7mo 5am wakings - any tips?

[Dragonball]

My dd1 is going to be 8m at the end of this month. We've already got her in our bed from the middle of the night as we were spending hours trying to get her back in her cot after she was waking up anywhere between 12 and 3...but gave up (her cot is still in our room - mainly because she'll be sharing with her 4yo brother, and she also isn't hungry at night anymore) but for the last month she has been waking up every morning between 5 and 5.30... My dh and i are taking it in turns, but its still exhausting and she wakes my son up too (who also ends up in our bed in the early hours of the morning) who turns into a monster on no sleep...she isn't hungry, just wide awake and playful. Her next nap isn't then until 8ish so she stays awake for her usual 3 hours... The room is quite dark and I've tried feeding her straightaway to see if that sends her back to sleep, but it doesn't.. Does anyone have any advice... It would really be much appreciated..
Thanks!

[mummy2benji]

Blackout blind - I got one with suction pads from Amazon which doesn't even need you to put up a rail. Sorry no other pearls of wisdom apart from encourage her with solids to fill her up and perhaps help with sleep. And lots of coffee needed for you and dh!

[CreatureRetorts]

Quite dark? It has to be pitch black!! The birds and light will wake her up.

[minipie]

we had this. we put up a blackout blind but it didn't work immediately for us, I think because DD was overtired from all the 5am wake ups and a week of crap naps. so she was still pinging awake at 5 when she came into a light sleep even though the light was now gone. we then sorted the overtiredness (lots of pram pushing to make sure she had lots of day sleep) and she now sleeps till 6.

[Choccywoccydodah]

We've got magic blackout stuff on ds windows, the tin foil around the edges too, it's totally pitch dark to a point he woke the other night, and wouldn't settle until I out the nightlight on and he could see me, then straight off!

Can you just ignore her? She's used to you going when she cries, perhaps try to get her out of the habit?

[Choccywoccydodah]

I know I went in to my ds btw, but he's 21 months in a bed

[Dragonball]

Thanks for replies, my black outs let in a bit of light so will try to fix that. I can't really ignore her cos she's on bed with me, pulling my hair and putting her big chubby face right up to mine until I wake up...

[Choccywoccydodah]

Can you ignore her before you bring her in with you, while she's still in her cot?

[CreatureRetorts]

I have two blackout layers - a blind that velcros and a pair of black out curtains over the top!

[fififrog]

Try try try not to let her nap too early... Aim for 9am. Helped us with a dodgy phase at 7 months (we have had many dodgy phases, with different cures, but thankfully now get to sleep til 6am - she's 2.2 btw). I found early morning = early naps = early bed = vicious cycle... Good luck, it's grim, but at least marginally less awful in the summer!

[SJisontheway]

What time does she go to bed. At this age dd slept 10 / 11 hrs max - they don't all manage 12 - 13 so I put her to bed at 8. People say putting bed time back doesn't work, but that is not my experience, once the chane is made gradually.

[Dragonball]

Thanks for replies... I've done the exact opposite and made a real effort to get her down for her first nap by 7.30 - and got her in bed by 6.30 tonight (usual bedtime is 7.30...) on the theory that she is overtired! Will see if it makes a difference.. If not will go the other way and prolong everything...thanks again, can't believe I'm thinking 6am is a lie-in...

[littleginger]

Good luck! Ive read good things about 'wake to sleep' but not sure it would be effective if she is in bed with you. Love your description of her putting her big chubby face in yours. It put a big on mine!

[CreatureRetorts]

The risk with pushing the nap later is that if it's the light waking her up (likely) then she just gets more overtired. I'd sort the blackout blinds first give it a few days and then look at naps.