DD having another early morning phase... Tell me about 'wake to sleep'?

[minipie]

DD 8.5mo has always been a terrible sleeper but just recently she had finally started to sleep through... we had a week or so of blissful 7-6 or even 7-7.

But, she's now waking at 5 something every day. she'll chat to herself for 30 mins or so then start yelling for us, then crying if we don't go in. she will occasionally go back to sleep but not often. she's done this before, a month or two ago, and previously it stopped happening when she woke up an extra time in the night. don't really want that to be the "solution" this time!

she definitely needs more sleep, she is grumpy until she gets a long nap at lunch.

I'm considering doing 'wake to sleep' - can anyone tell me how this works? how much do I wake her? and what time.... she wakes any time from 5 to 5.45. if you've tried it, did it work?

Watching with interest!

I had exactly this a few weeks back but have managed to move getting up time to 6/6.30am again by shifting her daytime naps a bit. (She still has a feed at 4am though - she is breastfed.)

when did you move the naps to squid?

She was waking at 5, napping at 8.30 and 12.30, bed at 6-6.30pm (couldn't keep her up later than this)

I shifted the morning nap to 9 and the afternoon one to 1, then a week later to 9.30 and 1.30. Had a pretty grumpy baby trying to keep her awake especially for that morning nap, but it seems to have worked (or else it just coincidentally changed at the same time!)

So now she wakes between 6 and 7, naps 9.30-10.30, 1.30-3, bed at 7.

It's not always as perfect as that but that's what I aim for.

She also has a feed at around 4am.

interesting, thanks squid. hw old is she?

Watching with interest too. DS all of a sudden thinks that 4:45-5am is a great time to start the day..

Well I've not been brave enough to try wake to sleep yet. DD has started waking in the night (as well as even earlier morning starts, oh joy) and also being much harder to settle for naps. so I have decided she is overtired and am trying to get her to catch up missed sleep ... let's see if that helps with the early mornings. I daren't try wake to sleep while she's overtired as i can guarantee she will snap awake and not resettle!

minipie - she is 9.5 months.

I think the heat is making it difficult all round. I give a full cup of water before bed (as well as a feed) and last night rocked her to sleep wrapped in a wet towel!!

I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to try wake to sleep... with keeping her naps later than 9.30 and 1.30 all week she hasn't got up for the day before 6am.

thanks squid, I am trying the delayed nap thing... dd was up at 4.45 this am and I have only just put her down for her nap. bizarrely she's not been grumpy at all but she's currently squealing in her cot so I think is just very overexcited/overtired...

oh and yy to the heat. I can't sleep myself so not surprising dd can't...