5am wake up - I am knackered!

[SecrectFarleysNibbler]

I am single mum at age 40. Dd is 7 mths old and is crawling and standing up, crusing round the furniture. She had decided that getting up time is around 5am - still on maternity and DO NOT need to be up early! I need her to go on a bit longer - please can you give some ideas?

I put her to bed around 6.30/7.00pm with an 8oz bottle. I then give her a dream feed of the same at about 11pm - she used to wake at 2am but since giving the dream feed she has dropped this. She was then going thought o 4.30 when I would give her a smaller feed and she would go back to sleep until 6.30. She is now dropping all this and waking at 5.30 ready to go! She is standing up at the cot and wanting full attention - I put toys in the cot but not interested - wants out and winges util I give in and then I have to entertain her until we eventually get up. What can I do to get her through to 7 ish

Hopefully you will get some good advice but just want you to know that you are not alone. My little girl is nearly 7 months and goes to bed between 7 and 8pm. She used to sleep until 6.30/7 but has recently started waking between 5/5.30 and will not settle back off with dummy/nappy change and if I leave her she will start crying as she is ready to get up.
The annoying thing is that she has a bottle which i put off until about 6 so her feeds work out at good times for the rest of the day and by half 6 she is tired again and will go to sleep for another hour/hour and a half. I suppose in another way at least I can have a nap then but that usually makes me feel even more tired when I have to wake up again.

Babies...who'd av em?!

Only advice I can give is 'go to bed early' :) I've never managed to get my early-bird to sleep in past 6.30 - 7.00 and he's now 12yo. On the plus side, I get a lot done in the mornings and he's never been the one late for school.

Only suggestion I can offer is dropping the dream feed? We went through this with DS and found that although it meant getting up in the night to give him a feed, we got an extra 2 hours sleep because of it!

My 7 month old DD is the same - 5am and it's time to get up and have fun. The only plus point is I get all my housework done before 9am and then snooze through her morning nap between 9 and 10:30am.

I'm going to try blackout blinds on the windows to see if I can trick her into thinking it's still night-time, as she seems to be getting up at sunrise.

Hope you get something that works - both my two (3 yo DD and 18m DS) get up at 5-5.30. 5.45 feels like a lie-in. I just go to bed at 9 every night.

I have an early bird and I'm sorry to say that he hasn't yet grown out of it at 2.4. He just likes mornings

On the plus side, we have a lovely time in the mornings together before moseying off to work rather than rushing, and he still has a nap when I can sleep recharge my batteries and get stuff done.

Went to bed at 6.30pm with Dd last night!! Was just knackered and think I am coming down with something. Didn't dream feed at 11 just when she woke up for a feed at 10.30. Did another feed at 2.30 and then she woke at 5.30 - I nearly cried!!! But I whipped up another feed quickly and deployed and she went back off until 8am!! Feel much better in terms of having got a really good sleep but have a temperature and headache:( ah well! How long can this all let??? Only till she's 18 lol !

Try The Wake To Sleep Method it really works! I had 19 months of this kind of thing ~ waking up at 3am. I found a thread that changed it all...I'll search for it for you.

FOUND IT!!

I am Solo. It so works!! :) and I thank Tutter and that thread several years on!!

Sympathies! I've got a nearly 8mo DD who is now waking at 5:30 and wants to start the day! I was bfing during the night but stopped that a few weeks ago as I know she can go through the night without a feed now she's well onto solids. If she wakes she usually gets herself back to sleep or sometimes I just ssh and touch her hand and she settles. But at 5:30 none of this works! She's in bed at 7pm so I guess it's a lot of sleep for her...10 hours! But like other pp's I get loads done by 9am and can put my feet up with a HOT cuppa!!!

Solo - just reading it now......

Ooooo 4:30 is painful!! Definitely need to try the wake to sleep on that DC!!