Please help me with early waking...

[roslily]

my 1yo has started (again) to wake at anything from 5am. I know he isn't ready to get up, he needs to go back to bed an hour and half later, often for 2 hours +

Sometimes I can give him his dummy and he will settle for maybe 30mins, although sometimes he just cried every 15 mins, until I get him up.

Any ideas? He often drains his bottle straight away and I am sure he is hungry, but I have no idea how to get more food into him. When he is at home with me (I work PT) he has dinner at about 5pm, then bath etc and bed for 7pm. He can be hard to feed, some meal times eating hardly anythng and just chucking stuff on floor.

PLease help, I am beginning to go a bit mad

[Orissiah]

Is it teeth? My DD always woke early when her teeth were coming through.

[roslily]

Not sure. He is always dribbling and that never seems to go.

Ah, I will hope it is teeth. I know it won't last forever, but at the moment it feels like it.

[belindarose]

Hi roslily,
I'm often having the same problem (as well as other awful sleep problems!). I've found that it's worth doing everything possible to get DD back to sleep, even if that means sitting and rocking her for half an hour or so, as it means I might get the chance to get back to bed, albeit just for a short while. If I get her up, I've no chance! Saying that, this morning I fed and rocked her for an hour and she still wanted to be up - so I left her in her cot to play.
Also teeth, walking, talking, generally wanting to be up and about!

[roslily]

Thanks. If I give him milk, he will sometimes go back to sleep. But not sure I want to get into a 5am milk habit!

Watching him today cruise furniture at lightning speed and stand on his own I wonder if it is walking related.

Its alright on my days at home with him as I nap when he does, but on my work days it is a killer!

[Maranello]

When my dd started a spell of early waking, followed by a breakfast-time nap 1.5/2hrs later, I decided not to let her nap till she had been awake for about four hours. I read somewhere that this early nap becomes an extension of the night-time sleep, and so by keeping them awake for longer, it can help to break the pattern of early waking. It worked for dd pretty quickly.

[roslily]

Thanks, I will give it a go.