Early waking killing me

[Smarshian]

So my dd has slept though the night since about 6.5 months (now 10 months). Goes to bed happily in her cot awake at 7pm. But she keeps waking up at 5.30 and I just can't seem to do anything about it! This week we have been trying to prepare for the clocks changing by putting her to bed 15 mins later each night, but it's making no difference! She is waking at 5.30 regardless like a little alarm clock. Last night put her to bed at 7.45 and ping awake at 5.30. When she wakes she is happy and smily and chatty. We have been trying to leave her in bed until 6am before we get her in the hope it will make her understand it's early but she just sits in her cot "chatting" to her cuddly toys!
Any advice? I'm worried she'll be up at 4.30 tomorrow with the clocks changing!

Forgot to say she normally naps twice a day at about 8.45 and 2pm for between 1 and 2 hours each. The morning nap tends to be longer. These naps are either on the go (car/pram), although pram usually means a short nap (45mins) or in her cot in her bedroom.

Bumping for you as I have the exact same problem. Dreading the clock change tonight

No real advice (PFB DD is only 6 weeks) but is something waking her up?
I kept waking up at 4;30 (before DD) and it turned out to me the noisy milk van going by!

My 9.5mo DS likes 5:30 at the moment. Well 5:00 but I generally manage to get another half an hour out of him.

He normally has 2 naps but we’re probably going to go early and try to fit in 3 today (we’ve come back from Europe so one hour back yesterday and another today!! 🤦🏻‍♀️) so he’s asleep now, going for 12:30-14:30 (instead of 1-3) then hopefully a 20min nap to get us through to 7:00 bedtime (instead of 6:30). Then tomorrow we just go with it and follow the Normal routine on the new time!

Hate clock changes!!

My best advice would be to adjust your sleep to fit - so if you ideally need an extra hours sleep rather than grasping to hope of her sleeping longer go to bed an hour earlier. Not ideal but at least that way you get the sleep

There's nothing waking her at that time, we live in a quiet, rural area. I could try going to bed earlier but that would mean I'd be in bed at 9pm and I hardly get any time with DH as it is. I don't think it helps that I'm 8 weeks pg and so extra tired!

Any more suggestions?

I would also suggest going to bed a little earlier. It may be a phase.

DS was (is!) like this. Often he'd wake before 5 - the worst time was 3.55! There was literally nothing we could do to get him back to sleep once he decided it was morning. We used to take it in turns to get up with him, taking him downstairs while the other had a bit of a lie in, but then we discovered it was actually easier on both of us just to bring him into bed with us, whatever time he woke. He wouldn't sleep but at least we were both recumbent. We started going to bed by 9.30, and gradually our body clocks adjusted. Now he usually wakes around 6ish but he still does a 5am wake up about once a week and also usually at least once he'll wake closer to 7am. I now wake at 6am even when he's not here - he's at his grandparents this weekend and I'm still up at 6!

Reading this thread with my DS due very soon and regretting my choice to conceive with DH

Sending you lots of coffee/red bull OP

Blue It’s fine! Adapting your own sleep is the definitely the easiest way to cope. DH and I go to bed at 9:30 and I always have a lunchtime lie down when my two are napping.

Blue not all babies are like this, my cousins unicorn babies slept 7-7 from 7 weeks old not jealous at all!

tea That’s a good point!

crazy I pretty much slept through from birth, as have all my mum’s children Sleeping is her/mind favourite thing so I’m hoping it is genetic! A girl can dream, eh?

putting her to bed 15 mins later each night

You need to move her whole routine, not just bedtime.

At clocks change, we just do the hour change in one go, not gradually. It means from the moment you get up after the clock change, shift everything. So make breakfast 1h later, nap time 1h later, lunch and dinner 1h later, bath and bed 1h later. Takes 2 days to adjust ususlly

We've always done the hour change in one go too and they adjust very quickly.

As for the 5:30am wake up I don't think there is much you can do. Your baby is sleeping really well by the sound of it and a solid 10.5 hours at night is good going! Especially if she's happy to babble in her cot for a bit while you can snooze a bit longer.

I would just try keeping the mornings low key and boring in the hope she'll start to sleep a bit longer. My DD1 was an early riser but was not quiet! I used to lie on the floor next to her cot repeating "it's still night time". Sometimes she would go back to sleep and with time she started sleeping longer.

It could be that the cooler temperature in the early hours is waking her - check if she's cold anywhere when she wakes up. You could add a pair of socks or a vest perhaps and see if that makes a difference.

Early morning waking is caused by any or a combination of these things:
Hunger
Environmental issues
Routine issues

I don’t think it’s hunger as your baby chats happily until 6. A baby waking hungry at 5.30 will not sound happy.
Environmental issues include room too light or too cold. Make sure it’s fully blacked out and around 20 degrees.
Finally routine issues: the biggest culprit is a too-early or too-long morning nap. You can push the morning nap back by 10 to 15 mins a day and make sure your baby is awake by 10 until you see an improvement in the morning waking.

Just let her chat in her cot. I had one like this and I would put some toys on links attached to the cot bars. When he woke up he would pull them in and play with them happily. Occasionally he would go back to sleep. I would only get him if he was squawking or it was time to start the day.

No help here, some kids are just naturally early risers. My almost 3 yr old rarely gets past 6am.

I would be soooooooo happy if mine did what you say in your OP - even for just one night!! :) xx

Have you tried dropping one of the naps, and having one nap after lunch? I'm sure we were down to one nap by 10 months

It's the coldest time of night. Fleecy pjs and/or a sleeping bag rather than any cover that could be kicked off? My DS seemed to sleep a little later after I put him in fleecy pyjamas recently. He's still a very early riser though, I think some just are.

I don't actually think 5.30 is horrendously awful, my toddler wakes then and I'm ok as long as I'm in bed by say 9.45.

That's 2hrs45 mins of evening :)

Whenever my DD starts waking up early, I push her morning nap back by 5-10 minutes. I also prefer the routine with a shorter morning nap and a longer lunch-time nap since it helps me get extra 30 minutes of night time sleep.

DD is 9.5 months and her routine is:

Wake up - 6.20/7am. Average is probably 6.40am.
Nap 1 - 9.40-10.00am. The first nap is usually in the pram and DD has been naturally reducing it over past few weeks. If we happen to be at home she can sleep a bit longer so I have to wake her up.
Nap 2 - 12.30/12.45 - 2.45/3.00pm (in the cot).
Bed - 7pm

We've tried everything with Dc (5&4). When the eldest was 22m we were still getting up up to 5 x night. Now they both sleep through but get up between 5 and 6, usually around 5.30 every single day. And I know I'm not alone. Some kids just don't sleep.

Sorry to say it, but this us just what can happen with kids..... just get yourself to bed early. Leave her chatting to herself - she’s safe and happy, and you can get an extra half hour.