10mo waking at 5:30am...

[Queazy]

I know I should just be grateful she sleeps 7-5:30 without waking, but I've got to be honest, she used to wake at 6:15/6:30 and that was far more palatable. Is there anything I can do to encourage her to sleep longer? I can't feed her at 5:30, then put her back down because I'll be back to work soon and she'll need to be up at 6:15/6:30. Any advise, other than to suck it up and be grateful it's not even earlier?!

Could you try pushing her bedtime a little later, gradually? DD is also 10 months, and she used to have a 6.30 bedtime and woke for the day around 5.30, it was a killer! She goes to bed at 8 now, and gets up at 7, which might be too late for you - but maybe 7.30 pm would work? I know it means shifting the whole routine later but if you did it 15 mins later for a few days, then another 15 mins. Plus putting up a gro blind really helped because of the early sunrise...

I'm wondering if it's a bit of separation anxiety. I put her to bed at 7:30pn last night. She went crazy, refusing to sleep and really crying, and finally went off at 8:15pm. She woke at 4:30am and has refused to have a morning nap so far. Zzzz...

We give our 9 1/2 month old a dream feed at 11pm and that helps him sleep through until 8am

We have been going through the exact same thing, i was exhausted. We started giving her a tiny bit of milk when she wakes (basically whatever's left from her bedtime bottle, usually 2-3 oz) and that seems to settle her for anything from 45 mins to 2 hours. Anything is an improvement on the 4.15 starts we've been having. This morning she woke at 5.15 and then back down til about 6. I don't think she is starving, but maybe just starting to get hungry so a wee bit of milk just helps her nod off again.

It could be connected to overtiredness? When my DS was waking really early I read that if he was overtired then he'd be falling into a deep sleep too fast which would then mess up his natural sleep cycle. I was a bit more strict with nap times and made sure he had a nap after his lunch and then he started sleeping later in the morning - about. 6.30/7am.

Now he's 19 months and I put him in his cot to fall asleep on a night, he chats for a bit and then goes back to sleep. When he wakes earlier than we want him to we just give him his dummy and he chats for a bit before falling back to sleep. The light mornings certainly don't help though, have you got a blackout blind/curtain? The light can sometimes wake them up from around the curtain, we ended up boarding up the window so that it stayed pitch back, not great but after a few mornings it worked.

If the early waking has been going on a while it could be habit so give whatever you're trying a few mornings before trying something else. Hope you get a bit more sleep soon!

Thanks so much. I think you we're spot on about over-tiredness. DD woke at 4:30 y'day and wouldn't go back to sleep. She was beside herself in her cot, but fine if I let her play! She went crazy at morning naptime and I had to give up and take her for a drive...after being awake 6hrs! Much better last night...7pm bed, awake at 6:15. No rhyme nor reason, other than the fact Sunday night must have worn her out!