Suddenly started waking at 5.30am

[emwi]

8mo dd has been a brilliant sleeper from 7pm -6.30amish most nights. She's suddenly started waking around 5.30am. This morning I gave her a full b/f then and she dozed off in bed with me pretty quickly, waking again at 7.30. (Of course I didn't doze off at all!) I'm worried that feeding her at 5.30 will encourage her to keep waking at this time. At the moment I can't bear to leave her to cry or just give her water (since I'm hungry when I wake at this time I assume she is too). We've blacked out her room as much as possible and she sometimes has a dirty nappy but didn't this morning. Has anyone else managed to encourage a later waking time and how?

[mears]

I personally fed my babies when they woks early so that they would go back to sleep for a while. I put them back in the cot usually - if I was awake. I didn't find that it encouraged them to wake early all the time.

[runragged]

It's probably just a phase, perhaps a growth spurt. My ds has gone through lots of phases like this and I usually feed him for the few days but DON@T let him get up, see daylight etc, it has always passed until now, he is 21 months and wakes up EVERY morning at 5.30. Have to confess to leaving him until 7 as he just plays, only cries for a minute at a time and my god, after all it is 5.30, that's the middle of the night!!!

[emwi]

It could be a growth spurt - she is very hungry at the moment. Before I started weaning I expressed milk before I went to bed at 10pm then topped her up with this at her 6.30pm feed the following night which I think helped her sleep through. I'm contemplating trying this again. I think if she does this tomorrow morning I'll feed her then put her straight back in her cot as I don't think she'll object to the extra kip. I just object to being woken at 5.30! thanks for the answers.