5 month old sleep and early morning feed

[Madallie]

My dd sleeps well. She's not a great napper, has about 2.5-3hrs per day, but sleeps all night from about 7.30/8pm until 5ish. I am really pleased with this and know I am lucky but I'm a bit lost with what to do after her early morning feed. She used to feed about 4/5am and then go back to sleep Til about 8am quickly. Now however she is taking longer and longer to settle back to sleep at this time, sometimes more than an hour. The problem is, she is still tired, yawning and rubbing her eyes at this time.

So has anyone been through this stage? What did you do? Should I feed her when she wakes or try to hold out a bit? Is there anything I can do a courage her to either sleep a bit longer in the morning or go back to sleep quicker after her early morning feed?

If you have been through this phase, when and how did it end? Was it just an age/development thing or did weaning help?(dd is not waned yet).

Hi OP,

There are two things I tried which eventually worked.
The first thing I did was a dreamfeed at about 11pm, which helped keep my DD fuller for longer.
The second thing I did was try and push back the early morning feed, so start trying to wait until 5:15 & then when that's working well 5:30 etcetera.
The other tip I heard but haven't tried was diluting the 5am feed with water. Starting off with 90% milk & 10% water & slowing upping the water. Apparently it's supposed to work but I BF at night & couldn't be having with making at bottle in the middle of the night.

Good luck!

Oh & yes weaning helped us, DD was pretty much sleeping through from 7 months.

Thanks small bee. I've tried a dream feed a few times and each time it leaves dd unsettled for some or all of the rest of the night and end with her pooing at odd times in the night too.

Maybe I should just be patient and wait Til weaning.

I've also been wondering if me letting dd go back to sleep after so long is reinforcing her staying awake after the feed. Maybe if I got her up at 7am no matter when she fell to sleep after her feed then it would encourage her to go back to sleep quicker. Maybe this is acting as an early nap.

I know it sounds silly, but how about trying to put her to bed a bit earlier? I find the earlier my 11mo goes, the longer she sleeps...Just a thought....If I put my lo down at 645pm she will sleep till 615am. If she doesn't sleep till 730pm she often wakes before 6am. Strange but true!

Clare that's very interesting! I shall try it!

I have a 19 week old girl, who is ebf and has recently not been sleeping as well as she did previously. I'm contemplating giving her a ff before bed to see if that helps. I'm pretty sure that she's waking up because she's hungry.

So if you put your LO to sleep at 7pm say, when would you start bedtime routine?