sometimes powers through for another couple of hours. So no answers but it might make you feel better to know it could be worse!

Original poster

LadyLotty · 01/02/2012 20:09

reddaisy - I so know what you mean! I was thinking only the other day how life changes! I used to dance and drink til 4-5am, then go to bed. Now I wake at around this hour. Both occasions I look like c**p - except now I don't have a choice LOL!

thehairybabysmum (lurve the name I'm giggling as I type!) - yes she is on solids! She somehow gets enough into her, because she isn't hungry first thing in the morning. She makes up all her milk drinks at the 7pm feed and 10.30pm feed. Some nights I count her gulps (yes, I am so exciting) - she takes over 250 each?!?!?!

scottygirl5 - thanks for sharing. (sigh). Presumably you're breastfeeding exclusively?! Honestly, how do you cope? Does your DH help at all, eg take turns with the night shifts?

OP posts:

scottygirl5 · 02/02/2012 12:11

Yes ebf and a bottle refuser so no shifts with dh. Its amazing what you get used to,though I'm always exhausted! Did weaning help reduce wakings for you?

Hopefully the clocks going forward might help us all.

Original poster

LadyLotty · 03/02/2012 16:30

Weaning doesn't really help, although it gave me the confidence to drop all feeds during the night (1- 3am ish) because I knew she wasn't hungry.

I've also realised if she sleeps more during the day (even jusy by 15 min) she stand a better chance of sleeping longer at night. Last couple of days woke up at 6am! Thats togethet with taking her uostairs at 7.15pm rather than the earlier time. Oh, and also I put her down wide awake at least for one of her naps, just to remind her she can go to sleep by herself. I'm not sure which of these exactly contributes to her longer sleep - but a combination seem to be working so far. Fingers crossed!

OP posts:

grobagsforever · 03/02/2012 19:34

I don't understand your issue OP? This isn't early waking, she goes back to sleep so it's a night feed. She is six months and having night feeds at ten thirty and four am? That's a great routine by most people's standards. Have I missed something?

fivegomadindorset · 03/02/2012 19:36

That is when DS usually wakes up, he is 3.5

forcedinsomnia · 03/02/2012 19:48

I understand your misery, however I have to kind of agree with growbagsforever. I'm quite jealous. My ds also 6 months wakes all the time!!! Sometimes every hour. His routine is kind of similar to your ds....but mine drinks hardly any milk at all. It's like having a newborn again at the minute....in fact he drinks less milk now than then. I really hope you sort this....even though I think you're kind of lucky I know it's hard when you're so tired you could cry/scream(and often do!!!). Good luck chuck.

flotsamandjetsam · 03/02/2012 20:04

OP, i ad to re-read your thread to work out what the problem was! DS goes back to sleep and only wakes x2 for feeds. That's success in my book. How I wish...

girliefriend · 03/02/2012 20:12

Your routine sounds fine to me, although I would bath the baby in with the todddler in the evening because I wouldn't want the faff of running 2 baths everyday!!!

My dd did this until she was a little bit older and then i stopped offering any milk between 10pm and 7am (if she woke up just offered water and said its still sleepy time, checked nappy and resettled) She moaned a couple of times and was tricky if she was teething but otherwise would rarely wake up before 7am.

My dd also was not a big milk drinker and much perferred food!!!

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