One year old wakes up at 5am everyday...

[startswithanL]

And it's killing us all slowly...

She's clearly still exhausted as well as when we take her downstairs she can barely keep her eyes open but won't go down for a nap until 9am for an hour or so but that's her only nap all day.

She sleeps all night from around 6:30 we've tried putting her to bed later we've tried blacking out her room window but she still wakes up at 5am every single morning.

I wouldn't mind but she's such a mess for the rest of the day and I end up feeling awful as well because of it and have another DD here who needs homeschooling

Has anyone got any tips...

Many thanks in advance

I'm sure you've tried everything, but maybe she is hungry/thirsty. What if you bring milk to her bed and keep her up in her room at 5 am?

I have no solutions but just want to say that I feel your pain! DS2 will be 2 next month and his standard wake time is 5.30am and it's been this way since before Christmas.

I've also tried all the usual things - making bedtime earlier, making bedtime later, using black out blind, ignoring him (!) but nothing helps. And when he wakes up, he is immediately awake. He climbs out of his bed, bangs around and makes it very clear that he is ready for the day.

The problem is that DS1 (4) sleeps until about 7am, so I then have to spend an hour and half trying to keep DS1 quiet downstairs so he doesn't wake him. This means I'm usually in the garden by 6am or driving aimlessly around our estate with Wheels on the Bus blaring out my stereo.

And the very worst part is that DS2 won't accept Daddy getting up with him. It has to be me, otherwise he stands at the bottom of the stairs screaming my name. So DH gets to sleep until 7ish each morning and wonders why I'm pissed off every morning and fall asleep on the sofa by 9pm each evening.

Get a gro clock and gradually set it later and later? TBH I used to bring mine into bed with me at 4.30/5 when she woke and she'd have a feed and snuggle down for another couple of hours.

Try giving them water / milk and putting them back down again. If it doesn’t work at first keep trying. It may be that once they know that it’s not play time / they don’t go back downstairs it will reset their wakeup time

Not just babies. My 19 year old cat gets me up for breakfast everyday at 5am and I cant go back to sleep when I've been woken. Can't shut her out of my room or she'll wail loudly for hours and I can't let her get upset as she's had a small stroke. Ff's kids and pets!!!

My second was like this and unfortunately number 3 as well. We never found a solution! He grew out of it around 20 months old. Still wakes early but nearer 6 now.

Number 3 makes so much noise at 5am that we can't just leave her! We give her toys in her cot for awhile, then in our bed before taking her downstairs.

Is she still napping twice? May be time to transition to one longer lunchtime nap.

If it's not that, Google wake to sleep. It feels risky but it worked with DD.

Too much sleep during the day is likely to be the cause

12 hours sleep about average I would say. Give milky drink before you put to bed about 7 ish. What I used to do was bath, story whilst having drink then bed at 7.30 pm. Both used to wake about 6.30 am regularly which continued even to school age and was right time to get them up breakfast dressed for school without rushing around. Some children are early birds ( I have been all my life) some are not.

It's a phase... We had this too. Only gave milk not breakfast at that time so not to confuse body clock. Gradually got later and later. Hang in there

My 13mo is the same in that he never sleeps past 5:45am absolute latest. Sometimes i can bring him to my bed and he goes back to sleep for maybe an hour but usually not. Im lucky though thay he does still have 2 naps a day. Bedtime changes make no difference whatsoever last night i taked the edges of his black out blind to the wall and he was still up at 0530. Im so tired 😱

I thought that was just the normal thing for toddlers and young children? All of mine and my friends children are up around 4.30 - 6 and it's something you just have to get on with rather than fix. It is exhausting but it's a part of young children.

Will she settle if you bring her into your bed?

I remember your pain well. I did everything, EVERYTHING, for my son. Black out blinds, white noise, bed earlier, bed later, food, gro clock, no gro clock, neighbour slamming door?, exercise etc etc etc etc etc. He was just an early riser. The 4.30am waking slowly over the years became 5am, which again slowly.became 5.30am and now he's almost 7 he still has a black out blind in summer but he can sleep in until almost 7am. Some children are just early risers no matter what we do 😅

4.30am with 19 month old every sodding day here. Went through a phase the same at around 1 year. Nothing we did helped then and eventually at around 14 months he started sleeping till 6.15. Until now. He makes so much noise and we are in a flat so can't even attempt to resettle because he just screams. Tried cutting down his nap, didn't work. Tried letting him nap as long as he wants, no help. His room is blacked out. He Wakes up ready to go every day. Just got to hope its a phase

DS used to be up at 5am every day until he was just over 4! We tried it all and nothing worked until he outgrew it by himself. I am currently having breakfast before I leave for work and both him and DH are still asleep. It's not fair!

Honestly it's easier if you just accept it and go to bed earlier yourself.

Just a couple of pointers. They might help, but might just be when she needs to wake up - although if she is clearly still tired I don’t think this is the case.

• Put her to bed later. This will take at least a week to have an effect, a bit like when the clocks change. I would do it in 15 minute increments over a couple of weeks, aiming for a 7.30 bedtime. 6.30 is very early.

• Stretch her out for her nap, again delaying it in 15 minute increments. To distract her go out for a walk / fresh air / something really fun. Ideally you want the nap to be after an early lunch (so lunch at say 11.30, nap at 12.15). Then she will be nice and full too. Her body clock knows she will make up for the lost morning sleep with a nap quite soon (9am) so this needs to be ‘reset’. A later, hopefully slightly longer nap will help her stretch to a later bedtime.

None of it will be a quick fix, if it’s going to help it will be over the course of a month or so.

Hope things settle down for you soon.

If she's sleeping through from 6.30pm you can't be that tired, surely. My first used to wake for the day anytime from 4.30am alongside several wake-ups so it could definitely be worse. I'd start shifting bed time later by a few minutes each day, aiming for 7.30pm, and see if that sorts it out. In the meantime, go to bed early yourselves and you should get plenty of sleep.

Try some of the suggestions above but they may not work. Some are just early risers. Mine are up at 5.30 every morning at the latest and they are 2 and 4.

Same here! 22 month old DS up at the crack of dawn every sodding day. A couple of days ago it was 4:30am! Most days it’s between 5-5:30am. I think it’s the light of the earlier mornings to be honest. He has milk when he wakes up and doesn’t go back to sleep.

DH and I have worked out a shift system whereby one of is gets up with him for an hour and then we swap so the earliest riser gets another hour in bed (this is the theory at least).

DS is my third and I distinctly remember the other 2 also having periods when they did this. It will eventually pass (I keep telling myself!). Now DD1 would sleep until 9am if I let her (but won’t go to bed but that’s another story).

My DS is 11 now, still wakes at 6 every morning. Some kids are just early risers.
The only thing you can do which will guarantee you more sleep is to go to bed earlier yourself.

I used to go and lie down on the floor and say "it's still night time" a lot. DS eventually got the idea and used to lie down and nod back off but it took weeks and a bad back on my part. If he wakes early now I just leave him to it until it's about 6.45am and then I'll get up!

I'd push that nap back as well - as PP have suggested her body clock is a bit confused. You can do it in 15 minute increments and that'll hopefully push bed time back a bit in the long run.

6.30 pm to 5 am isn’t a terrible amount of sleep but it’s not enough. And the sleep from 9 am doesn recount as a nap to me but more of a catch up from the nights sleep if you know what I mean?!!
I like the suggestion up thread of incrementally stretching the morning wake up/out of bed time later minute by minute. The same for the morning sleep and evening bedtime.
Try to get her busy and physically active in the morn f so she’s hungry for a good lunch and tired for a nap.

Do you have to take her downstairs? Get into a bed with her (ideally not the one the other adult is in, and I'm guessing she is in a cot, so not hers!). Talk quietly, play calm, quiet games, snuggle and try and rest. It will be torture, as she will wiggle and kick! But you need to set a minimium time to go downstairs. For us it was 6.30. As the kids get bigger, they can be told to play quietly, and eventually read, in bed until 6.30.
Mine STILL wake early, and the biggest is hopefully off to secondary in September. Thankfully these days I dont have to get out of bed for them, even if I do hear them some mornings - our rule now is no lights until 6, and stay upstairs til 7.

I feel your pain, my 2 year old goes to bed at 7.30 and wakes at 5, won't to back to sleep I've tried everything! She doesn't nap anymore either. I've tried putting her to bed later but no effect still wakes at 5, I just to go to bed earlier now