11-month-old waking at 5 am - just put up with it?

[sproutpudding]

Hello, I have a lovely DD who is nearly 1 and likes to start her day at 5.00 am - occasionally a little earlier, sometimes a bit later. This is a bit of a killer for me, but I bring her into bed with me to breastfeed her and so get a bit longer in the warmth before we have to get up.

I was assuming that she was just naturally an early riser and I should just go with it and eventually things will settle down. However, my DP thinks that she is hungry because her bedtime breastfeed is insufficient and we should switch to formula. I don't really want to do this and DD loves breastfeeding.

A friend of mine has suggested that I try to limit her daytime naps to no longer than 40 minutes and that she will gradually make up the extra time at night-time. I am not convinced about this since DD often sleeps for 2 x 40-minute naps and it doesn't seem to make any difference. (It worked for my friend.)

Does anyone have any advice? Should I try one of these suggestions, or something else, or just continue as we are? Obviously I'd love an extra hour's sleep but the lack won't kill me.

We countered this by taing the finite amount DS would sleep (10 hrs) and working backwards. We want him to get up at 7, so we put him to bed at about 8.30. He simply won't sleeplonger, no matter what books say about 7pm to 7 am. I love my sleep, DH needs very little. Sadly, DS takes after his Dad!

Hi there, my DD was an early riser (between 4.45 & 5.15am) from about 12 months to 17 months. Nothing seemed to impact it so in the end I decided to stop obsessing and just get on with it. I made sure she was in bed at about 6pm so at least she was not tired in the morning and we made sure we were in bed at 9pm so we weren't tired. At that age she was still sleeping for a couple of hrs in the day across 2 naps and reducing this had no impact on wake up time.

In the end she starting doing 6 till 6 when she was walking, maybe being more physically tired impacted it? The she gradually started to be able to stay up later. She is now 2 and goes to bed between 7 and 7.30pm (with 1 hour nap at lunchtime) and wakes at 7am. So there is hope at habitual earlyrisers can change on their own! Although we now have issues with night waking but that's another thread!

However, all babies are different so dropping a nap, wake to sleep or changing bed time may work. I really don't think changing her to formula will make any difference - at 1 she can have cows milk any way.
Sorry this post is long, just wanted to share experience x

DS1 was similar - he was naturally wide awake from incredibly early on, and unfortunately carried on getting up around 5ish for whispers two years. However, it did end eventually - he is now 5, and has to be dragged out of bed for school every day because he is still comatose at 7.45am...! The only thing that changed was sharing a room with his brother, who would naturally stay awake later and wake later - they sort of evened eachother out in the end.

Sorry, not much advice, but maybe helpful to feel that you're not alone! Good luck

{whispers}

(as opposed to shouts!!!)

My DD went through a phase from about 16 - 20 months of getting up really early, then stopped (thankfully). Have you done obvious things like checking nothing is waking her up like heating coming on, or light coming into her room?

I FF so I am not an expert, but it seems pointless to switch to formula now. If YOU are happy to keep an early morning BF then keep doing it! Once they are over a year then they should be getting more calories from food anyway than milk.

Oh yes, we had this, horrible early start phase! It did pass eventually... Took a while though. In the meantime, spent a lot of early mornings on the sofa with DVDs. And yes just keep her in bed with you as long as you can manage before you absolutely have to get up!

Definitely got better once he was walking.

Thank you all so very much for your messages! I really appreciate the advice and the knowledge that we're not alone.

DrSeuss That's a clever plan and I am considering it, but I think on balance I prefer my evenings to the extra sleep. When DD isn't swinging from the cot for a couple of hours a night and I can get a decent amount of sleep in, it's not too painful and I quite like the time we spend together. But I was feeling under pressure from DP and my mother...

strongblackcoffee Two years?! I feel your pain!

CrystalQueen DD sleeps in the same room as us with shutters (and no central heating, sob!) so there's nothing that disturbs her as far as I can tell. She can sleep through us coming to bed and my DP snoring like a steam train, so she's not a light sleeper. And she's been getting most of her calories from food for months now, she's a hefty girl!

teleaddict and tinierchanges it's so good to know that it can change naturally, with time. That's what I was hoping!

I'm happy breastfeeding and so is DD, so as long as I'm not somehow starving her by doing so I think I'll carry on as we are and hope for the best. She took her first faltering steps yesterday, so judging from the experience of some of you, things might improve soon!

Thanks again for taking the trouble to post - I feel much more confident now!