Or is 4am a ridiculous time to get up?

Hi Op, I was in the exact same situation a month ago. It was hell! My dd would only do a 30 min nap in the afternoon too.
My sister kept telling me that better naps = better night's sleep. I decided to lie down with her for her afternoon nap so that I could maybe get her into a second sleep cycle after the initial 30 mins by cuddling up to her when she stirred. It worked a treat and now I can stretch afternoon nap to 2hrs if I'm willing to lie with her the whole time. It also sorted out my sleep deprivation! She now sleeps 'til 6am every morning, thank God.

My little one had split nights at this age. She had learned to sit up by herself and was pulling to stand so all the learning new things just made her brain more alert so instead of waking to feed and go back to sleep she would wake feed and play for 4 hours then go back to sleep. It was a very tiring time. Fortunately I only have 1 so I went back to sleep with her.
hopefully it passes soon!

I've only read 2 pages. Agree you can drive yourself insane trying all different things and ruin your days trying to get non-nappers to nap longer. My only crazy suggestion is what would happen if you woke her for a dream feed at, say, 3.15 or 3 30? I wonder would she settle back down for another hour or so after? I know you say she's not hungry but something in her body clock ie telling her it's morning.
You may have tried that already. Or you may not want to try, in case it makes things even worse. Otherwise all I can offer is my sympathy and yes, it will eventually pass.... although my non sleeper still often goes to sleep later and wakes earlier than me.

I’ve got one of these. I thought my older kids were poor sleepers but they have NOTHING on this girl. I assume she was solar powered if we ever saw the sun!

Only hope I can give you is that two years in we seen to be started to improve somewhat. Our problem changed at around 16 months from early wakings to getting up looking for milk (and throwing a temper tantrum if she didn’t get it) every 40 minutes and then not wanting to get up for the day when we needed to. We’re now heading towards earlier wake ups again but less frequent night wakings so I’m hopeful the two might balance somewhere useful 😂

This sounds exactly like my DD. Moving bedtime earlier did eventually help. Perhaps worth trying consistently for a few days to see what happens.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but if she's awake at 4am, what time is she napping in the morning? My twins would wake at 5am but be so miserable by mid morning - I used to put them.back to.bed at about 9.30 and they'd sleep till around 1pm Then it didn't matter if they slept in the afternoon as they'd banked a load in the morning. They were then so tired that they more or less slept through from 7 to 5 and start again.

Again, no advice but completely feel your pain. My now 6 year old has only just started sleeping until 05:30am. After a few years you get used to it but you are not being unreasonable at all - it's so hard! He's also incredibly bright so like others have said, in time this hardship could pay dividends!

Also, getting up with my 3 month old is now a walk in the park due to what I've been though. I'll spare you a thought at 4am tomorrow morning and give you a virtual hug 💗

P.S in my opinion I wouldn't bother even contemplating what might work and what won't. You're not doing a thing wrong, you're smashing it! It's just super hard and I get that. Some sleep late, some sleep early, some don't like sleep at all. It's nothing to do with you so please don't beat yourself up!

Don’t put a light on
Don’t play with toys or games
Soothe but don’t chat
ie make waking up up as boring as possible
we read this in a baby book years ago and stuck to it - we could change nappy/feed etc in a very dim light (easier than it sounds - honest)
Both slept like rip van winkle from early days - but that was from birth so hope it’s not too late for you and your little one - good luck.

DD2 did 2am wakings - and didn't even sleep through to that point. She would only have 40 minutes nap during the day too.

I tried pretty much everything. And dd1, who I had exactly the same bedtime routine for, slept consistently 12 hours at night, 3 hours in the afternoon from 6 weeks.

The doctor gave me medised, which is a wonderful concoction that isn't licenced for children now, because I'd reached the point of not being able to function. 20 months of no more than 2 hours sleep at a time does that.
She slept the next two days for 12 hours. I stopped giving it to her then (dr said no more than 3 days running) and she still slept 10 hours through, and stayed mostly sleeping through. It just needed something to kick her into sleeping.

She's now 20, home from uni and it would be nice if occasionally she got up in the morning. 🤣

My now 41 year old 'baby' did this. I was also told that it was because she was bright and intelligent. Which I thought was just a fob off. Turned out to be true! Same thing happened with my nearly 18 year old GD.

No advice, but feel your pain! This too shall pass! 🤗

One of mine was like this. My favourite time was between the ages of 2 and 3 when we had a 4.30 wake up time. I was pregnant with dc2 during all of that.

Still an early riser but will be 17 in a few months so takes care of themselves these days!

Try putting to bed later, capping last nap

I used to force mine into naps. Took few days and he was napping on his own. Sleep improved too.
id cuddle him and rock him in the dark, whispering stories , songs, what not till he dozed off. Was miserable and hard but paid off

My first did the exact same thing, he was luckily sleeping through the night by 12 months but 4:30/5am awake every morning! He slowly slept in longer and longer and now at 20 months he sleeps until sometime between 6/7am most mornings.

I think it’s probably just part of their development and sleep patterns changing. I’m sure a HV told me there is a big regression around 7 months that most people don’t know about and it’s similar to the 4 month one.

I know it’s tough at the time but honestly it will pass at some point. My second is nearing 4 months so bracing for the regression, but feels easier this time round experiencing that it really doesn’t go on for as long as it feels like.

Hang on in there and get as much sleep and rest when you can! Good luck!

Could be overtired? Mine was an early waker and resisted going to sleep. I ended up reading the baby whisperer and had to put quite a strict sleep routine in place. He would only sleep at home in a dark room. Remember this too shall pass

Mine were both like this, just as I got the eldest to sleep longer I had my youngest......they were trying years to say the least.
I remember one Saturday after working all week being in a town a 45 minute drive away at 8.30am waiting for the shops to open as we'd been up since the crack of a sparrows fart!!
The most galling thing is, now mine are teenagers sleeping until 10am at weekends we can't 'sleep in' past 5.30am anymore, I think our bodies got so used to the early starts sleep just doesn't happen anymore.

It’s counter intuitive but sleep brings sleep. It’s not ok to be up 1:30 to bedtime at that age. She’s overtired and that’s why she doesn’t sleep properly and wakes earlier. Give her a nap in the afternoon

Mine would wake up to breastfeed every 75 min through the night and would be ready to start the day at 4 am as well. I sleep trained with the aid of a sleep therapist when baby was 8 months and within days she started sleeping through 10 hours per night and having a total of 3 hours of nap during the day.

Yep mine was same. Only slept for about 2 hours at a time and wide awake at 4am. Stupidly I said I would do it all - night feeds, changes etc. And do a full days work after dropping him at childminders. He never slept through til about aged 4. Even now, many many years later, I am awake at 4 am

I couldn't start the day at 4am. The odd times that DD wakes at 5.50am is a killer. If you don't want to be waking up at the crack of dawn then I'd recommend getting a sleep consultant!