Anything I can do to stop very early wake upa

[Cottoneyed12]

DD is 18 months old. She sleeps 8pm-6:30am and naps 11:15am-1:15pm.

She has a pretty strict routine and I cater the day to her naps so it’s pretty consistent.

She has a bottle on the couch with books then upstairs to brush teeth then into cot and self settles herself for naps and bed.

All of that is great but currently at least once or twice a week she will wake up at 4:30am and refuse to go back to sleep. No matter what I try. I don’t let her downstairs until 6:30am but she will not go back to sleep.

Anything I can try to stop this? Not sure if there’s something obvious in her routine which may be causing this or I can try to adjust to help this.

On the days she wakes at 4:30am, she’s ready for a nap by 9am but I try to string her out til 11am in the hope it doesn’t happen again the next morning.

This may just be one of those things. My daughter is 20 months and generally sleep until 6.30ish but will sometimes wake early - teething, poorly, tummy ache. So there may not be anything you can do to avoid it!

Her nap seems quite early (mine doesn't nap until 12.30ish) but I'm not an expert so that probably doesn't mean anything.

I realise none of that was very helpful!

THANks. It’s helpful in that it helps to know it’s “normal” and for others to take a look at our routine and see good there’s anything that could be changed to help.

Hmm, hard to know if it isn't every single day. If it is more of a habit, the advice is to spend a few days setting your own alarm for half an hour before they would wake, go in and disturb them a little bit in the hopes that they will stir and then resettle into a fresh sleep cycle.

The gap between 1.15 and 8pm bedtime seems very long for an 18-month old. You could try experimenting with an earlier bed time for a while? I know it seems counterintuitive but it often is the answer for most sleep problems.

No advice as my DD is only 10 months, but think there is a sleep regression at about 18 months, which could be playing a part. What you are doing sounds great, and I would just carry on being consistent for the next couple of weeks and see what happens then.

No advice but you are not alone.
My DD (3) goes to sleep at 6:30. 5 out of 7 morning she will wake up at 4:30 and that is her for the day. I've tried putting her to bed later and nothing at all changes. For me, it's just one of those things unfortunately!

No advice but would also like to know how to stop this! 11mo DS has woken between 4am and 4.30am everyday since the 3rd December (not that I'm counting or anything!!!!)
Can't get him back to sleep and he's always in a foul mood!

@sycamore54321 Interesting advice about disturbing them before they wake. Do you think it may have become a bit of a habit? I don't imagine he has been teething/ill/overtired/anything else/ for the last 3.5 months!

I tried an earlier bedtime tonight for both my children as feel it’s been getting later and later. WE start the bedtime routine at 7 but it’s so long that it takes until around 8pm until she’s asleep.

So tonight I started at 6:30pm and she was sleeping for 7:30pm. Bit worried however as she napped 11am-2pm so 3 hours! I didn’t want to wake her as 1. I knew she would need the long nap to function and 2. I’m exhausted and was enjoying the peace and quiet a bit too much.

Hope I don’t regret it at 4am tomorrow.

@raindrops the rousing strategy is a high risk one alright - if you get it wrong, you have woken the child for the day at 4am. But it's worth a try - in your case it does seem like its a habit and habits can hopefully be reformed.

Watching with interest. My 14mi has settled into an early morning waking pattern too. She’s in bed and asleep by 7pm. Wakes up about 1.30 for a feed but then wakes again about 4am. She’ll then sleep if she’s feeding but as soon as she comes off she wakes up. Interesting about gently rousing them before they wake up. Might try this tonight!!

@Pindlesandneedles I'm trying tonight too! Good luck

How did it go raindrops? We managed 5.30... not great but an improvement!!!

He managed 5.10 but that was cosleeping as he woke at midnight and I couldn't get him back in his cot. Last night however he went through until 5.10 in his cot... as you say, not perfect but a big improvement on 4!!!