Schedule / routine for 9 month old who wakes at 5am

[Mangomumma]

My DD has just turned 9 months & for ages now she's been waking early. Her room is pitch black & she has white noise but she still wakes just after 5am. After trying to get her to sleep later I've now accepted she's an early riser.

I'm a bit stumped about her schedule though, the early start messes with naps. 2 naps isn't enough but 3 makes her bedtime later & she still wakes early & is then grumpy. She's usually asleep at 6.30/7pm so I know she won't sleep in late but 6am would be ideal.

What do your early risers do? Or if anyone has any magic advice to help her sleep later I'd be eternally grateful

Pull her into bed with you and have cuddles? Mine were very early risers and we used to lie around on the sofa together and put the early morning kids TV on like Sesame Street. I used to try and nap when they did too.

What time are your naps normally? Do you go on awake windows or have a set time? You could try a 10/15 minute nap in the morning and then keep 2 longer naps?

We've tried bringing her into our bed but she just wants to get up & go! If I try to cuddle her she pushes me away & tries crawl off the bed. She's not bothered by the tv either.

We go on awake windows so could try a quick cat nap to get her through to a more normal nap time.

DH & I take turns at the weekend so we each get a lie in but despite being tired I don't usually go back to sleep once I'm awake.

I know I should also go to bed earlier!

My friend has just finished sleep training and was told that if an early wake up occurs then a cat nap is best. Have you tried resettling baby before 5am, like half an hour before to help sleep through that awake time and onto the next sleep stage? Do you use a dummy?

Hi
Aww I'm so in the 5am club with my 6 month little boy and the same no amount of resettling gets him back off, he used to go to bed at 7 but he now goes at 6:30 so at least he gets an extra bit of sleep and we get an extra 30 minutes of an evening although I do try to make sure I'm asleep for 9pmish as we're still doing 1 night feed atm, you have my sympathies I would love a 6am wake up call sounds a lot more socially acceptable hehe xx

Hi,

We had same problem. We wake him up at 4am now and give him 3oz milk. Takes ten minutes and after that he sleeps until 7.

Same with my 9 month old. I wake up at 4:40 to feed her and sleeps till 7. Or she will wake up at 5. Not sure if she has a secret alarm.. 5 on the dot.

We did some sleep training & she's gone from waking 6 times a night to 1 or none. Then she went through a phase of not wanting her bottle in the night so now she has a bit of water if she wakes. Maybe I should try offering a bottle again.

I could try resettling before she wakes fully but I'm worried she may decide to just get up then!

I’d try and keep any morning naps short so she’s not relying on them for night time catch up, working towards a longer nap around lunchtime and hopefully a later start in the mornings. Babies go through 5am starts and they suck, but that doesn’t always mean they’re here forever, they can pass.

Personally I treated anything before 6am as a night wake. I’d go to him but lights stayed off and we didn’t leave him room. Sometimes it took me from 5-6.30am to get him back to sleep, and then had to wake him by 7.30!! But his 5am wakes did pass, although I don’t know for sure if this is the reason.

Either way, whether you get up or don’t, I’d keep any morning sleeps to around 40 mins (one sleep cycle) and let longer naps happen later in the day. Long morning naps can perpetuate early wakes as it’s so easy for baby to catch up with the missed hours.

Mine has been a 5am girl since about 6 months - she’s just an early riser, DP and I were both the same as kids.

At 9 months she had two short naps a day, and we just put her to bed early. It never made the slightest difference to her wake up time, and just helped her get enough sleep overall and be less grumpy.

She’s 20 months now and goes to bed at 6.30pm and wakes at 5.30ish regardless. The only difference we notice if she has a late night is that she’s really crabby and tearful all day.

P.S. We also have the issue that she won’t just snuggle up with us in bed and chill. Once she’s awake she’s immediately working on a cot/bedroom escape plan and trying to bring her in with us results in screams of NO/STUCK/HELP/DOWN etc.