4:45am is the new 7am??

[gemsie23]

My DD is nearly 19months and has always been an early riser, 6-6:30 but has phases of 5:30. The last couple days she has woke at 4:45 ready to start the day. There is no point trying to get her back to sleep, she is wide awake and says play!
Is there anything I should try to see if we can at least get to 6am or shall I just ride it out?

I moved bedtime to 6:30 as she falls asleep for a decent nap about 11 after playgroups as she is up early & the car sends her to sleep but I transfer her to cot as only in car 5-10 mins. She hasn't had an afternoon nap for quite some time & that was only if in the car late on, so she is tired by 6:30 and sleeps straight through til morning.
She is teething too.

That sounds almost the same as us. My DS was same age when he went back to a 4.30am wake up - just as you say, could not get him back to sleep. We tried moving naps, taking them away, shortening them, moving bedtime, doing the 'wake to sleep' thing. It all made little difference and we ended up just going with it. He is now 26 months and he has definitely improved a bit lately - more 5.30 starts. Today was 4.45.
Someone will have more practical advice but I'm just going to go with it. If it helps, you are not alone and you are not doing anything wrong! If you are knackered, cut yourself some slack, let people help you when possible and remember things can be left til another day. I opt for early nights whenever possible. I definitely find trying to change the sleep patterns of a (probably) naturally rising child stressful.

Thank you! 5:30 is still early for you isn't it? I just think 6am is so much more reasonable even though it's still so early really lol!! My take on it is to just let her ride it out as she is an early riser generally and what we do in the day works well for her currently and nap time works well for playgroups and play dates really. I have a strict bedtime routine which seems to work really well but I know others may suggest changing things but will it actually work or just mess her up a bit more for a few days?
Luckily my partner is extremely good and we take turns getting up in the morning, it just always seems to be worse on my days or days where I can't rest as we are out or I'm working like today! Always the way lol!!

Snap! DH gets up with him a bit too but he knows to get up more/earlier on my nights! When I can't rest I do feel like a zombie but I tell myself it has been worse in the past or when night feeding or whatever. We won't have more children so I know these days are numbered and I count my blessings I don't have anything more serious to complain about. Good to see a familiar story here.

Dd1 went through a 4.30 phase at a similar age. We tried everything to get her to sleep later and nothing worked. After 2 months she just randomly started sleeping til 6 again. No rhyme nor reason

DS (16mo) has started waking up before his usual time these last week or so. It went from 8.30am to 7.15/7.30 ish and this morning to 6.15 am!
I don't understand it at all he's been more active and has been doing more playing etc as he's been spending time with his cousins (3.5yrs) a few times and got lots o of walks etc. You'd think he'd be more tired but nope....

Exactly, no rhyme or reason. Drives me loopy if I let it, hence trying to go with it.

Yep im the same, i think about it and then think don't stress, just ride it out, it's not as bad as disrupted sleep from waking through the night and others have it worse in many ways, she still sleeps 10hours! I'm glad I'm not the only one though as I have friends who get woken in the night occasionally but no1 else up as early ever....well not that they say!!!