My 5 ½-month-old son has begun to wake early in the morning since the clock change
My son used to wake at 7-7.30am. He now wakes 5.30am since the clock change and poos then so I have to change him and offer five minutes on the breast. He is changed in the dark, no eye contact or talking. He then goes back down. I wake him at 7.30am for other breast and to start the day. He also wakes at 1.30pm at lunchtime nap after going down at 12pm. Sometimes he wakes after an hour. He has only had full 2 hours once. When he wakes after one hour, I offer his NUK dummy and he goes back off until 1.50pm. My other son is 2 years 9 months and goes to kindergarten twice a week from 9-12pm. My youngest son sleeps in the car from when I leave the house at 8.40am until 9.45pm when I wake him up. He is in a lie down matrix Jane car seat. I have to pick my son up at 12pm so leave the house at 11.40am. We are back in the house by 12.10pm.
What will I do when I have to start feeding the baby at 11.30am? I won’t have time. My son could stay at kindergarten longer now that he has been going nearly 5 months and have lunch at school and be picked up at 1pm but then the baby will be disturbed from his lunchtime nap, so what do I do then? My elder son naps from 1-2.30pm on school days.
My son is fully breast fed. He was weaned at 19 weeks. He weighs 15lbs 15ozs. He feeds at 5.30am, 5 minutes one side, 7.30am 5 minutes second side; 11am 7 minutes on each side followed by 3 cubes of vegetables; 2.15pm 5 minutes on each side; 6.15pm 8 minutes on each side followed by 3 tablespoons baby rice mixed with 3ozs formula and 1 cube of apple, peach or pear; 10pm 5 minutes on each side or 3ozs of formula. He naps at 9-10am, 12-1.30pm and 4-4.30pm.
It can be difficult to reset a baby’s clock once the habit of waking early has begun. As you are breast feeding your son it would be a good idea to check your supply at 10pm. Due to tiredness it may not be quite enough for his needs at present. You could offer him a top-up afterwards either of expressed or formula and see if that will help him sleep on longer in the morning. Also you could try to keep him up for a little longer than his fifteen minutes at this time just until he is sleeping later again. Try giving him a 15-20 minute break mid-feed with a quiet kick on his change mat to help him stay awake for a short while.
Another way to make sure he is taking enough feed at 10pm is to split his 6pm feed into two parts. Give him one breast at 5.30pm followed by half of his solids. Then bath him at 6/6.15pm and offer the second side followed by the rest of the solids. This will make him hungrier at his 10pm feed. Although at his age the 10pm feed will begin to get smaller and be dropped soon it is better to keep it going for a few more weeks in order for him to sleep nearer to 7am again.