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

[BlueRaincoat1]

My 20 month old woke at 5 too. He was a terrible sleeper generally for ages. But now he seeps til around 6.30/6.45. I think 6.30 to bed is very early, I'd try and push it to around 7 at least. Also when mine woke at 5, like a pp, I just wouldn't 'accept' it. I spent a lot of early mornings lying on his floor holding his hand through the cot, saying 'it's still night time, shush shush etc.' God i was so tired. here are probably better methods. With both my kids I've refused to normalised anything before 6am. I appreciate some children may be more challenging about this, but I'm so relieved my bad sleeper usually gets through the night now. Starting 'the day' at 5am would be brutal.

[PatricksRum]

Put her to sleep later.
I sleep the same time as dc, around 11pm and we wake up together around11am

[TeaPot40]

Both my children were early risers. Up at 5am every morning.. I spent so much time googling and researching what to do and then alot of time putting things into place and then being frustrated when it didn't work. If I had my time again I'd just go to bed earlier and not worry about it.
Nothing I did changed anything and now they both sleep til 7ish which is still early but more than acceptable.
Both went to bed at 6pm ish and slept through so we enjoyed time in the evening. Just make the best of it and it'll change eventually

[Ladycoo1]

Feel your pain my DD is 1 and does this regularly. If she wakes at 3or 4 in the morning if I feed her and she normally goes back for 2 or 3 hours. But at 5 she refuses to go back down. Either way it's not great. But it's easier with the lighter mornings.

[Seriously79]

No tips I'm afraid, but just wanted to say I feel your pain!

My son was exactly the same, and it was just the 2 of us. People would say 'well put him to bed later' yeah, cos I hadn't thought of that 🙄

It does get better, it's just one of those things you need to ride out x

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

She isn't sleeping enough in the daytime. Sleep begats sleep.

That 9am sleep needs to be 45mins max.

After her lunch, drive her round in the car till she falls asleep then pull up somewhere with a flask of coffee and a book til she wakes.

[Stepawayfromtheminirolls]

I'm so glad it's not just me! Thank goodness I found this thread, I can try some of these ideas and hopefully get to at least 6am... Although we already do some of them to no avail 😔

[WafflesandPancakess]

We went through the 4.30/5am phase when DD was around that age.

She’s 22 months now and will go to 6/6.30. It was even later than that but then the bloody clocks changed!

We just had to muddle through, put Peppa on and sit on the sofa with a cup of tea. I remember how exhausting it was though, having to get up at 5am, run around after her for hours then go to work.

[startswithanL]

Some great advice here thanks everyone. She's going down from 6:30-6:45 and sleeping through until around 4:30-5am It's not awful but it's a tough time to be getting up for the day.

She only has one nap so will try the lunchtime nap time instead.

I have a vague memory of this happening with her sister as well but I will do anything to get her to sleep a little longer so some great things to try here!! Thank you!

[Bubbletrouble43]

I have a 3.5 year old who wakes at 530 every day. Gro clocks, black out blinds, later bedtime we've tried it all, it's just the way she is. Bloody annoying thing is her twin would sleep till 8am given the chance. It's just life, and could be worse.

[Pinkblueberry]

Do you have to go straight downstairs? DS went through an early wake up phase around that age, I would just put him bed with me and he’d often go back to sleep.

[Waitingwaiting12]

No advice but my one year old is doing this I can tell he’s so tired 😭 occasionally he will doze off in my bed for a couple more hours if I wrestle him down for a cuddle but not often. I’m absolutely awful at early mornings I’m tired from getting up at 5 no matter how much sleep I’ve had. Also he has 2 naps a day one 90 mins and one an hour. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[SS1987]

Could you try giving her milk in the cot and then leaving her for a bit and see if she drifts back off? That’s what we do with our little girl and done at that age, 9 out of 10 times she was back asleep with 20/30 mins until around 7

[Abouttimemum]

Also I go to bed before 10 so the early starts aren’t so hefty!

[Abouttimemum]

Do you have to get up at 5am? My DS will usually sleep till 6 but will sometimes randomly wake up at that time, usually if he’s napped poorly in the day (also goes to bed at 6.30pm) I think 10.5 hours sleep at night is sometimes enough. I usually go in and give him a drink of water and some new teddies then leave him and he just faffs about in his cot. Sometimes he dozes off and on for a bit. We don’t get up until 6.30am in this house!
He naps at 9 (8.30if he’s been awake early) and 1/2 usually. What happens when you try to put her down for a nap in the afternoon?

[PrincessHoneysuckle]

Yep I remember this.Ds always got up v v v early around this age.Hes 6 now and averages between 7 and 8 am.It was a long road to get there though! You have my deepest sympathies i seriously struggle with lack of sleep and it nearly killed me too.

[PatricksRum]

What time does she go to sleep?

[Boringnamechanging]

Get an afternoon nap in, go for a walk with the pram/drive in the car if you need too. I do lunch, nappy change and straight to bed so it becomes a routine that she recognises plus if mine are overtired they don't nap. Try and push bedtime back slowly a bit at a time.

At the 5am wake treat it as a nighttime wake up, keep it dark, quiet and put back to bed. Hopefully she'll get the message!

My 18 month old goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 and wakes at around 7. If I put her to bed at 6:30 then she'd get up earlier.

[FourPlasticRings]

I would personally advise against getting this any earlier because I think most younger kids would just ignore it.

Depends on your kid. I've got a friend who used one from about fifteen months (she said she heard her wake up and say, 'Oh no! Star!' but then she stayed in her room until seven). Mine works for us at 22 months, but we didn't try it any earlier.

[QueeenOfSheeba]

I’ve been through this OP and you really have my sympathy. Like you, I tried everything! Each thing I tried, I persevered with for at least a month or so to give it a chance to work. Nothing ever did!

Honestly, the thing that eventually helped me, was to accept it. Only once I did that did things begin to feel a little better. I fought against it for so long and I think I was just as exhausted from trying to fix it as I was by the early wake ups themselves.

DD is now 6 and sleeps until 7 every day, I’d say things improved around age 2.5 when she started sleeping until 6. Then we got her a GroClock when she was 3. I would personally advise against getting this any earlier because I think most younger kids would just ignore it.

She still doesn’t need huge amounts of sleep and probably goes to bed a little later than her peers but she knows not to come into our bedroom until 7am and does regularly sleep until this time anyway.

Hang in there, it will get better!

[Dontforgetyourbrolly]

My ds was like this for years. You need to encourage a nap after lunch , it wont help much with the early rising I'm afraid but it will help with her over tiredness ( ds could whinge for Britain!).
The buggy was always good to get him down after lunch and it gave me a couple of hours break.
When he was 3 we introduced the gro clock which helped.
Hes 6 now and will sleep to 8am at weekends so there is light at the end of the tunnel !

[mydailymailhell]

We had this and the Groclock worked for us. I put off getting one as I thought it was a gimmick but it actually worked

[Redwinestillfine]

I had one like this so I sympathise op. Gro clock is a winner and sorted out problem but it may not work until 2-2.5 years, in the meantime don't make early mornings fun. No breakfast other than milk, no TV, no playing, just go into his room 'it's night time' lie down and shush. I would have a mattress in his room and just lie down on that so you're there but not really interacting. If he sleeps, retreat bay to your own bed. Then at an acceptable time make a big fuss ' it's morning time!' and give lots of attention and feed him.

[snackcurator]

5.30 start here everyday and mine are 6 and 4. I think some children are just early birds. Sorry, no advice to give!

[dancemom]

You to both increasing her bedtime by 15 minutes every 3 days and using the wake to sleep method, if she's genuinely still tired on waking them this will definitely help.