Nine month baby five am wakes

[nadine6301]

Hi all I'm new on here so hello! I'm a ftm and looking for some advice from all you experienced mummy's please.
So I know about the sleep regression at about this time and get this hopefully is just a short phase but I'm getting a little desperate!
My little girl has recently turned nine months and can only say she's never been routined despite me trying hard! She wakes at different times, naps for different lengths etc.
She's recently been on two naps but I think she has struggled with this and got overtired so I've reintroduced a third nap by capping the first to allow time in day for third later in the day. I thought this would help but she still fights bedtime and wakes at 5am.
On a side line her bedtime is anywhere between 6 and 7 pm depending on how her naps have gone during the day.
I'm getting so stressed going back and forth day by day, I generally end up in tears most days. I just feel like I'm getting something badly wrong and it's my fault she's tired. Although generally she is a very happy smiley baby.
I keep reading about pushing first nap back but I can't figure how you do this when if she's awake at 5 and her awake window is 2 hr 45 max. This is why I put third nap back so to get her through the day..
Thinking I should just bite bullet and put her down every day at same times and hope she gets used to it and nap..or am I asking for more trouble..
Apologies for long saga but hoping someone can give some much needed advice.. thank you !

[nadine6301]

Bump

[Namechange6005]

My dc1 always woke at 5am. Dc2 and dc3 think 5am is still the middle of the night. If the body clock says 5am wake up there's little you can do to change it.
For the sake of routine at 9 months id put them down for a nap awake.

[nadine6301]

Oh I was dreading someone saying that but her usual wake up is normally 6 to 6 30am so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed she can get back there and guess I'll need to ride this out
Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[ifoundafoxcaughtbydogs]

You're doing nothing wrong, it doesn't sound that unusual at that age.

My only advice is try not get stressed or worried about. Tired is bad, tired plus stressed is much worse.

Mine was similar but once started walking slept longer.

[userabcname]

I have a 9mo. They do this! Babies love 5am. My first was even worse - up multiple times a night, sometimes for hours, and still up for the day at 5am! All I can advise is to relax. As long as you're getting in some nap times and your baby is generally happy and healthy then don't stress. Try to get early nights yourself. It will pass! My first is now 3yo and still asleep so they do grow out of it.

[Fortyfifty]

You have my sympathy. My dd1 did that at the same age. We remember the holiday to France where either DH or me would have to get up at 5am even though we'd gone to bed at midnight starting up with extended family. She's nap again 2 hours later, so we'd take advantage of that and go back to bed ourselves. But nothing we tried changed that 5am wake up at that age.

[ThickFast]

Just go with it for a bit. My 2.5 year old still sometimes does that. Sorry to say! And my nearly 5 year old. Not all the time tho thankfully. We have a loose routine but I never was one for pushing a strict one on them as it just stressed me out more. It’ll change as the mornings get darker.

[Shelley54]

If you're putting baby down for the night at 6, they're doing really well sleeping til 5.

And while 6/6.30 may have been their usual wake up time, this changes all the time. And now usual wake up time is 5! It will change again I promise.

[nadine6301]

Thank you all for your input and advice! It's reassuring to know that it's common and not down to my ftm inexperience. It took a very long time for little one to make an appearance for which I feel truly blessed but oh my what an eye opener it has been, I never anticipated how hard this is...
Thanks again x

[cautionhot]

If she wakes at 5 and won't go back down, then you give her a ten minute power nap at the time she should be waking (a 12 hour night). Then you put her down at her regular nap time. So say 7am power nap, 9:45am 30 min nap, 1pm 2 hr nap.

[nadine6301]

Oh that's a great idea, I've never considered giving her a power nap at the start of the day. Thanks for the suggestion!

[TellMeDinosaurFacts]

It might not work, but you could also think about putting her to bed slightly later. Neither of mine ever slept 12 hours- more like 10-11 (and then up to 2 hours of naps). I know that sometimes people have the opposite and find that later bedtimes make things worse though.

[HopelessSemantics]

Mine also wakes at 5 and always has. It's not fun but I don't stress about it really. I put him back to bed an hour later and go back to sleep myself.

[nadine6301]

TellMeDinosaurFacts. Same here, little one is 10 hr a night sleeper and as you suggested have tried going to bed later but still wakes early just with less sleep 🤷
Hopefully as pp have said it'll change as she gets older it's just frustrating being stuck in the early up and early to bed cycle. Ideally would like 7 to 7, I'll keep dreaming