Sleep has gone to pot - help!

[rhaenyra01]

My 8 month old DD has been in a pretty good sleep routine for the past 3, maybe 4 months - she goes down to bed at 7pm, wakes up once through the night for a bottle (the time can vary), then wakes up for the day at 7am. Suddenly she has started waking any time from 5:30 to 6:30.

DD has a morning nap usually about 2 hours after she’s woken up, which is normally an hour or so, and then will have another nap early afternoon. Sometimes she has a 15/20 minute cat nap in the car if we have to go somewhere in the afternoon but I don’t think she’s getting too much daytime sleep.

I wondered if her bedtime needed moving later but she seems absolutely exhausted by the evening, and once it gets to 7pm she is definitely ready for bed. I was going to try and push it to 7:30 tonight but she was rubbing her eyes at 6:30, and very tired and grumpy by 7 so I had to put her down at normal time.

I’m just a bit concerned with the clocks going back, that she’s now going to be waking up at 5am and going to bed at 6pm. Does anyone have any tips or advice? I don’t want to force her bedtime later and make her overtired and unhappy but the thought of 5am wake ups and then having to go to work are not ideal!

You could cut the morning nap, more like 20/30 mins and bring the afternoon one forward? I’d have her up from 3pm til bedtime.
Regardless, 5:30-6:30 is perfectly normal wake up for babies! It’s so so tough though I know!!!
Try give her a later nap when the clocks go back. And then push bedtime a bit later too. I’m always surprised at actually how quick they adapt to the clock change. But might just be famous last words…lol!!

Bloody hell count yourself lucky. Neither of mine have ever gone longer than four hours and are still up at 6am and one is almost three. But on a more useful note, if you're looking for sleep cues and using her behaviour as a guide for naps, consistent with a bedtime routine you're doing all you can. Your baby is hitting the tricky time of separation anxiety on top of teething, ongoing weaning and digestive changes and a big development leap and growth spurt.