Early waking - has anyone here actually managed to crack this?

[BettyButterknife]

DS2 is 6mo, sleeps from 7pm, dream feed at 10.30pm, wakes 5-5.30am full of the joys of spring. I am not, not at that time in the morning anyway.

We also have a 3.5yo DS1 who used to do this, from about 18mo to 2.5yo so I'm desperate for him not to get back into an early waking cycle.

DS2 just doesn't seem to want to go back to sleep - chatting, shouting, screeching - not unhappy, just very loud. We've been feeding him, then bringing him into our bed and he does settle eventually and will sleep a bit longer but it's 50/50 whether his yelling will wake DS1.

I know it's a really common thing for babies/kids to wake this early, I just wondered whether anyone here has actually successfully managed to stop it from happening with their LOs? I'm toying with wake-to-sleep but can't quite bring myself to set an alarm for 4am...

Oh, other thing DS2 does is wakes from naps after 45 minutes without fail. Seems chirpy enough, if we get him up he quickliy slumps though. If we leave him chatting for 5 minutes or so, then give him a dummy he goes back off for another hour or two. What's that all about? And is that the cause of him not being able to settle himself back at 5am??

Re early waking - mine was a 5.30am waker at 6 months but by 8 months was 6.45-7.

We did loads of stuff with DS2 but I'm not sure which of them worked. Blackout curtains really really well fitted. Making sure hot water did not come on at 5.30 (thanks DP). Doing the first feed of the day outside in natural daylight (freezing but I reckon it does something weird to their body clock, and when we didn't do it e.g. on holiday he would revert to the 5.30am..) Sorting daytime naps out - putting him down for the first nap of the day after 9am and cutting out the late evening nap.

Now one or maybe all of those must have worked, or he may have grown out of this by himself. However I know lots of people whose toddlers wake up at 5.30-6am so maybe if I had done nothing he would've been one of those.

I don't think your mid-nap waking is a prob really if he goes back with a dummy? How much is he sleeping in the day?

That's good to hear, thanks Shamechanger.

DS1 and 2 already have blackout blinds, but I like the idea of doing the first feed in daylight. Roll on Spring!

Re naps: he normally nods off in the pushchair on the way back from the school run, ie just after 9am. He'll sleep for 45 minutes but if I'm successful in getting him back he'll probably sleep til around 10.30.

He then goes down between 12.30-1pm depending on when he woke from his morning nap, and then sleep 45 mins, if I get him back to sleep after that it's another 1-2 hours.

Today DH didn't get him back after a 45 minute morning nap, so I put him down at 12.15. He then woke at 1pm, was awake for maybe 10-15 mins, went back until 3pm. Then down for bed at 7pm.

Trying to make sure he has about 3-4 hours over 2 naps, normally up by 3pm and always asleep by 7pm, sometimes a little earlier depending on when he woke from his post-lunch nap.

Perhaps it's just something he'll grow out of, or maybe it'll change as the mornings become lighter. I know I should be grateful that he's started sleeping through until 5am - I'm sure this time last month I'd have been desperate for that!