12mo 5am mornings - any tips?

[goldenbird]

DD is not sleeping through yet (waking a couple of times, but much better than she used to be) but it's the 5am mornings that are doing our heads in! We used to get another hour or so of sleep from her by bringing her into our bed, but that's not working now. She's just raring to go.

She is BFing just at bedtime and for the night wakings.

She still has 2 short naps in the daytime. Should we try and drop the first one, do you think? In which case, any tips on how to do this? She is pretty knackered by 9am thanks to the early starts.

DS was the same, btw. Feel like I should know what to do this time round, but sleep deprivation = no memory or judgement!

Don't know if there's a correct answer, but when our DS did this we gradually moved his first nap earlier and it eventually became just another night wake-up around 5am then resettled with a bit more milk :)

DD2 was like this, & I hate to say it but 2 years on 5.30am is still her normal wake up time.

I found copious quantities of CBeebies while I drowsed to be the only way of coping, but I'm aware that I won't win 'Parent of the Year' with that technique!

I wouldn't drop any if her naps in the day tbh. I've found it complete false economy waking a baby. Brings nothing but stress.

Our ds was a 5-5.30 waker from 4 months to about 17 mo old. He's just an early riser. Though its 6.30 ish these days.

No real words of wisdom I'm afraid. Cbeebies, coffee, early breakfasts, quite play were what we did. Maybe get a nap yourself when he has his morning nap?

Our DD was the same, DH couldn't accept it and we tried lots of different things none of which worked. Eventually she slept til 6, then 6.30 at 19 months she has just started sleeping til 7.30 (and even 8 yesterday).
It's tough but you just have to stick it out x

thanks - like the idea of moving the early nap earlier gradually. I think I knew that basically i have to stick it out

My DD, 15 months wakes early in the mornings because she is hungry. Sometimes I give her a bottle and she goes back to sleep or I take her to bed with me and she sleeps for one- two more hours.

my ds is doing the same at the moment, I've found if I settle him about 4am with some milk I can sometimes get him to stay in bed till 6-630.

this does however depend a lot on how he is feeling, if the moon is in a certain place in the sky and if we prayed to the fairy queen of sleep cycles the night before....

I wouldn't drop the morning nap but move it back (gradually if need be) to about 9.30 and limit it to 40mins max. It will be painful the first few days but should help. Early waking can really be affected by the morning nap.
Also give a high carb snack before bedtime eg. Toast.