5 months old - waking at 5

[Piccalilli]

My dd (5 months) has been sleeping through from about 3 months, but we used to have trouble settling her much before 9:30 p.m. Finally, last week, she started going to bed at 8 BUT after two blissful nights of 8 til 7:30 has now started regularly waking at 5 a.m. She isn't crying, just wide awake and gabbling to herself - she's still sharing a room with us so just ignoring her isn't really an option. When I do give in and get her up she's desperate for a bottle but will only take half. Once she's up, that's it for the day, she won't go back to bed.

Has anyone else experienced this and what did you do to deal with it? Or is it just a phase which we need to ride out?

might be teething is dd on solids yetif not how many oz a day does she have

I would say probably a phase. Speaking as one who has a 23 week old DD who wakes often - I am telling myself it must be a phase .

Hi Kasdie - not on solids yet, she has between and 28 and 35 oz a day (5 x 7oz feeds but never finishes all of them). Don't think she's teething but I guess it could be that.

for some reason its very common for babies this age to start waking at 5am - the dreaded '5am at 5 mths'

its stops as quickly as it starts, if thats any help

If she's not crying can you just leave her there talking to herself and see if she goes back to sleep? You might be accidentally rewarding her for waking up at 5 by going to her? I share a room with my DD who is 20wks, and she can gabble for quite a while before she goes back off. If she starts shouting I give her a dummy and walk away again and this seems to satisfy her for another hour or two.

I know she's not quite 6 months yet, but maybe you should think about putting her in her own room? We shared with our DD until she was 7 months old and found that her sleeping improved no end when we moved her. She is not so disturbed by our noises, and we aren't so aware of every move she makes. She does tend to surface around 5-6am every morning, but more often than not she will chunter for a bit then settle herself back down to sleep.

She always used to wake at this time but settle after a few minutes chuntering - now I've tried leaving her 45 minutes but she's obviously awake and not going to go back to sleep.

I would LOVE to move her into her own room, but we're in the process of moving and it just isn't possible til we do (maybe another 2 months - eek!).

Might try the dummy tomorrow as it's the weekend so not too bothered if she disturbs dh.

Thanks everyone - really helpful to get some advice/reassurance which isn't just 'maybe you should wean her' which seems to be all I'm getting from elsewhere.

Sorry can't help much - ds still wakes at this time and is 15 months (5.30am the latest - nothing we do seems to make any difference and he will not go back to sleep anymore) regardless of the time he goes to bed

I don't want to scare you as most children seem to have phases of waking early or not but not my ds I'm afraid [sad. Just wanted to comiserate.

lazycow - how well I know what you're going through! DS is 5 1/2 months and always wakes up at 5.30 - practically on the dot - EVERY MORNING and nothing we can do changes it! We end up having to bring him into our bed to get any extra sleep at all! We're hoping that he will grow out of it..... pleease god!

15 months - eek! Massive commiserations lazycow, my dd has only been doing this for a week and I'm finding it really hard.

I'm hoping things may improve when we put her in her own room.

DD (19 weeks today) has been doing this too for the last couple of weeks. She is in her own room which makes for much trudging to and fro to stick her dummy in. She isn't hungry, just enjoying shouting at her mobile or her hands. Usually the dummy works after 2 or 3 goes and she goes back to sleep till at least 7 - much more civilised - so may well be worth a try. She is a thumb sucker also but for some reason will not do this at 5am.