5.5 month old waking at 5am hungry - any tips?

[jay9]

Hi
My dd (5.5months old)has always woken up somwhere between 4.30 and 5.30 and is usually fairly easy to get back to sleep (dummy in, and wrap up) but the last 3 morning she won't settle at all but was still tired (she's in bed by about 7.30 at night). I could only assume that she was hungry and ended up giving her 4oz of milk - she then settled down again for an hour or so. She's on solids for all 3 meals now (has always been a hungry baby) and I split her evening meal to give her a dessert (usually cereal) with her bedtime milk). She has been eating more in the day too so could this be a growth spurt?? Any thoughts anyone?

I'm worried about her getting into a habit of waking and not settling without milk even if she's not hungry. I'm afraid I can't really tell if her cry is a a hungry cry (sorry if this makes me a rubbish mum). All I know is that she'll usually settle down fairly easily and now she won't.

Do I need to find a way of increasing her food intake during the day?

SHould I reintroduce a dream feed (not sure about this as she slept better when we stopped doing this when she was about 3-4months old)

any tips for a tired mum!

I wouldn't worry, it may be that she is having a growth spurt?

I would personally give her some milk to get her down, if she is having a growth spurt she obviously needs it! Offer her more at meal times as well to see if she needs more solids....its amazing how quickly you need to keep increasing there solid meals at that age.

I'm sure she will get back into the usual routine soon enough.

And your not a rubbish mum! I could never really tell what my dd was crying for at that age... all her cries were exactly the same!

p.s whats a dream feed?

p.s whats a dream feed?

a dream feed is about 10.00 at night when they're in bed in the dark etc to hopefully ensure they'll go back to sleep again.

hi jay, I dream feed and I think they say to keep it up till 7 or 8 months, HTH