5am Wake Ups - clearly still tired

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My LO is 13 1/2 months. She has started waking at 5am and is clearly still tired as she wakes up grumpy. She tries to go back to sleep, over and over, but can't seem to drift off. I'm guessing this is because she has already had most of her sleep, but not quite enough. She is asleep at night by 7pm and settles herself.
If I go in to her and pick her up, she seems annoyed and squirms a lot. If I go in and put a hand on her to reassure, she continues crying and looks to be picked up. She is just generally upset at being awake before she wants to be.
One of my ideas is that her daytime sleep is affecting this. Her nap times vary because the time she wakes for the day varies, but I work with awake time of 3.5 hrs and she naps for around 60-90 mins in the mornings, less in afternoon. We run out of time for a longer nap pm, but I'm sure she needs more.
Sorry for the long rambling explanation, but basically, 5am wake ups and possible edging towards going to one nap at the same time. How do I handle this and help her be more rested?

No advice but I'm having pretty much the same issue with 13 month old DS. He was sleeping through until 6.30/7 and all of a sudden this past week it's been 4.30/5am.
Could it be a sleep regression maybe at this age? Or maybe change in seasons? I'm hoping it's just a quick phase cos I'm shattered and he's a grumpy little bugger as well!

Is drop the morning nap, bring afternoon nap forward and even do a split lunch (half before nap and half after). You may have to have the nap at 11am for a few weeks. And possibly resettle her if she wakes after 60 mins. I'd be wanting at least 2hr.

Following as mine is the same. We dropped the morning nap and it didn't make the blindest bit of difference so we reintroduced it.

My DS was like this for months, he's 2.5 now and gets up at 6-7. I cut his afternoon nap out completely, and moved his bed time earlier. He dropped the morning nap on his own and now sleeps 6-6. Like the previous poster said, I think it's sleep regression.
Good luck x

Took the exact same question to a sleep consultant recently. Her advice was:

• sleep hormone production drops dramatically after 4am, so very difficult to return to sleep after that time

• ideally you want to prevent baby from waking at all; try going into the room 10m before expected wake-up and gently patting / rubbing back etc. Idea is to gently rouse and encourage back to a deep sleep without properly waking; 'reset' the sleep cycle

• maximise sunlight exposure during the day

• have one long nap in the middle of waking time if possible

That will be £150, please.

My sleep consultant recommended a 45 min morning nap about 2/3 hours after waking up and then a longer nap 3 hours after that , wake from nap 2 by 3.30pm so my DD2 wakes at 6.30am and has nap 1 at 9am I wake her after 45 mins then she has nap 2 from 1-3pm . Early waking is associated with being overtired. Maybe your DD is overtired ? She should be getting at least 2-2.5hrs sleep in the day for her age . The sleep consultant (who is famous in Ireland and has a really good Rep ) said babies need two naps up to at least 15 months . DS and dd1 woke at 5am for years , they only had one nap from about 9 months so I'm guessing they were overtired . Couldnt go though all that again hence the sleep consultant for DD2!!

I would regulate nap times.

9.30am and 1pm would work.

Try to make them as long as possible. At 13-14 months my DD was having two 2 hours naps, so don't look for limiting daytime sleep. Your daughters daytime sleep looks on the very low side.

Fate, I've been wondering about fixing nap times, as despite her being overtired, it is so difficult to get out to meet people at the certain time or go to any baby groups.
Not to misunderstand, do you mean have naps at the same time each day, regardless of what time LO wakes up for the day?

I would yes. She sounds like she's ready for 2 nap days and the consistency might help regulate her morning.

You can be flexible by having a window of half an hour when naptime starts, say aim for 9.30 but it not be the end of the world if it starts at 9am on tired mornings, and so on.

I'd also be willing to add in a teatime nap if the afternoon nap is short.

Thank you for taking the time to reply