Help! 5 month old waking at 4:30am every morning

[Minkies13]

Just that really. I'm not coping.

She doesn't really have a routine during the day bc we're always on the move with my toddler. So she'll nap in the carrier or in the pram. I'll try and keep her awake for 2hrs between naps. She will only sleep for 45mins at a time during the day. Do i need to be getting her into a day routine?

She goes to bed at 6:30 and wakes every 2-3hrs for a feed. We currently cosleep.

Please help. I'm so tired.

Yes to a day routine
Put her to bed later! 6.30-4.30 is 10 hours!
Get some black out blinds and make sure your house isn’t too cold/hot at that time.
But mostly put her to bed later.

Also two hours between naps is too little at this stage. She should be on a 3 nap a day routine. One early morning, one longer lunchtime nap and a late afternoon one. The late afternoon one will then get dropped as she gets older and the lunch one gets longer and starts later.
Also start to think about weaning. The recommended 6 months feels quite late. Most people I know introduce food between 5 and 6 months - especially if you are breastfeeding. It tends to be an earlier but slower process if breastfeeding as formula already a fortified food of sorts.

@Minkies13 I’d say yes to a day routine too! I don’t have any other children to consider but my DS is 5m (almost 6m) and he is definitely a baby that thrives off routine! He’d was all over the place without it 😐 we’re not strict with it...everything is completely led by him so times are by no means set but here is a rough example of our ideal day if we’re at home (obviously varies hugely if we have things on):

7am - wake and feed, then dressed etc and play until showing signs of being tired

9am ish - nap time - either on me/in pram/in cot depending what we have on (30-45mins usually)

9.45am - lots of tummy time play

10.30am - feed then play
11.15am ish - offer solids (we’ve just started weaning)

12/12.15pm - nap - usually in pram on our walk (anything from 40mins to 1.5h depending how he feels - usually try and settle him back to sleep for the longer one though. If he only does the short one then I try to encourage a wee half hour nap before his next feed)

1.30/1.45pm - lots of tummy play until hungry

2.30/3pm ish - feed then play

4/4.30pm ish - last nap (45m/1h ish) finish nap no later than 5.30pm

5.30pm - awake and play
6pm - bath time
6.30pm - leisurely bedtime routine - dim lights, massage, pjs on, feed, into sleeping bag, read a book
7.30/7.45pm - down to sleep.

I feed at 10.30/11pm - usually wake him or sometimes he wakes looking for it. Then he wakes at 2.30/3am looking for milk. Then back down until 7am.

So for us is feed roughly every 4h, awake 2-2.5h at a time. He sleeps better at night if his total daytime sleep is about 2.5/3h.

How much sleep in total is your wee one getting during the day roughly? I found that was really big for what mine did overnight.

I also agree with @Mumbot345635 - 2h between naps is pretty short at this stage. Mine does 2h at his first wake window of the day (7am-9am ish) but after that he’s awake at least 2.5h at a time.

Just to completely disagree with everyone above

I'll try and keep her awake for 2hrs between naps. She will only sleep for 45mins at a time during the day

Your awake windows are too long, given your baby has not yet learnt to link sleep cycles.

As a general rule awake window wants to be:

• Double nap length, plus or minus 15 minutes
• Never, ever longer than 2h.

This is the case until naps start lengthening to the 90min mark, a sign that sleep cycles are linking. In the mean time, always try yo resettle after ever nap to lengthen it.

So 45 minute naps mean 90 minutes awake time. I would start settling to sleep from 75 min awake time if baby is unsettled, this gives you a good half hour to get baby yo sleep.