yes, another sleep question
littlebean4
member
Hey everyone, So I want to preface this with, I know I'm lucky, I'm not complaining so please no rude comments.
My DD has been going to bed usually around 7 or 730, never any later. She used to get up a few times a night then it was anywhere from 3-5, so I started the dream feed but it didn't seem to make any difference.
However, the last 2 weeks or so she gets up at 530 and it is killing me!
she'll usually go the entire night 7-530, but sometimes she'll get up at 330 or 4 and still wake up at 530. If its her only wake up I feed her then, but if I had just fed her at 330 then Ill just rock her back to sleep. The problem is, she rarely goes back down and if she does she's usually up by 6. I just don't get it because she used to sleep until 730ish and I always heard you should put them down 12 hours before you want them up for the day so I thought I was doing good with the 7 oclock bedtime. Its just hard because that is literally the only time during the day I could get a minute to myself bc she is a terrible napper.
Do you guys think I should bypass the feeding at that time and just try to sooth her back to sleep. I just feel like she is genuinely hungry considering she hasn't eaten most nights since 7. Thanks in advance!
Re: yes, another sleep question
So just to clarify, she wakes up around 3:30 on her own, you feed her, put her back Dow and she wakes up again at 5:30 wanting to eat and is up for the day?
If that's correct, then I would still feed at 3:30 and 5:30. She's having an 8 hour stretch of sleep, so she might want to cluster feed in the morning, which is normal.
If she wants to stay up at 5:30, it may be a phase and temporary. Sleep patterns change nonstop with infants. I would go with it for now since she does have a good stretch of sleep earlier in the night. Maybe she's transitioning to a longer morning nap. You could play with that a bit, but I would not mess with her bedtime.
I would feed her. It could be a phase or she could just be an early riser. DS1 got up between 5-5:30 until he was a year old. It didn't matter what time we put him to bed, how his naps were, etc. He was just always up. Even now he's usually up at 6.
ETA: After you feed her and she's awake, is she upset? Can you just keep her in her crib/bassinet until you are ready to get up or will she cry? She may fall back asleep. DS1 never did but you never know.
My little guy is somewhat similar, he goes 730-130, then back down til 530 and its up and at 'em. Sometimes we stretch him til 8, at which point he wakes up at 2 and then again at 6...but that's about it.
I asked about the "dream feed" at both my ped visit and my hospital mom's group, which is mediated by a baby nurse, and I got some negative feedback on it, basically saying your kid is doing great for his age, dont screw with it, he'll figure it out.
That VERY NIGHT he slept through the night, from 8-5! of course the next night he was back to his same old routine. 730, 130, 530. I was crushed :-P
Yours is a little older but I bet folks' advice would be the same: she's doing great, figuring it out on her own. I hate giving advice on this stuff though, mostly because I'm such a new mom but also because every kid is different. I feel like anything I might have learned with my first would be rendered totally null and void with my second.