Sleeping FAQ: 6-9 months – Early Morning Waking

Having slept well since birth my 7.5mth daughter has started to wake early in the morning

Following a cold my daughter is now waking during the night and sobbing for a few minutes before returning to sleep – but she then wakes between 4am and 6am and cries for a period of between 20 – 40 minutes before returning to a fitful sleep. We have recently bought her a larger cot as she was rolling over and hitting herself on the bars and getting very upset during the night. My main concern is the early waking, which is now around 5am – she also wakes with a dirty nappy 90% of the time. Up until the cold she would sleep until 6.45 – 7am every morning, later at weekends if we let her!

She has become very active recently as she can now crawl very well and is pulling herself up on everything. Her daytime naps have changed recently as well. She cut out her afternoon nap about two months ago herself and now has 30 minutes between 9 -10am and another 1 1/2 hours between 12.30pm and 2pm. She sometimes has a short catnap in the afternoon about 4.30 – 5pm if we are in the car or buggy but she is now so tired when it comes to tea and is only having a few spoonfuls of food and some bread followed by a yoghurt. She gets through bathtime happily but gets very irritable when being dressed for bed and fed her last bottle – recently she has only been taking 2oz before she gets so tired and has to be put down at 7pm if not earlier. I have listed below her daily intake and hope you can help me as she has been such a good Gina baby up until now and with me now back at work I can’t deal with 5am starts which then throw out her day!

My daughter feeds at 7am 5/6ozs formula, followed by breakfast; 6 spoonfuls cereal/ muesli with full fat milk and 2 cubes of fruit. Lunch is 6/7 cubes protein recipe from the Weaning book, and 2-3ozs water. 2.30pm 4/5ozs formula, 3pm 2ozs water and 2 small rice cakes or banana slices, 5pm 6 cubes pasta and vegetable or potato and vegetable or vegetable soup recipe. 1 slice of whole meal bread and small yoghurt.
6.30pm 2/3ozs formula. She weighs 19lbs 6ozs.
My daughter sleeps at 9.15-9.45am, 12.30-2pm and 4.30-4.45pm.

It can be very hard to get the right amount of daytime sleep at the right times, to coincide with a baby who is suddenly using up so much more energy and falling asleep exhausted at bedtime. It so often happens that the cycle of exhaustion at bedtime leads to early morning waking which leads to earlier daytime naps.

In order to break this cycle you will need to get your daughter back to sleep in the early morning, what ever this takes you to do. As she is cutting back on her last meal of the day and her bedtime bottle she is possibly waking through hunger as well as her new ability to move around the cot and so disturb herself.

If she is still sleeping on her back comfortably then tuck her in using a light weight sheet or blanket as this will help prevent some of the night time restlessness. If she is sleeping in different positions and waking herself through rolling you may need to pad the edges of her cot with rolled towels tucked securely in all around the edge of the mattress to form a bumper and remove all her coverings so she can move a much as she likes. Make sure she is dressed in a sleeping bag of a suitable tog rating for the time of year. The chill of early morning can often disturb babies who are in a lighter sleep.

Bring her teatime forward to 4.45pm. Unless you think she is really hungry mid-afternoon limit her snack then to one rice cake or one small piece of fruit, preferably not banana. This should help her be less tired and more hungry so more likely to eat a good amount at tea time. Giving her carbohydrate-based meals at tea should fill her up well, but keep an eye on the amount she eats. You may not need to offer her yoghurt at this time as you want her to take a 7-8oz bottle before bed. Move her bath time earlier as well and have her bathed by 6.15pm. After her milk settle her in her cot by 6.30pm. Having an earlier bed time should help her have a time of chatting before she falls asleep. It is much better she takes 15-20mins to settle herself at this time of day and can help her sleep later in the morning. It can take up to two weeks before a baby’s sleep cycles are “reset” so you may not notice any real difference in the wake-up time for the first week, but keep working on it.

When your daughter does wake in the morning offer her a feed with as little light and talking as possible. Change her if she needs this, and then settle her back to sleep. If this means you have to hold her so she sleeps again then do this. You are helping her get used to waking at the later hour. If she also begins to eat a bigger tea and take more milk before bedtime you may find the problem resolves itself and she begins to sleep later in the morning.

As the mornings improve you will be able to move her morning nap on a little, so she is settling at 9.30am. Keep it to 30 minutes. With her increased levels of activity she will still need a good sleep at lunchtime but it needs to slowly move nearer to 1pm which it will do once her morning nap is later.

Look in Gina’s Complete Sleep Guide page 103 where she explains the importance of moving the daytime sleep onwards.

Getting both her food needs and sleep needs structured will take time, but with persistence you should be able to help her get back to her better waking time and have a baby who is not so exhausted by bedtime.