Waking at 4am all of the sudden...why?

jamlsull

DD has been a pretty good sleeper all along.  The last 3 nights though she has been waking up at 4-4:30 a.m.  Usually we have to go in and wake her up at 6 to get her ready for daycare, so this is totally not like her. 

She was sick with a cold last week but has been feeling much better.  The only other thing I was thinking it could be is she falls asleep drinking her last bottle & doesn't always get her normal amount-but we upped the nipple size so she didn't have to suck so hard & get so tired & last night she finished it all...but still woke up early!

And she doesn't wake up crying or anything.  Actually today we didn't even feed her for an hour.  We leave her in the crib but she is just up and doesn't go back to sleep.  But after she is fed of course she passes out again.

Anyone else have this happen?  Hopefully it is just a phase!

belladonna11307

That sounds like my LO.  Some mornings she just decides that 4/4:30 is a good time to start her day, so she'll wake up and start talking!  If she's not fussing, we let her go until we're ready to get up.  Sometimes she'll go back to sleep.

NeverEnoughTime

My kid did this for about 2 weeks before I figured it out.  He was hungry. Same thing, he would only get a couple ounces in at bedtime.

I just (3 nights ago) started cluster feeding before bed and it has worked so far.  We used to give him his bottle at 5, and then 8(bed). He was miserable and starving by then.  Now I give him one at 7 and then he drinks whatever he wants at 8 (never a full bottle).  He has slept until 6 am for 3 days (which was his usual wake up time before).

Hope it works for you!!

jamlsull

I think I might keep the higher nipple size on so she can finish the bottle at night (just permanently switch to that) but then feed her a little earlier.  Her last bottle at daycare has been at about 4:30 so I try to hold off her last bedtime bottle to 8-8:30.  But we had been feeding her around 7-7:30 for a while, so maybe I should just keep that time (eventhough its only about 2 1/2 since her last one) and hope it works.  She usually takes a short nap anyways in the evening before bed so maybe the earlier bedtime will do it.

Its just weird when they change their "normal" routine all of the sudden!