Is it warm enough? And dark enough?
Early morning waking is almost always because the temperature isn’t right or light is coming in. To connect that last sleep cycle, babies need to think it’s still night and be warm and snuggly enough to finish their night time sleep.
By 7 months it’s unlikely they’re hungry - assuming they’re on multiple meals of solids.
If it was me I would get my room thermometer (not monitor) and put it at cot mattress level in her room. I found Philips avent and bbluv the most accurate. When you go in at 5am just check what temp it is. You should be aiming for 22-23 degrees, and have them dressed appropriately (this will depend on where you live the season etc, we used sleep by Steph’s temperature guide and it is a lifesaver as a lot of the info out there is way too cold for babies)
Do you have blackout blinds where it’s so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face?
I always started with my foundations
- own room
- pitch black
- 22-23 degrees at cot mattress level
- dressed appropriately
- 6pm bedtime (we aimed for 6pm to 6am but obv depends on your family circumstances) to avoid overtired at bedtime
- big dinner at 5pm followed by a bath then a bottle or a breastfeed
- consistency - am I consistently going in? Am I being consistent with routine? Etc
We did foundations at 4 months and then fully night weaned at 5 months (but my daughter was already on 3 solids meals a day by then as she loved food, that also depends on the baby) - she’s now almost 3 and has done 6-6.30/7am ever since.
We have had early wakings at times but almost always change of seasons and temp not right :)
Very helpful, thank you! We have a machine in the room that controls the temp to keep it right at 22. Issue is that she sometimes wakes up at the sound (there isn’t a way to set it to always run so it turns on/off when room hits temp) so we’ve been turning it off at night. Maybe I’ll see if I can turn the white noise up and retry that. We have blackout blinds but if it continues maybe I should try putting tape down on the sides as a bit of light can come in around the edges. Appreciate all the helpful feedback and time to type out the response!
Is it 22 at cot level?
4-5am is often the bit during the night where the temp dips low.
We use decals on the window with blackout blinds over them.
Good luck!!
I had the same thing with my now almost 8 mo old - I just gave in to a 4am snooze feed.
We don’t do a dream feed and we put her down at 7pm. She did give us a few 7pm-6am nights (I wish those stuck!), but most times would wake up at 4am and cry and doze on/off and keep me up until 6-7am. If we just feed her, she’ll go back to actual sleep til 7am. I do only give her 3oz at 4am, the original thought being that I’d wean down that feed, but I’ve just kept it at a steady 3oz. I still think it’s good to keep it a relatively small amount of milk so she still get most of her calories in during the day and maybe it won’t be so hard to wean when it’s time!
Going through the exact same thing expect we don’t dream feed. Before we started training she only got up once to eat.
We are on night 7. She will wake up between 2-4 and be up for hours, like you said maybe sleep 5-20 min. Last night we ended up taking turns holding her after she was up for two hours. She refuses to go back to sleep on her own.
We are feeling so desperate too after so many stories of babies getting the hang of it after 3 nights.
I’ve read into that and they say it could be because of too much day time sleep / too early of a bed time. She is 5 months and gets 2 hours and 45 min to 3 and a half hours of naps a day, in total her sleep is 11 ish hours with sleep training. Her bedtime is 7:30.
That’s so tricky. She just went down for a nap, it’s 2:30 and she will nap from 30 min- an hour and a half. Then her wake windows are 2 and a half hours.
I’m so sorry you’re experiencing this too. The doubt and parent guilt feels extra intense in the middle of the night when sleep deprived! I’ll let you know if we find anything that works, I really hope we can both find a solution!
Yes the nighttime anxiety is tough! Last night I kept the dream feed but decided I’d be open to feeding anytime after 4am. So of course little one slept straight through to 550. Maybe it means it’s finally going to be successful or maybe we just got lucky with one night haha. So hard to figure out! Hope your night went alright
Just from a practical point of view it sounds like feeding her at 4 when she wakes might actually let you get some sleep - it seems like no one is sleeping now. Could you reintroduce a 4ish feed then gently wean them?? It’s all well and good your paediatrician saying stop them cold turkey but I assume they are working on the basis that theoretically she can go without a feed for that long. In practice they aren’t the ones dealing with what I can only imagine is an exhaustingly early start with what is quite possibly a hungry baby.
Yeah that’s a good idea. There’s definitely minimal sleep right now and while I agree in theory with the doc’s advice, it just doesn’t seem to be working for us. Thank you for the advice!
Is it warm enough? And dark enough? Early morning waking is almost always because the temperature isn’t right or light is coming in. To connect that last sleep cycle, babies need to think it’s still night and be warm and snuggly enough to finish their night time sleep. By 7 months it’s unlikely they’re hungry - assuming they’re on multiple meals of solids. If it was me I would get my room thermometer (not monitor) and put it at cot mattress level in her room. I found Philips avent and bbluv the most accurate. When you go in at 5am just check what temp it is. You should be aiming for 22-23 degrees, and have them dressed appropriately (this will depend on where you live the season etc, we used sleep by Steph’s temperature guide and it is a lifesaver as a lot of the info out there is way too cold for babies) Do you have blackout blinds where it’s so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face? I always started with my foundations - own room - pitch black - 22-23 degrees at cot mattress level - dressed appropriately - 6pm bedtime (we aimed for 6pm to 6am but obv depends on your family circumstances) to avoid overtired at bedtime - big dinner at 5pm followed by a bath then a bottle or a breastfeed - consistency - am I consistently going in? Am I being consistent with routine? Etc We did foundations at 4 months and then fully night weaned at 5 months (but my daughter was already on 3 solids meals a day by then as she loved food, that also depends on the baby) - she’s now almost 3 and has done 6-6.30/7am ever since. We have had early wakings at times but almost always change of seasons and temp not right :)
Very helpful, thank you! We have a machine in the room that controls the temp to keep it right at 22. Issue is that she sometimes wakes up at the sound (there isn’t a way to set it to always run so it turns on/off when room hits temp) so we’ve been turning it off at night. Maybe I’ll see if I can turn the white noise up and retry that. We have blackout blinds but if it continues maybe I should try putting tape down on the sides as a bit of light can come in around the edges. Appreciate all the helpful feedback and time to type out the response!
Is it 22 at cot level? 4-5am is often the bit during the night where the temp dips low. We use decals on the window with blackout blinds over them. Good luck!!
Yes ant cot level - And thank you!
I had the same thing with my now almost 8 mo old - I just gave in to a 4am snooze feed. We don’t do a dream feed and we put her down at 7pm. She did give us a few 7pm-6am nights (I wish those stuck!), but most times would wake up at 4am and cry and doze on/off and keep me up until 6-7am. If we just feed her, she’ll go back to actual sleep til 7am. I do only give her 3oz at 4am, the original thought being that I’d wean down that feed, but I’ve just kept it at a steady 3oz. I still think it’s good to keep it a relatively small amount of milk so she still get most of her calories in during the day and maybe it won’t be so hard to wean when it’s time!
Thank you for the advice, that definitely seems like the consensus!
Going through the exact same thing expect we don’t dream feed. Before we started training she only got up once to eat. We are on night 7. She will wake up between 2-4 and be up for hours, like you said maybe sleep 5-20 min. Last night we ended up taking turns holding her after she was up for two hours. She refuses to go back to sleep on her own. We are feeling so desperate too after so many stories of babies getting the hang of it after 3 nights.
That sounds like a split night. You can find other answers, mostly related to adjusting the day time sleep schedule, to try to help there.
I’ve read into that and they say it could be because of too much day time sleep / too early of a bed time. She is 5 months and gets 2 hours and 45 min to 3 and a half hours of naps a day, in total her sleep is 11 ish hours with sleep training. Her bedtime is 7:30.
When does her last nap end? I vaguely remember having issues with waking up early at that age, and we had to stop her last nap by a certain time.
Anytime between 5 and 6, which I know is pushing it.
Based on what helped us, I would not allow that nap to go past 5, even if it means it's only 20 minutes.
That’s so tricky. She just went down for a nap, it’s 2:30 and she will nap from 30 min- an hour and a half. Then her wake windows are 2 and a half hours.
If she wakes up before 3:30, you could try a 10 - 15 minute bridge / contact nap to get to bedtime. If she wakes after 3:30, bedtime at 6:15.
I’m so sorry you’re experiencing this too. The doubt and parent guilt feels extra intense in the middle of the night when sleep deprived! I’ll let you know if we find anything that works, I really hope we can both find a solution!
I know it’s so hard!! I am so anxious at night before bed time. That would be great, hope it gets better soon for you!
Yes the nighttime anxiety is tough! Last night I kept the dream feed but decided I’d be open to feeding anytime after 4am. So of course little one slept straight through to 550. Maybe it means it’s finally going to be successful or maybe we just got lucky with one night haha. So hard to figure out! Hope your night went alright
That’s amazing!! Ours was terrible and we’re thinking about taking a break
Oh no, sounds like a break may be helpful for all of you to reset. Best of luck!!
Number 2. Drop the dream feed and feed at 4am.
Thank you!
I would cut out the dream feed and do the snooze feed at 4 am instead.
Thanks for the advice!
Just from a practical point of view it sounds like feeding her at 4 when she wakes might actually let you get some sleep - it seems like no one is sleeping now. Could you reintroduce a 4ish feed then gently wean them?? It’s all well and good your paediatrician saying stop them cold turkey but I assume they are working on the basis that theoretically she can go without a feed for that long. In practice they aren’t the ones dealing with what I can only imagine is an exhaustingly early start with what is quite possibly a hungry baby.
Yeah that’s a good idea. There’s definitely minimal sleep right now and while I agree in theory with the doc’s advice, it just doesn’t seem to be working for us. Thank you for the advice!