4Am Wake up Call

Is she on solids yet? Most pedi's recommend starting solids at 6 months - but both of my kids were ready between 4-5 months. I would start trying some cereal at dinner time and then slowly adding in veggies. She'll be sleeping through the night again in no time!

Hi A.,

My daughter did something similar. What I did was keep her up later at night. Now she'll stay up until between 9 and 11 pm, and sleep until about 7 or 8. We just play more, take later baths, etc. in the evening which keeps her engaged and gets her sleepy. Sometimes she may do a short 15-20 min. nap in the late afternoon (5 or 6) and those days are when she'll be up closer to 11. So, perhaps extend the bedtime a little later and then you'll be able to get more sleep.

jen

I kind of disagree with the suggestion that at five months old you should allow your daughter to cry it out. She very well could be hungry @ 4 AM, especially if she is going to bed at 7. I don't know if you're breast or bottle feeding, but if you're nursing the chances are even likelier she's hungry. Infants digest their mother's milk more efficiently. My son wasn't sleeping through the night at 5 months - it was more like eight or nine months and even then a growth spurt always messed up his schedule for awhile. You may want to wake her up just before you go to bed and feed her and see if this help keep her belly full until after dawn.

Again, I'd strongly urge you not to let her cry it out. Five month old infants aren't manipulating their parents just yet. If she was waking up every two hours that may be more of an indication she's just wanting some cuddling with her mama, but nine hours of continuous sleep for an under six month old baby seems like a lot.

Good luck. I know 4AM isn't fun.

A.
Its a growth spurt! Just feed her for now... if she was a good sleeper she will return to her good habits in time. Also.. don't fret if it takes awhile... my kids didn't sleep thru the night till 11 months old. :)

l

My 5-month-old will usually put himself back to sleep if he wakes up before 6:30, but sometimes he does need to eat earlier. Could she be ready to start solids, maybe? My pediatricians for all three of my boys have told me to go ahead and start solids between 4 and 6 months.

My son is just on the edge of 6 months old and has been doing the same thing some nights, probably 2-3 nights a week. Only with his wake up calls they're 5-5:30am so its just late enough that you really can't get any considerable sleep if you end up feeding him. He's recently grown out of all of his 3-6 clothes and some of the 6-9 so I'm really leaning towards a growth spurt. I've heard from some people that around 5-6 months old its like having a newborn again with sleeping at night. My son hasn't been that bad, but it is annoying.

His sleeping schedule is that he goes to bed at 8:30pm, wakes up usually around 6:30. His naps are typically about a half hour long and he still takes a few of them through out the day, usually about every 3-4 hours he'll konk out for a nap. We're doing baby led weaning but we still offer rice or oatmeal once a day.

So far I've just been offering him his pacifier, putting his little snuggle security blanket back in his arms, turning his ocean wonders aquarium back on and leaving the room without saying anything or making eye contact. More often than not this will get him back to sleep without me having to feed him and he'll just wake up at his normal time. Every once in a while.. probably one night out of the 2-3 he wakes up a week I'll have to end up feeding him because he turns out to actually be hungry. Don't know what to tell you really! But there's what I've been doing! I'm not really a fan of crying it out either, if he actually starts to cry rather than just babble I'll usually go comfort him. I just know if I let the babble go on too long that he'll usually be awake too early.

Sounds like she is going through a growth spurt and needs the food. Nurse her when she wakes and let her fall back asleep. you both need it, and rather than fighting it, listen to her and give her what she needs. It will make life alot easier on both of you if you just follow her needs. Babies grow nad change so much, and they hit growth spurts often where their body needs that extra food to grow. Think about how much food you would have to eat to gain that much weight in a year! She will have growth spurts ,and her waking early is her way of 'telling' you she needs it, so nurse her and put her back to bed. It will pass.

My daughter did something similar as yours around 5 months, the reason my daughter woke up was because she was going through a growth spurt and hungry. As others have said as they grow their schedule changes, if she seems satisfied after eating at 4am then she must have been hungry... I never refused food (or said she had to wait 30 mins) until she was one years old, then we got into a meal & snack schedule.

She could be going through a growth spurt and be hungry!

If she is good on weight, you may just have to let her cry it out. I know some don't like this method, but it is the quickest in the long run. At 4 months babies are able to sleep through the night. If you let her cry it out, it will only take 2- 3 nights until she gets back on her schedule. She'll then learn to put her back to sleep when she wakes up.

Try shortening her evening nap, starting it earlier, or going to 1 nap a day in the middle of the day. It could b just a growth spurt, but if she gets into the habit of waking up it could stick.

sorry this response is so late, hopefully you are back to a full night of sleep by now...
my guess is a growth spurt... that last feeding before bed just isn't lasting her through the night... once the growth spurt is over she should hopefully go back to sleeping through the night.
good luck!

if one thing is certain with babies, it is uncertainty. the minute they get in a routine, something happens and it gets switched up.
many reasons she may suddenly be waking; the first and probably most important is that she is probably really hungry. so just feed her and get back to bed, or feed her in bed if you are nursing. :D that way you are both relaxed and peaceful. :D it really really works.
babies tummies are tiny. they have to eat often, especially if they are having a growth spurt. so have patience.

another thing is every developmental milestone interrupts sleep. not sure why. rolling over, sitting up, walking, all those big ones that babies go through. even teething can start at 3 months, even if you see no teeth for months. my son started having the pain around 3 months, but no teeth till 7 months.

so just have patience. this will also change. you know, the whole "this too shall pass"

My son is almost two and is a great sleeper. He has been since he was two months old. I think she is going to bed too late. We did go through that with him also. There were times that I had to put h to bed at 6 or 6:30, but it worked like a charm and he slept until 6:30. He is currently sleeping 7:30-7:30 give or take and takes a 2-3 hour nap everyday. Overtired kids don't sleep as well. It can be explained more in the book, "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child.". I still refer to it occasionally when we go through hiccups due to travel, teething, or illness. The book is amazing.

I agree with everyone--growth spurt sounds likely. Whether or not you will ever really know the cause, this is your reality right now. Go with it. That's the name of the game with parenting. This time there seems to be a good answer to the question "why the change?". But so many times there won't be clear answers and there will ALWAYS be change. So just welcome it and go along, it's really a great ride if you don't try to keep your oars in the water all of the time.:)