5am wake up

[graysor]

Is there anything I can do to try and help my 6.5 mo dd sleep a wee bit later in the morning? She is up every day at 5 and there is nothing I can do to persuade her back to sleep ( shhing feeding rocking etc) . We have black out blinds so I don't think it's the light waking her.

I know lots of babies are early risers, but I'm really struggling with a 5am start to the day especially as she wakes 2 or 3 times in the night too ( usually 10, 1, 3 ish).

She has a good wind down and bedtime routine, starting between 5 and 6 ( depending on how naps have been ) so she is asleep between 6.30 and 7.

Any ideas?

No magic solutions here but watching with interest as I feel your pain! DD2 is the same age and also likes to start her day between 5-5.30am, which is just a totally uncivilised hour in my book!

I thought we might have cracked it this week as I introduced a more structured nap/feed routine during the day and we got two mornings where she slept until nearly 6am, but today she woke at 4.30! She eventually went back to sleep around 6 as I refused to get up with her, she was clearly still tired, but it involved a lot of screaming which is not really an option during the week as DD1 is at school and needs her sleep.

What happens if you feed her and just put her back down in her cot awake?

DS stopped falling asleep on boob during night feeds around this age. So when he wakes up between 4 & 5am (which he pretty much always does, he's 8mo) I feed him and then put him in the cot and leave him to it. He'll often babble for up to half an hour, but then fall asleep again until at least 6.30ish.

Could you push bedtime more towards 7.30 so that her sleep period is a more civilised block. 6.30 is quite early to be down and if the result is a very early waking baby then I'd love gradually to a later bedtime (naps 15 mins later/ let her sleep for 30 mins longer than normal etc).

City - if I put her back down awake she will grumble for a little while before quickly building up to proper crying which only stops when I pick her up.

Free - it feels a bit chicken and egg with early bedtime. I am reluctant to move it later when she is up so early as it makes for a long day for her and I'm wary of over tiredness making her sleep even worse.

Some days she does go to sleep later, closer to 7.30 and it doesn't seem to make any difference.
What do you mean let her sleep 30 mins longer? Her naps are nearly always just 30 mins and she is impossible to resettle to sleep for longer, I don't think I've ever knowingly woken her!
Also, we don't have any real routine for na times. Maybe this is part of the problem. What would a good routine for a 6.5 mo look like?

Watching with interest as my 7 month old is exactly the same.

I'd aim for at least 4 30 mins naps then. It's total painful but she will start to stretch them out a bit more soon. Keep trying to resettle for one nap (maybe the lunchtime one) just In Case you can get it a bit longer. Probably every two hours from last wake up?

3 naps wouldn't be a diaster but can see why she's desperate for bed at 6.30 if she's napping that little. Sympathy. My ds was exactly the same but at around 8m this started to improve and he does 45-60 mins in the am and 1.5-2hr in the afternoon - and I sometimes have to wake him!!

The only way we managed it was when the clocks went forward an hour so 5am became 6am...so we kept him on his 'old' routine 6.30 bed time became 7.30. I had previously tried putting him to bed later without success but apatently it did work this time...

Also watching with interest - my 9mo has been like this for goodness knows how long now! 4:30am wake up today... Argh!

I did try later bedtimes for a little while, it worked for two days then back to the 5am wake ups and like you I'm reluctant to push the bedtime later as she would then be overtired.

With regards to her naps does she go down awake or do you rock/feed to sleep? They learn to connect sleep cycles at around 8mo I think it is. My DD was the same with short naps but now she has a 30min-1hr nap in the morning and 1.5hr-2hr nap in the afternoon which is bliss! That is developmental though so just aim for 3/4 30 minute naps. Can't remember the maximum awake times for that age but guessing no longer than 2 hours?

Cath - naps are in the sling or pram ( have to be moving the whole time ), or occasionally on my lap after feeding to sleep. We've never managed naps in the cot. At bedtime we feed to sleep, or rock if she doesn't drop off while feeding.