Advice for new mumsnetter on sleep / feed routines for almost six month old

[sar123]

hi - am new here and looking for advice. Not sure whether to put this in Sleep or Feeding/Weaning as it fits both topics so please bear with me.....Trying to keep this simple!!!! my dd is almost six months. She has been exclusively breast fed. Am now weaning her - still breast feeding as well - and she has started sleeping through (hurrah!) from her last feed at night (10.30 / 11ish) to 5.30. Have been in a good routine since about 4 months more or less as follows :
7am feed
9 nap (30 - 45 mins)
10am feed
11.30/12 nap (1.5 to 2 hrs)
1.30/2 feed
4 ish nap (30 mins)
4.30 feed
7 feed
7.30 sleep
10.30 feed
2am feed - she dropped this a few days ago
6.30 awake - now she's dropped 2am feed is waking at 5.30am
am now giving solids for breakfast and for tea (still bf at 7 and 4.30 and giving solids with those feeds) - following roughly the Annabel Karmel timetable so will shift that in a week or so to 3 meals at b/fast, lunch, evening. When i also used to feed her b/w 2&3am ( until a few nights ago) she used to wake up later in the morning so the routine above worked for us (ie she'd wake up b/w 6.30 and 7am). i am wondering how to adjust the routine now that she's waking up earlier?
for example, do i now give her the morning milk feed when she wakes (given that she's not had anything since 11pm) rather than at 7am? And do i then give the solids at 7 instead of the milk feed?
And is 5.30 normal wake up time or should I give her milk feed and try to put her back down for more sleep? Maybe she's waking from hunger at that time? Feels v. early to me but having had almost six months of broken nights wonder if am asking too much to get her to sleep til 6.30 or later !!! If 5.30 is normal wake up time, when does it get later (if ever)? When she's fully weaned????
would love to hear from anyone who has advice / experience of same

thanks
S

Hi Sar123,
I don't know about the routine, but I do know that some babies are early morning wakers. My ds woke at about 5am until he was well over 2, and know he wakes up between 6 and 7am ( he is 3). My dd (18 months) also wakes anytime form 5.30am onwards.
The only way I have heard of getting them to sleep longer is to use controlled crying, but I personally could not do this, so have learnt to live with early starts.
They are both in bed by 7.30 pm. I think you have to be very lucky to get a baby who goes to bed early and gets up late!
Sorry I am no help at all!!!

If it was me I would give her a milk feed on waking at 5.30 and put her back to sleep. She should drop off after her feed and then when she wakes again later on give her her solids for breakfast.

Try this routine for a bit and as she gets older and her meals get bigger during the eveings, more solids etc.,she should stop the 5.30 waking and hopefully give you an extra hour or two.

All babies and children are different but it won't be long before you're trying or drag her out of bed to get to school believe me!!

thanks both - maybe will try feed and put back down to see if it works, I guess if it does then she's hungry and needs a bit more sleep, if not, then i need to get used to an early wake up call!!!!! 5.30 is hard in winter!!! Makes hte day feel so long - don't know what to do with myself so early other than drink too much coffee....

S

I know exactly how you feel. The days do feel so long when you are up so early. When my ds was going throught the early waking phase he would be up sometimes before 5am. I tried giving him a bottle but he basically wasn't tired. It is a nightmare.
I used to just have space everything out, like no breakfast until 6.30, get dressed at 7.30, etc and really take my time over it so I wasn't up and ready until well after 8am, and then I would go out at 9am somewhere.
I have a friend who did the controlled crying with her ds, and he now sleeps til about 6am. It is an option if you have the stomach for it.
Take heart though because it will get better as she gets older, especially when she stops having a day time nap. Ds slept until 7.50am the other morning (although dd was up at 6am - aaaargh!!!)