10 m.o great sleeper but up at 5am!

[Nicola567]

She is a dream at going to sleep at nap time/bed time, you just lie her down and she nods right off.

Her routine used to be (until about 2 weeks ago) used to be up about 6 then one half hour nap about 9.30 then a good hour and a half from one then in bed about 7.30.

It looked like she wanted to drop the morning nap so I have been just putting her down once during the day but I feel like I am forcing her to stay awake longer before her nap which is a out 10.30 till 12.30 just now but then she is wanting her bed at 6.30 and up at 5.00 (4.50 this morning!)

Torn between keeping the one sleep but trying to push everything back a hour which will prob be a complete nightmare/disaster or trying to encourage a smaller morning nap the longer afternoon sleep, like I said she is a dream apart from the 5am start and I don't want to try and change this and create a bigger problem.

going through the same thing with my 1 yr old at the moment, he's just started going to a childminder and on those mornings he misses his morning nap, but he still has a couple of hrs sleep in the afternoon. he goes to bed between 6.30 and 7 and sleeps through till.....5!!! we've tried pretty much everything to change this, keeping him up, giving him milk, and as for the pick up-put down technique? (this just totally confuses him) but trying something new in the morning, the wake to sleep method? you wake the baby an hour before their usual ungodly waking hour (gently) and then pat them back to sleep. sounds crazy but the baby whisperer swears by it and the lady was a legend! so my alarm is set for 4am and we'll see what happens.....its worth a shot???

We have been/are going through this. Baby girl ALWAYS an early riser, around 9-10m it got earlier, and she was up at 5am. I worried about and tinkered with naps, tried to wake-to-sleep (always scuppered by some sort of teething or sickness hell).

But tbh she just came through it on her own, regardless of what naps she has or what we did. Now she sleeps til after 6am most days- this morning it was 6.45am. So no miracles but I'm sure you'll agree, anything after 6 seems great when you've got a 5am wonder!

Thinking back it's got better since she started walking and her language exploded- I guess her little brain and body are working overtime.

One thing that helped us at least feel more in control- and possibly helped with the early rising, who knows- was having a strict 'in bed til 6am policy'. Even if it meant an hour of tiresome treks to and from her room, we'd leave her in there, with the lights off and no toys, until 6am. We'd go in every few mins and say 'it's still night time, night night' then leave. We still do this on the odd day she wakes super-early. Something in me withers and dies at the thought of 'giving in' and being up for the day at 5am!

ps She's 18mo now by the way and started sleeping later (on the whole) about 2 months ago.

Thank you for the replies, we went back to 2 naps yest and she went till about 6.30 this morning (never went to sleep till nearly 9 last night though) then again today she has had 2 naps and went down at nearly nine.

I'm Hoping that if we try this for the next while we can get her to sleep later in the morning then hold of for a afternoon nap then early to bed (wanting to much I fear!!)

Either way I would rather have her up later at night than have to get up at 5am!