Sleeping FAQ: 4-6 months – Early Morning Waking

5-month-old Finn’s day is starting too early

Finn wakes between 5 and 5.30am, cries and will not settle back to sleep. He has 8oz of formula milk but still remains grumpy from tiredness. He cries and will not settle on his own after this feed unless rocked back to sleep. But he is able to settle himself at night – he is put down awake and goes to sleep within minutes. Once he is back to sleep in the morning, he wakes between 6.20am and 7.30am in a good mood. We manage to keep him awak until 9am but he starts getting grumpy at about 8.30am. It is becoming increasingly difficult to settle him for this sleep, although he acts very tired, and he only sleeps for 20-30 minutes. He wakes in a good mood, usually jumps around in a bouncer or has a kick around on a mat until 10-10.30am, then has 6-7oz of milk and vegetables for lunch. He settles to sleep at 11.30-11.50am for his lunchtime nap which usually starts in his pushchair due to the trip to nursery to pick up his older brother, but he wakes after 40-50 minutes screaming and will not settle. He stays awake and needs constant carrying to prevent him from screaming until the 2-2.30pm feed, when he takes 6-7oz. He then settles for a nap at 3pm-ish for 40-90 minutes – I wake him up if he sleeps past 4.30pm. Between 4.30 and 5pm he has a few teaspoons of fruit/veg which he has now because he is shattered by 6pm and could not be interested at this time. He has his milk feed of 7-8oz at 6.30pm and then settles reasonably easily. We wake him at 10.30pm for a final feed of 4-7oz. Finn is five months old, 21lb and is fed SMA lactose-free milk. When he slept well at the appropriate times as advised in your book, he was very contented and we would love to have our happy baby back.

Finn’s day is all starting rather early which is a possible reason for him not settling to a longer sleep in the middle of the day. It is not easy to fit a second baby in with a toddler, especially with naptimes coinciding with school pick-ups. But with a little juggling, it should be possible for Finn to become more settled.
When he wakes at 5/5.30am, try to settle him with a smaller feed of 3-4oz and then give him another 4-5oz at 7/7.30am. Some babies are reluctant to go back to sleep at 5.30am. Treat this feed as any in the night, using the least light possible to feed him by and not changing him unless totally neccesary. Make sure his room is dark, and no light is coming in around the top of the curtains. Towels rolled up and pushed in any gaps are effective, as are blackout linings velcroed to the window frames. With mornings becoming lighter, early waking can become a problem.
Check he is well-tucked-in with a cotton sheet over a lightweight sleeping bag as his Moro reflex could still be strong enough to wake him in the early hours. Try to make 7/7.30am his daytime start, opening the curtains and getting him up to have a feed. Getting Finn washed and dressed by 8am should help him stay awake to nearer 9am. His first nap of the day needs to be no longer than 45 mins. As he had a top-up at 7.30am, he should be able to get to nearer 11am before his next feed. Now Finn is having solids, this feed will gradually move towards midday and become his lunch, so try to get him nearer to 11am before offering it to him. If you feel he is always hungry long before that, consider introducing cereal at breakfast. Look in The Complete Weaning Guide to see amounts.
The effect of having this feed later should be that he is ready for a longer nap, as hunger could well have been the cause of his waking and crying until 2pm. Trying to get Finn to sleep longer in the middle of the day is not easy if you have to collect his brother. As he settles in his pushchair, consider letting him stay in it once home. Put the pushchair into a quiet corner downstairs, possibly a room where you can shut the door but still be able to hear him. Some mothers find drapeing a blanket over the puschair helps their baby sleep longer at this time.
As Finn was fed at 11am he should be able to wait until 2.30pm for a feed.
Getting Finn to have a longer sleep in the middle of the day will help him enjoy the afternoon more and possibly only need a short catnap before 5pm. Sleeping for as long as 90 minutes at this time in the day is another reason why he is waking so early in the morning.
Try splitting his solids and milk at 5/6pm, this often works with babies who are tired but also waking early in the morning. Offer him about 4-5 ozs of milk at 5.30pm, followed by his baby rice and fruit puree. Wait until 6.30pm before bathing him and then give him another 4-5oz before settling him. As he gets older and less tired at 6pm, transfer all his soilds to 5pm and then offer him a full milk feed after his bath.
Once Finn is taking his feeds and solids at better spaced intervals it should help with his sleeping and nap times. Keep trying to work towards getting him onto the timings in the CLB routines as these are the keys to a more settled baby.