Early waking 4 month old - argh!!!

[wonderingmum]

DD1 had blessedly started sleeping through the night but is now waking up at 5am, having a giant poo which requires full changing (clothes, linens, etc.) and then not going back to sleep. This morning by 620 I finally figured out she was ravenous. She does wake up at 1 and 3 but settles herself back to sleep so I haven't been feeding her. But I'd rather feed her at 3 and have her settle back to sleep than be up this early. Should I go back to feeding her at 3? Or persevere and hope she eventually stops waking at 5?

No expert but fellow mum with 5.75mnth old. Just a few thoughts

Do you give a dream feed? And are you BFing? Is it possible she is not getting enough?

Also, they have a really nasty growth spurt around 4m which lasts for weeks and if you are BFing, apparently your milk changes to cope and everything. I FF my DS (not by choice ) and I went onto hungry baby milk at this stage because the same thing happened and his dream feed was just a rediculous size and he just kept wanting more. This often gets mistaken for the baby needing weaning early! He did this for 3 weeks!

Hope this helps a bit.

G

Definitely helps. DD is also formula fed (like you, not by choice) and her feeds just get huger and huger and I wonder how her little tummy can cope! Tried dream feeding her and strangely enough there was a direct correlation between adding this feed and her getting up to play from 1-5am so we stopped it. Will try going back to a midnight feed again tho, when she awakes, and otherwise will try new milk. Lordy - can't imagine weaning her at this point but I sure can see why some would!

Wierd about the dream feed making her play?! Feeding when she wakes sounds like a plan.

If it helps, I also sometimes give a split feed in the evening before he goes down at 7pm. I.e., give a smaller feed at 5ish, and then another around 6.30. But this is mainly because mine has reflux and can't take really big feeds so this is a good way to get enough milk in him and keep it in him sometimes. Let us know how you get on tonight.

G