how do I get my 10 month old to not want to start the day so early

[countessofmontecristo]

He regularly wakes between 5 and 6 a.m. which is slowly killing me!
We have tried putting him to bed later than his usual bedtime of between 6 and 7 at night and it makes absolutely no difference at all. We can let him cry for a while before going into him in the morning but we have 2 other children of school age who we don't want disturbing so early in the morning so we can't let it go on too long.
We did hope things would improve but its been like this for a few months now and I'm starting to think it will always be like this!
I know there are people who are having far worse sleep issues than me, so I feel a bit pathetic for moaning, but I am so shattered all the time. Can't get to catch up on sleep during the day because of work commitments and other children so just desperate for advice really.

Is he warm enough, temp has dropped loads in last month. Worth another blanket to keep him tostie.

I am sure there will be someone along with more advide.

i have the same problem with my little girl who is 6 months - she went through to 5am from about 12 weeks but then never went any later than that - have tried putting to bed earlier or leaving her in the morning as you have and nothing seems to work. she has a nap in the morning and then another sleep of about an hour in the day and is often exhausted by 5pm but I can't get her to sleep any longer or have another nap but she will go to sleep if i put her in her cot for the night.

She totally BF and have tried expressing and giving her a bottle at 10pm but she won't take it. I also at my wits end as exhausted. this morning she was awake from 4am - I didnt feed her till 6am and then of course she goes to sleep straight away.

Sorry that dosent help you any but just thought i'd sympathise - all my nct friends' babies have been going through till 7am for months now and i just feel like i'm a totally incompetent parent

Would love to hear others views on this too as I am going through exactly the same!
Waking between 5.30-6am EVERY morning.
I too have put bedtime forward to 7.30 but not a blind bit of difference. Mine is 17 mo old & has 2 hr sleep in the day. SURELY not time to reduce the nap?
Feel for you Countess, as I only have the one and can sometimes get a little nap in the day when i'm not working.
It just makes me SO grumpy though.

I'm sure you've considered this, but just in case - how long is he napping during the day, and when?
My sister had this exact problem and found that when she let her dd sleep two - two and half hours during the day, she would wake between 4 and 5am every morning. So she cut her day nap to max 1 1/2 hours and now she sleeps until 6.30am.
Her oldest dd was the same, and actually dropped her day nap before she was 2.

Sorry, that should be 7.30am, not 6.30am!

when you find out, please let me know. I have been trying to find the answer for 7 years.....

I also have the same problem! I thought i was the only one awake during this time!! My dd wakes between 4 and 5am every morning, and this is when we get up! We have no choice really because we co-sleep and my dh can't be disturbed because he has work etc. I would love to have a lie in till 7am!!! Have tried all manner of things to make her sleep later! Nothing works!

my solution to this with ds, 18 mo, was that when it was getting silly, ie waking before 5/5.30 I did incremental controlled crying. Just thought - NO WAY are we getting up before 5, to me that felt like I was losing control of my household, IYSWIM. it can be a bit silly because the first couple of days by the time they are back in cot and asleep it is time to get up! but it did work. (all caveats about day time sleep not being too little or too much applying first of course). Putting him to bed later made nil difference btw.

DS will sleep until 6am easily now, sometimes a bit earlier but usually wakes after 6. So my new rule is if he wakes before 6.30/ 7 depending on the day's routine, I get up, get his morning milk and bring him into bed with milk. I prop him up on a pillow, lie back down. keep room dark, don't talk to him particularly. he has milk and settles back down for up to another hour's sleep. this took some time ... first couple of weeks it was very erratic and I would have to ignore him flinging himself around the bed, wanting to be up and doing. if he was really bad I would put him on the bedroom floor with toys and leave him to play, opening an eye to him now and again (room is baby proofed of course). now he loves his morning cuddles and it is a lovely start to the day.

We tried 'Wake to sleep' in desperation on our 8 month old who was waking for the day at 4.15am and it seemed to work. The idea is you go in and rouse them a bit (not completely awake) an hour before they usually wake up, they then drift back off since they're not totally awake, and this in effect 'resets' their sleep cycle. You do this for 3 nights then fingers crossed. It worked a treat for us, DS immediately swapped to a 6 ish waking time which was heaven compared to 4.15! There may well be other stuff about wake to sleep on MN since I think it has come up on another thread fairly recently...good luck!

Oh Tommy, I was hoping my nearly 3 year old would eventually grow out of it!

I too have an older child now at school who needs 13 hours a night and so we have to keep no 2 quiet when he wakes.

It may not change. Some children clearly don't need the same amount of sleep as others. We have discovered that this is around the time he needs a huge wee, but unlikely to be bothering a baby as young as yours.

We don't let him get up or go downstairs and he is learning to come and have a cuddle and then go and play in his room. I'm not sure whther I have the energy to try the wake to sleep idea but I'm going to read more.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sorry for those of you going through the same thing, but it's good to know I'm not alone!
I'm intrigued by the 'wake to sleep' method and might give it a go. One more hour would do it. I'm not after miracles.

With regard to his nap times, he has about an hour in the morning and between 1 1/2 to 2 hours in afternoon. Do you think this is too long? He seems to need it atm.

I have the same problem with my 9 month old. He has slept from 7 - 7 since 9 weeks old and since the clocks went back he has been waking from 5.30, I can give him a bottle but he doesn't want to go back to sleep, he lies there mumbling mama and although i can block it out for a while. I have to get up in the end around 6.30. He goes to nursery unti labout 5pm and then I struggle to keep him up past 5.30/6pm - he does sleep during the day, has 2 naps of about 45 mins each so I don't think he's getting too much sleep but I want to try and encourage him that when its dark - its not waking up time. He's gone from a very quiet little boy to one I don't like too much in the mornings. I know I've had it good since he's slept from 7pm and never wakes up during night but I'd like to encourgae him to get back to that routine. I have tried keeping him up a little longer but it really didn't do much good. I myslef might try and wake to sleep method too and give that a go!

They have no idea about clocks, but if you give them cues they will act on them. I had an early riser. I am not one. I used to feed some milk, change his nappy, and put him very firmly back in his cot. DARK ROOM. Say night night. Return at 7.00, minimum 6.45 whatever, shouting talking crying happened in between. 10 month baby (very adapatable age) eventually got message. However, kind husband was not so firm with early risers, and struggled out of bed. Developed charming breakfast routine with early rising DS2 6.30 am on this basis, lovely time playing with trains chatting etc. Not my idea of fun. But DH is a lark. But no lark unless farming stock gets up at 5.00. The worst mistake you can make with an toddler early riser is to put CBeebies on or DVD so that you can go back to bed. Quite soon, they will wake up JUST to watch CBeebies. And you can never quite sleep thinking of them sitting them in front of the box, and hearing in the distance that terrible cheerful music.

Have you tried changing baby's meals around? giving a heavy meal at night and lighter one at lunch. This worked a treat for us...