What time does your breastfed toddler wake in the morning?

[BonyM]

Just wondering, because our 18mth dd wakes any time between 5-6am most mornings and seems to be starving as she asks for milk straight away and then guzzles the lot and keeps looking for more even after she's had it all. Nine times out of ten she then goes back to sleep until about 7.30-8am.

We've tried giving her a high-carb snack before bed (wholemeal toast or cereal) but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Am planning to let her self-wean, but wondered if the early waking and breastfeeding were in any way connected.

[NotQuiteCockney]

My DS1 (nearly 2) wakes around 6:30 or 7. He hasn't had the habit of feeding, then going back to sleep, for ages.

I doubt the bf is the cause, tbh.

Options/ideas:

• do you have blackout? Is the sun waking her?
  
• maybe she's thirsty rather than hungry. DS1 sleeps with a sippy cup of water in his bed, to avoid this problem.
  
• what time does she go to sleep?

[BonyM]

We have blackout blinds and blackout linings in the curtains!

She goes to bed at 7.30pm and has a 2hr nap in the afternoon between 1-3pm.

I'll try leaving a cup of water in the cot, although none of the so-called "leakproof" ones that we've got seem to be particularly leakproof!

[NotQuiteCockney]

Hmm, that's a reasonable amount of sleep. Another (tricky) option for you to consider would be to keep her up if she wakes up, don't let her go straight back to sleep.

Oh, and I would try to get protein and/or fat into her before bed, more than high-carb.

[melpomene]

My dd2 is 17 months old. She wakes between 5 and 6am, comes into our bed and feeds continually until 7am! Usually I manage to go back to sleep with her still attached. I'm not too bothered because at least she sleeps for most of the night and it's a lot better than the situation we had a few months ago, when she was waking every hour some nights.

She does have a cup of water in her cot. It's a tommee tippee cup with a flip-up spout which is very good. We leave it closed and she can flip the spout up herself.

[BonyM]

Hmm, do you mean keep her up and not feed her?

Tbh, the only thing that makes the early mornings just about bearable is the fact that we can bring her into bed with us and rest while she feeds, and even occasionally go back to sleep ourselves...

[NotQuiteCockney]

Oh, no, feed her, but get up and start your day. It might help her stop waking so early, if she can't go back to sleep afterwards, iyswim.

[BonyM]

Ah, but what if she decides she's quite happy to get up at 5am???

I guess it's worth a try as a last resort though...

[NotQuiteCockney]

Well, she clearly needs more sleep than 7pm to 5am, right? So she'll have to start sleeping in.

[BonyM]

Y'know, it does make sense really, it's just the thought of having to start the day at 5am .

[NotQuiteCockney]

Yeah, that'll suck, but if you do it for a few days, and it gets her to get up at 7 instead, it's worth it, isn't it?

[FrannyandZooey]

I am not convinced that wanting to have lots of milk first thing in the morning is always a sign of hunger, actually. Ds is 3.6 and if allowed to would still wake up and have tons of milk in the morning. Since I have asked him to wait till later, he occasionally asks for a cup of milk, but never any food, and isn't desperate for his breakfast or anything. I think they just like it, more than need it.

I would keep on going with it if it works for you and gradually she will grow out of the needing to wake up thing. I would also worry that she would then start getting up at 5 permanently if not settled back to sleep (that's what ds would have done).

Sorry, no help at all. Breastfed babies do tend to wake up more, but you could wean her and she might still wake up. I would just keep muddling through and let time take care of it, myself.