My 16 month old wakes at 5am every morning! How can I make him sleep longer?

[lottytheladybird]

At the moment, when my DS wakes at 5am, I bring him into my bed and give him a feed. I want to stop this soon, but I don't know what I can do to get him to sleep longer without breastfeeding him. When he wakes at 5am, he stands in his cot asking to be picked up. If I lie him back down, he starts crying and stands up again. If I keep putting him back down, he keeps crying. He shares a room with his elder brother, who's 3, so I'm reluctant to have him cry for long, as I don't want my 3 year old waking up.

We have blackout blinds, so it's pretty dark in their room. Also, when my DS wakes before 5am, I can usually just give him a pat of the back and he'll go back to sleep, but this doesn't work at 5am!

Do you have any advice on how I can encourage my 16 month old to go back to sleep when he wakes at 5am? Thank you!

I am afraid I have no advice. The majority of time my 17 month old appears to have a 5.30am alarm clock hidden somewhere in her cot! We had a few exceptions on holiday, but only after a very late night. The only positives I have found is that on the odd occasion she gets to 6.15am, this feels like a total luxury, and on holiday, we were out of the house, fully organised and ready to go, having all showered, dressed and having had breakfast before 9am every day, so had lovely long days.

dd started sleeping slightly longer when i weaned her from boob at 15m but tbh i would kill to still do the 5am feed in bed coz at least your still in bed!!!
dd now wakes about 5.30am and its all go go go from that time. no snuggly feeds in bed!!
she is now 17m and sometimes sleeps till 6am ish but i would still trade that in for a 5am feed in bed!!
as soon as dd is up now she wants to play out in the garden..... at 5 fucking 30 am!!
seriously tho most toddlers i know get up between 5-6am.
think its normal....but hard!!!

thermolobster - I felt like I had a lie on the two occasions slept till 6am!

feekerry - That's why I'm scared about weaning. DS just gets off the bed and starts running around after his feed, but like you say, at least you're still in bed if you're feeding! I don't know how I'd cope with being fully on the go from 5am everyday...